Interactive Music Museum — Attraction in Málaga

I visited this museum in September with my partner who is a musician, so naturally we were really excited about it! We'd read about the system of red rooms (which you can play the instruments in) and black rooms (which are display instruments only) and we really liked the idea.

The €5 entry fee was higher than that of most other local museums but we figured it would be worth it for the red rooms and the infamous flamenco show we had read so much about in other reviews.

For the most part, it was a very fun museum with a variety of old and new instruments from all over the world which were interesting to learn more about. Unfortunately though, the red rooms weren't quite as enjoyable as we had hoped.

Firstly, there were only three red rooms in the museum, containing around 4-7 types of instruments each. Many of the instruments were also in poor condition - for example, the violins did not have chin pads and would not stay tuned whatsoever. I imagine this is due to the volume of young children who use these instruments roughly/poorly during their visit.

This brings me on to another point: if you can't stand the sound of children playing instruments badly - this museum is not for you! Every time my partner tried to play pieces on any of the instruments, we could not hear her play over the banging/clashing of children experimenting with the instruments. Although, as this museum is marketed towards families, we understand this is expected.

Lastly, we were incredibly disappointed to reach the end of the museum to find that the flamenco show was not involved in the regular ticket price. When we entered the museum, staff had not informed us of another type of ticket that was required to see the flamenco show, so we were turned away at the stage door for having the wrong ticket. We were told that it costs €17 each to see the flamenco show, and I'm unsure if this is on top of the regular entry fee!

Overall, I'm glad we visited this museum as we got to learn about and hear many interesting instruments. However, the aforementioned let us...

From the moment we arrived, we were warmly welcomed by the friendly staff, which immediately set a positive tone for the visit. Entry was free with our tourist bus ticket, which made it an easy decision to stop by, and I’m so glad we did.

The performance space was small and intimate, with soft lighting and a closeness that made you feel as though you were stepping into a private gathering rather than a staged show. The air carried the faint scent of polished wood and warm fabric, and the audience spoke in hushed voices, as if everyone instinctively knew they were about to witness something special.

The evening began with a guitarist whose fingers danced effortlessly across the strings, filling the room with deep, resonant notes that seemed to linger in the air. Then, a singer stepped forward, his voice rich and textured, carrying both sorrow and joy in equal measure, a sound that seemed to come from somewhere far beyond the walls of the room.

And then, she appeared: the flamenco dancer. Dressed in a vibrant, flowing dress of deep red and black, she moved with a mix of grace and raw intensity. Her heels struck the wooden floor in sharp, rhythmic bursts, each stomp echoing like a heartbeat, perfectly in sync with the music. The folds of her dress swirled around her like a living flame, and the passion in her eyes held the entire audience captive.

It wasn’t just a performance, it was an authentic slice of Andalusian culture, alive with history, emotion, and artistry. The fact that it was free made it all the more extraordinary. We left with the feeling that we had been given a gift, a genuine cultural experience that will stay with us for a long time.

A truly great show. Culturally authentic, emotionally moving, and absolutely...

This was a tough one to rate. Five stars for the idea, but the execution is in need of a lot of work. I would’ve given at 3 1/2 stars if that was an option. The spaces are really beautiful. There is a fascinating area on the ground floor where the floor is made of glass and it shows the old foundations of the city wall beneath the building. The exhibitions are nice and the availability of instruments to play is wonderful. Unfortunately, a lot of things don’t work, and that defeats the purpose of it being interactive. Violins with no bows, several of the pads on the drum set didn’t work, missing or broken string on some instruments, missing mallets for xylophones and what not. The Beethoven immersive experience wasn’t working. They had a stage for a flamenco show but no flamenco and no sign saying when such a thing might happen. Some of the interactive screens didn’t work either. Finally, in this day and age, the absolute and total absence of any hand sanitizer stations anywhere in the rooms was really offputting. I forgot mine, so I was glad there were bathrooms where I could scrub my hands well when I was leaving. There was a rooftop terrace with a café that would’ve been really nice, but that was also closed. This museum was free with my City Sightseeing hop on hop off ticket. I don’t think I would’ve been happy if I had...