Museum of History and Anthropology of Tenerife

Two old carriages stand in the house, and they are the pieces that stay with you. The building earns as much attention as the collection: a 16th-century mansion arranged around a courtyard of wooden balconies, with a garden alongside and renovation work on the fabric still going on.

Casa Lercaro also carries a ghost story still told in the town. Legend has it that Catalina Lercaro, a daughter of the family, threw herself into the well of the house to escape a marriage arranged for her, and never left.

The exhibition is compact and leans on paper. Documents and letters come in quantity, objects are fewer, and together they trace how the islands made their living and what they made of themselves.

• Labels are in Spanish only; an audio guide runs as a phone app.
• The collection leans heavily on documents and letters, with a limited number of objects.
• Twenty minutes is too short for it, so do not arrive just before closing.
• Toilets are inside the museum.

The museum stands in the grid of streets that makes up the old town of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, and you walk in straight from the pavement.

Two bus stops, Tabares de Cala and Deán Palahi, are both about 130 m away in a straight line. By car, the option is free street parking in the surrounding streets; the two car parks closest to the museum are private. The tourist information office is about 230 m away if you want a town map before or after.

Best: a grey or drizzly day, arriving with time in hand.

Avoid: the stretch just before closing.

San Cristóbal de La Laguna sits higher and cooler than the coast and often lies under cloud, which suits an indoor visit, and even this compact exhibition needs more than twenty minutes.