By: Serenity Pearlman
Activities, Culture, , , ,

Castillo de Luz

Vol.13

 Quick Facts

Fun meter: pretty good for a museum, but it isn’t Disneyland.
Location: Las Palmas, Gran Canaria
Adventure: Culture
Type: Museum
Time: 1.5 hours
Level of difficulty: Medium, because we had to behave
Good for what ages: 6 and up
Cost: 4€ per adults, kids are free
Access: Parking is hard in this area but there are paid parking garages. We walked from Las Canteras.
Hint: The playground is free and awesome. No castle needed.

 Overview

We went to the oldest castle in the Canary Islands to explore. And get this, inside this old castle is a modern art museum. What?!?! That was not what I expected at all. But surprisingly, the art is actually really cool if you are a kid. It is full of beautiful statues that remind dad and I of the wind. Ok kids, you have to be quiet and behave. It is a museum after all. No climbing on the statues. But luckily, right outside, there is a sweet garden and giant playground where you can yell as much as you like. And mom and dad can enjoy drinks and snacks while you play.

How to Get to the Castle of Light

The Castillo de Luz is in La Isleta, about 5 blocks from the most popular sand beach at Las Canteras and 3 blocks from el Mercadillo del Puerto. I’d totally go to the castle, then to the Mercadillo for tapas. The walk to the castle from the beach had some awesome murals. Mom kinda tripped out when she saw the ghostbusters ones. She is a child of the 80’s. I liked the Moana one. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ There are a number of underground garages in the area, but we always walk so I don’t really know where to park. Just google it.

The Oldest Castle on Gran Canaria

Castillo de Luz is over 500 years old! It is in the middle of a beautiful park with flowers. It is free to hang out in the park. Dad kept stopping to take pictures of the roses and Sojourn loved riding his skateboard down the ramp. The castle walls are super tall and made me feel tiny. But, it isn’t a huge castle compared to the ones we’ve seen in other countries. Sadly, we could not go onto the roof even though I really wanted to see the view.

Modern Art Museum

Every single piece of art was made by one person! His name was Martin Chirino, and luckily we liked his art. I asked dad how the art made him feel. He said the statues made him feel free. Like the wind. The castle has lots of levels and fun hiding places. It would be a great place to do a scavenger hunt. They should totally make one for kids as that would level up the experience. We went to a history museum in Jerusalem that had an app with clues and fun puzzles and I loved it!! One of my favorite parts of this museum was the see through floor on the second level. It was kind of scary but I felt like I was flying. Dad played a fun game where each person tried to pose in the same position as the statue. It was super silly and reminded me of modern dance class.

Awesome Playground

After we finished exploring the castle, I needed to run and yell. We hit the playground and I was not disappointed. The playground was so big and it had so many structures to play on. There was a big structure with a slide, a boat playground, swings, a seesaw and a tiny house. It was so much fun. We would definitely go back just to play here.