Well worth the visit. Excellent mix between shells, shark, whale skeletons, various preserved fish, with the majority of explanations in Spanish but little English. The Pirate Room was informative, but summaries all in Spanish. The social history of Urugarian beach life was enlightening and the best I have seen todate. Great collection of beach artifacts from bathing suits, picnic baskets, tin pails, etc. just need more English, as the area is visited by an increase of international tourists.
I've been several times, taken friends to the Museo del Mar, and always have had reconfirmed the feeling that I probably will never get to see everything. The variety and world-class presentation are a bit overwhelming. Everything related to the sea: stories of immortal seafaring characters, examples of some of the best-known and myriad unknown or little known species of sea life. The staff is friendly and helpful.
This museum may look small on the outside, but inside it is so big. We spent about 3 hours there. It has so much information, although only some in English. There are huge collection of everything imaginable that has got to do with the sea. It is worth the money. Only negative, it is difficult to get there without a car - but not impossible if you dont mind walking.
this museum was so well set out, there were heaps of exhibits and information packed into the space, and yet it was all orderly and eye catching. Interesting information kept us all captivated, adults and kids alike. Huge whale skeletons were throughout the lengths of the buildings, and amazing collections of shells and different sea creatures were well displayed and labelled.there was also a lot of local history about the beaches in photographs and displays, and memorabilia from the last century. Well worth the small entry charge, which all goes back into improving and enlarging...
There is so much to see! Very extensive collection of local fauna and flora. Huge skeletons of whales and other sea animals. The most extensive collection I have seen of sea items (shells, snails, etc). Also, I enjoyed reading about the history of the area and all the old artifacts that I remembered from my childhood.
well worth a visit. We visited on a rainy day and it was the ideal thing to do as we could not go to the beach. Very interesting artifacts and partial history of Punta del Este. Lots of interesting artifacts from the ocean as well.
This museum began with a young boy's dream of having a place to display his collection of shells and grew into a destination for anyone interested in the history and natural history of the Uruguayan coast. We arrived just an hour and a half before closing, so there wasn't time to look closely at everything. I had to pass quickly by many things, including the stuffed sea birds and the skeletons of whales, in order to read (almost everything is in Spanish.) newspaper clippings, enjoy old photographs, and generally educate myself on the history of the coastline from Montevideo to Punto del Diablo. I especially enjoyed the pirate room, where I learned about women pirates. I had just a few minutes left to appreciate part of Pablo's magnificent collection of shells.
Dogs on leashes are allowed here! (Although we didn't see any while we were there, except two friendly dogs that lived outside the museum.) Photography is also allowed. Adult tickets cost 160 uruguayan pesos (about $7 in US dollars). I think kids are a little less. My daughter (17 months old) was free.I'm not super-into this kind of museum, but it was pretty good, for what it was. It reminded me of the kind of place you go to for a field trip in elementary or middle school.There is a TON of stuff here. It is MUCH larger inside than it looks from the outside. There is a big display of birds, some displays about seals and sea lions (that was my favorite part), stuff about dolphins, and turtles. There is a little pirate room. There are a few rooms with shells from every creature that has ever had a shell--there are thousands of them. Lots of other little sea creatures, too. Several big skeletons. The preserved fish I thought looked kind of gross.There was a neat display with pictures of interesting beaches around the world.There is a lot of stuff that has nothing to do with the ocean, well, not really. Collections of historical tea tins, and historical postcards, and antique medicine containers; collections of old children's books, and old radios, and an old "family" dressed for a trip to the seashore. It was kind of cool to see old pictures of the same local beaches in previous times.Although most of the museum is kind of old, there have been some efforts to make it more interesting for kids: there are a few giant models of sea creatures, two photo spots where you can take your picture with pirates or a shark, and there is a room with a bunch of little tables and chairs so that kids can color a picture of a shark or a seahorse. That room was great for my daughter (17 months old) when she was ready for a break from the rest of the museum.They also have an insectarium across the street that is included as part of the admission fee, although we didn't end up going to see it.It is kind of amazing if you think that someone (or many someones) collected all of that stuff. We didn't read all of the placards--and many are in English now, although not all of them, but enough for English-readers to have quite a bit to read--but from the parts that we did read we felt like we learned some interesting things and had plenty to see.It would be cool if they would do more to make it a little more modern; maybe update the way some of the stuff is displayed, or replace some of the more worn out things in Spanish text...the photo spots were fun, but more of that kind of stuff would make it more interesting and cool. Also, there are some flags that are worn out outside, and it would be nice to replace them...of course everything costs, and I doubt that they have a huge budget, but I think they've made the collection pleasant to visit.Overall, I'm not at all interested in going back, but I'm glad that we went to see it, and I would recommend it to others.The location is kind of weird, but Google navigation knew where it was so we found it easily. Lots of parking along the street.
It's a simple museum, with a lot of marine animals, vintage things, pirate history. It's AMAZING!There's a dolphin fetus, whales... They teach the difference between seals and sea lions, etc.
I guess I learned so much of the sea life in this museum than in my entire life. You have to be in there to understand how fascinating and well preserve is that museum. Not pretentious at all and 100% educative. When we became parents, we´ll definitely return with our children and share this amazing place with them.