Elder Museum of Science and Technology

You can get inside a real military jet and a passenger plane here. The fighter is a Northrop F-5, and it shares the building with models of steamships, a marine diesel engine, a greenhouse ecosystem and a Robocoaster ride. A steam locomotive from 1885 stands near the cafeteria.

Everything is meant to be touched. Signs around the galleries announce, tongue in cheek, that it is forbidden not to touch the exhibits. Staff presenters run live science demonstrations and VR experiences, among them a plank walk and a white-water canoe run, so ask at reception what is on before you start. Upstairs there is an exhibition on how the Canary Islands formed, a poisons exhibition with English translations, a digital planetarium and a scale model of the European Solar Telescope planned for La Palma, unveiled in 2017.

• Some exhibits, simulators or the planetarium may be out of action or closed off on the day.
• Many labels are in Spanish only; some exhibits carry English text.
• Allow two to three hours for the four floors, and check at reception which demonstrations are running.
• There is a cafeteria and toilets inside, and a lift between the floors.

The museum stands on Santa Catalina Park, so most people arrive on foot across the square or by bus. The Eduardo Benot (parque Santa Catalina) stop is about 70 m from the museum, and Eduardo Benot, frente 5 about 100 m.

By car, a paid car park sits about 30 m away, with another about 150 m off, and there is paid garage parking as well. The Casa del Turismo tourist office is about 135 m from the museum, a useful stop for a city map before or after the visit.

Best: a weekday, or the hottest part of a beach day, arriving with two to three hours in hand before closing.

Avoid: Monday, when the museum is closed, and turning up in the last hour.

The four floors and the live demonstrations fill two to three hours, and an indoor family museum draws its biggest crowds at weekends and on rainy days.