Palacio de la Música — Attraction in Mérida

As a musician, I was quite disappointed with this museum, and perhaps not for the reasons one would expect. Most of the exhibits are simply too loud and leave you overwhelmed and with sore ears. A lot of the exhibits have headphones for you to use but there is no way to adjust the volume. Most are turned up so loud you cannot enjoy listening to much, which is basically the point of the whole museum. What a shame. Some listening stations also did not work. Things would be greatly improved if one could adjust the volume of the exhibits easily for themselves so they don’t go deaf. Also the general acoustics of the museum are terrible, with a great echo everywhere, thus giving off a booming sound, so you can’t hear anything well. There is one display of historical instruments. I also hit my toe on the black steel legs of the seats in the dark room; maybe paint them a different colour so people can see them before their eyes have adjusted to...

I thought that the reviews were exaggerating so we only went there with 1.5 hours time. Turns out that the reviews were a total understatement: As a teacher I have to say, every Museum needs to be like this one!!! So much interaction, exploring, listening, seeing, doing (yes, you even get to dance/learn steps interactively!). It’s amazing what has been set up here in Merida and this museum deserves a lot more recognition! It is a must when you’re in town. As I mother of a 19 months toddler, I especially appreciated the kids room where my daughter got to try out and play all kinds of instruments! We both had a blast today and I’m thinking about returning during our last couple of days in town; that’s how much we liked it.

Downsides are the limited opening hours (we arrived on a Monday to learn that the museum is closed on Mondays and tuesdays), the missing toilet seats in the restrooms and the hygiene (huge cockroach at...

Was an ok way to spend a couple of hours but I wouldn’t rush back. There were some nice spaces in the museum and it was informative overall, but the interactive elements were very old hat and quite a few of them were a bit pointless/dated. There was a ‘create your own album cover’ which was just a camera attached to a rudimentary form of photoshop. Most people have used instagram with more professional results these days so it was rendered a bit pointless, though we did have fun larking with it for a bit. Same goes for the ‘make your own musical arrangement’ section, which makes Apple’s basic ‘garage band’ app look like the world’s most complex and state of the art music making facility. Overall an ok way to kill an hour or two but not the amazing...