Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias

Complete Guide and Review of Museu de les Ciencies Principe Felipe (Museo de les Ciencias) and L’Hemisfèric in Valencia, Spain

Details:

Address: Av. del Professor López Piñero, 7, 46013 València, Valencia, Spain

Phone Number: +34 961 97 46 86

Hours:

•  Sunday – 10:00-7:00
• Monday – 10:00-6:00
• Tuesday – 10:00-6:00
• Wednesday – 10:00-6:00
• Thursday – 10:00-7:00
• Friday – 10:00-7:00
• Saturday – 10:00-7:00

Website: https://cac.es/

Ratings:

Overall: 5/5

Food: 5/5

Cleanliness/Ambiance: 5/5

Kid/Family Friendly: 5/5

Customer Service: 5/5

Accessibility: 5/5

Price per Person: $10-$20

Our Recap:

We visited the Museum of Sciences while staying in Valencia, Spain. This is definitely a must see if you are in the area! If you want to read more about what we learned while we stayed for the summer, Click Here! 

We purchased our tickets inside the museum the day before. You can purchase tickets the same day, but we wanted to ensure we had a spot for our 4 year old daughter to participate in the “Scientist for a Day” and the 3D Dinosaur show. 

You can also get your tickets at GetYourGuide.

Our general admission tickets into the science museum were 8 Euros, the Walking with Dinosaurs: Prehistoric Planet 3D show at L’Hemisferic was 4 euros (because we bundled the tickets), and the Scientist for a Day tickets were 3.50 euros (but you need to purchase a general admission ticket in order to participate in this event). Great customer service from the staff at the ticket desk. Super friendly and helpful, and gave us great recommendations on bundling the tickets and what would be best for our daughter.

Our family had the best day here. There is something for everyone, and the majority of exhibits are hands on! Next time we visit Valencia, we will gladly be coming back here! It’s affordable, fun for all ages, and a great break from the heat!

What to Expect

This museum was built for people of all ages to enjoy and learn something new. Everything is hands on or draws you in, in some way or another.

Before you even enter the museum, there are plenty of entertaining and informative things in the entryway. There is a dinosaur skeleton, optical illusions, plenty of crystals to look at, and a cool tornado simulator thing. 

You can purchase your ticket directly in the Valencia museum, or online. There are different options to bundle your tickets. There was so much online that it started to get confusing, so we went in to get clearer options. Most people at the ticket desk speak multiple languages, so there was no issue in describing what we were looking to experience, and the cheapest way to do it. They helped us make the most of our visit with our 4 year old.

For the Kids

This museum is definitely kid friendly! Once we entered and went upstairs, there were ant farms and insects to look at, along with chicken eggs in an incubator, and freshly hatched chicks! We watched a chick trying to hatch, and it ended up hatching that day! Our daughter, and my husband, were so enthralled with this!

There is a really cool kids space/play area right next to this exhibit. There’s a park with building blocks, and hard hats, where the kids can work together to help build walls and windows on the house. Then there is a hands on water feature that helps them learn about dams, things they can put their hands in and try to guess what’s inside, a place to experiment with different camera angles, and they can color pictures and put it into a projector (which unfortunately was not working the day we went, but she still got to color some pictures)

The main reason we wanted to explore the museum! The “Scientist for a Day”! It was so great, so well put together and thought out. Our daughter is 4 and had the best time with the experiments. This activity is only in Spanish, and we are an English speaking family. We had our translator apps out, but it couldn’t keep up with what the instructor was saying, so we just kind of looked at what everyone else was doing, and used our small Spanish skills to piece together what she was saying! They did 4 different experiments, and the kids even got little “lab coats”. The experiments ranged from turning liquids different colors, to making slime. I don’t want to tell you everything they did, as to not spoil the fun! The activity lasted an hour, and it is all our daughter has talked about since.

Something for Everyone

The architecture alone is something to behold. Everywhere you look there is something visually appealing.  There is a huge DNA strand structure, and a Foucault Pendulum replica on the same floor, which makes for the perfect place to relax those tired feet and stare in awe at these exhibits. The area where these are located is surrounded by floor to ceiling windows, giving a bunch of natural light and excellent views of Valencia.

The top floor is all about planets. You can walk into different exhibits and find out how much you weigh on different planets, explore what makes up Mars and see what it would look like if it was covered in water, and learn about different constellations. There is even an anti gravity chamber for adults!

Take in a Show

The 3D dinosaur show in L’Hemisferic was really cool! It is recommended for children 7+, but our daughter is currently obsessed with dinosaurs so we decided to take her. There were a few “scary” parts, but nothing she couldn’t handle. They do not show anything gory, but they do show a few wounded dino’s and parts where they fall through the ice. They give you 3D glasses, and these super futuristic-like headphones that translate into a few different languages. The show lasted about 20 minutes, and was a great break from the heat! We were informed to arrive 15 minutes prior to scheduled time. We got there about 20-25 minutes before and had to stand in a huge line. The show started about 15 minutes later than it should have. I am unaware if this is how it always is, or if they had some technical difficulties happening.

Food

There is a little cafe inside the museum and a sit down restaurant. We decided to have a quick bite at the cafe which had a good selection and fair prices. We got a smoothie, a croque monsieur, and a sweet donut-like pastry filled with cream. Everything was fresh and delicious. Those three things cost us $12. Not bad! The menu at the restaurant looked delicious. It was a little bit pricier than some places in town, but you are paying for the convenience. Next time we will definitely try it!

Accessibility:

There is a covered car park at L’Umbracle that has 24 hour surveillance, but that tends to get pretty full early in the morning. The next closest parking is in Prince Consort Road and Queen’s Gate. Valencia’s Hop On Hop Off bus will drop you off close to the museum, and offers discounted entrance to the Science Museum and L’Oceanografic. 

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