If you’re a history or art enthusiast, you’ll be glad to know San Juan offers many museums where you can get insight into Puerto Rico’s history and culture.
From Puerto Rico art museums to historical houses filled with vintage furniture, San Juan has a museum for everyone, including the best museums on the island.
I’m a Puerto Rico local and museum lover myself, and I’ve put together this list to help you explore the best of my city.
18 Museums to Visit in San Juan
Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico
Previously a hospital and now a museum, this art museum boasts 24 galleries with Puerto Rican art.
📍 Google Maps | Museum Website | 🎫 Cost: $12 Adults, $5 Children | 🕕 Hours: 10 am – 8 pm Thurs, 10 am – 5 pm Wed, Fri, and Sat, 11 am – 5 pm Sundays, Closed Mondays and Tuesdays
The Puerto Rico Art Museum is an art museum located in the Santurce neighborhood.
Its permanent collection boasts more than a thousand pieces and some of them are from as early as the 17th century.
Art enthusiasts can’t miss the main exhibition, “Puerto Rico Plural”, which boasts 250 pieces distributed among 21 of the total 24 galleries in the museum, and includes the mural on the museum’s facade.
Families are also welcome to enjoy the MAPR sculpture garden and ActivARTE, an interactive exhibition hall for kids.
👉 Pro Tip: You can take guided tours without an additional fee on Saturdays at 10 am and Sundays at 2 pm. Call 787.977.6277 ext. 2230 to confirm your tour.
Museo de las Américas
This museum preserves the history of the American continent and the African heritage of Puerto Rico.
📍 Google Maps | Museum Website | 🎫 Cost: $6 Adults, $4 Children under 12 | 🕕 Hours: 9 am – 12 pm & 1 pm – 4 pm Wed-Fri, 11 am – 4 pm Sat-Sun
Located in the building of Cuartel Ballaja across from El Morro, Museo de las Américas is one of the easiest museums to visit if you’re looking for things to do in Old San Juan within walking distance.
This multidisciplinary museum houses four permanent collections that aim to showcase and preserve the history of the American continent, including Latin America, the Caribbean, and Puerto Rico.
The African heritage exhibit is one of the favorites among history fans. But, you should also check out the temporary exhibits and events announced through their webpage.
On the first floor of the building, you’ll find bathrooms, a restaurant, and one of the most popular coffee shops in San Juan, Café Don Ruiz.
Casa Blanca Museum
Visit Ponce de Leon’s house with the best views of San Juan and historical furniture from the 16th and 17th centuries.
📍 Google Maps | 🎫 Cost: $5 Adults, $3 Children | 🕕 Hours: 8 am – 4 pm, Wed-Sun
Casa Blanca Museum was the first residence built in San Juan and also the first fortification.
Built in 1521, Casa Blanca was meant to be the house of Juan Ponce de Leon, the first governor of Puerto Rico, but only his descendants were able to live in it.
Casa Blanca is now a museum that houses 16th and 17th-century artifacts that illustrate the lifestyle of families from this era.
Overlooking the city walls, Casa Blanca boasts one of the best views of Old San Juan. Touring the gardens and exteriors is free.
👉 Pro Tip: Museum personnel take a lunch break from 11:45 to 1 pm. Visit San Juan’s museums outside lunch break hours or you’ll find them closed.
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico
MAC is the only museum in Puerto Rico dedicated entirely to contemporary and modern art in Puerto Rico.
📍 Google Maps | Museum Website | 🎫 Cost: $8 Adults, $3 Children under 5 | 🕕 Hours: 11 am – 5 pm, Wed-Sun
Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Puerto Rico is the only museum in Puerto Rico dedicated to contemporary art from the 20th century to the present.
The museum’s permanent collection has over a thousand contemporary art pieces from Puerto Rico, Latin America, and the Caribbean. You’ll also find art produced by the diaspora.
In its social media, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Puerto Rico often shares information about temporary exhibits as well as upcoming events.
Museo de San Juan
Facing the Atlantic Ocean, this museum records San Juan and Puerto Rico’s history with photographs, paintings, and vintage artifacts.
📍 Google Maps | 🎫 Cost: Free | 🕕 Hours: 9 am – 12 pm & 1 pm – 4 pm Wed-Fri, 10 am – 12 pm & 1 pm – 4 pm Sat, 10 am – 12 pm & 1 pm – 5 pm Sun, Closed Mondays and Tuesdays
Museo de Arte e Historia de San Juan, also known as the San Juan Museum, is located at Calle Norzagaray, close to Castillo San Cristobal.
The building, which was once a marketplace and cultural center, hosts a permanent collection of artifacts, paintings, photographs, posters, and sculptures that illustrate Puerto Rican culture and history.
One of the exhibition halls of the San Juan Museum houses rotating exhibitions. Occasionally, local artists give guided tours themselves.
Families visiting can check out the museum’s activities calendar and take advantage of the free workshops.
Museo de los Santos y Arte Nacional
A niched museum dedicated to the Puerto Rican traditional art of carving saints.
📍 Google Maps | Museum Website | 🎫 Cost: $6 Adults, $3 Children | 🕕 Hours: 11 am – 4 pm, Sat-Sun, open on weekdays with a previous appointment
Museo de los Santos y Arte Nacional is a niched Puerto Rico museum dedicated to the art of carving religious saints.
This form of art became popular in the 19th century in the countryside of Puerto Rico. As churches were too far to reach, Puerto Ricans carved figures of saints and improvised altars in their homes.
As a culture lover, you will enjoy their three permanent exhibits that, besides carved saints, also include a once-private art collection from the 1960s.
Museo del Mar
The only nautical museum in Puerto Rico that hosts the largest collection of lifesavers in the world.
📍 Google Maps | Museum Website | 🎫 Cost: $5 Adults, $3 Children | 🕕 Hours: 10 am – 5 pm daily
Once rated among the most important ports on the American continent, it’s not surprising that San Juan has a maritime museum.
Museo del Mar houses is a nautical museum that houses scale ship models, vintage navigation instruments and tools, coins, and maps.
Navigation enthusiasts will rave about what is said to be the largest collection of life-saving devices in the world.
Best of all, this museum offers interactive tours that take you on a walking tour through San Juan. They even do historical recreations!
You can see their upcoming events and book tours through their social media.
Museum of History, Anthropology, and Art
A small museum in Rio Piedras home to El Velorio, one of the most significant art pieces in Puerto Rican art history.
📍 Google Maps | Museum Website | 🎫 Cost: Free | 🕕 Hours: 9 am – 4 pm, Mon-Fri, 10 am – 4:30 pm, Closed Sundays
Although off the beaten path for many tourists, this small museum inside the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras is worth a visit if you’re in the area.
The Museum of History, Anthropology, and Art houses one of the most important pieces of Puerto Rican art, El Velorio, by Francisco Oller. This art piece measures over 13 feet wide and it displays a baquiné, a wake held for a dead child.
Art enthusiasts could spend forever analyzing different techniques, how light and shadow are used, and finding hidden characters in this masterpiece.
Besides art pieces, the museum’s collection includes Egyptian artifacts, mummies, posters, and an indigenous skeleton.
👉 Pro Tip: A fee might apply for temporary and special exhibitions held at the museum.
Museum of Art and Design of Miramar
This museum showcases the evolution of design in Puerto Rico with the ideals of modernism.
📍 Google Maps | Museum Website | 🎫 Cost: $5 Adults, Free for children under 3 | 🕕 Hours: 10 am – 5 pm, Tues-Sat
The Museum of Art and Design of Miramar, also known as MADMi, is a museum dedicated to decorative arts and design.
The MADmi’s permanent collection focuses on how design for ordinary daily objects in Puerto Rico evolved with the ideals of modernism.
During your visit, you will come across chairs, tables, and lamps side by side with paintings, engravings, and drawings.
This museum also offers interactive familiar guided tours so the entire family can enjoy the experience.
Casa del Libro
This amazing place hides 11,000 volumes of books, including a collection of rare books with incunabula.
📍 Google Maps | Museum Website | 🎫 Cost: $5 Adults, $2.50 Children under 12 | 🕕 Hours: 11 am – 5 pm Tues-Fri, 11:30 am – 5:30 pm Sat, Closed Sundays and Mondays
Casa del Libro is a small museum located in Calle del Cristo, next to one of San Juan’s most iconic landmarks, Capilla del Cristo.
Casa del Libro is home to over 11,000 thousand volumes, plus graphic art, paintings, and historical artifacts.
As a bibliophile, you will rave about the rare book collection which includes 400 incunabula, two 1490s decrees signed by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Fernando and Isabel, and a Suma Teológica by St. Thomas Aquinas.
Visitors can also enjoy temporary exhibitions, workshops, and buy books at the shop.
👉 Pro Tip: Visitors can only see the rare book collection by making a previous appointment at 1 787 723 0354 and by paying an extra fee.
Museo de Felisa Rincon de Gautier
Right by the city gate, this museum highlights the life of the first female San Juan mayor.
📍 Google Maps | Museum Website | 🎫 Cost: Free | 🕕 Hours: 9 am – 4 pm Wed – Fri, 10 – 3 pm Saturday, Closed Sundays to Tuesdays
Museo de Felisa Rincon de Gautier is an Old San Juan museum dedicated to the life of Felisa Rincon de Gautier, San Juan’s first female mayor.
Also known as Doña Fela, Felisa Rincon de Gautier was not only the first female mayor in Puerto Rico’s history but also the first female mayor of a capital in the American continent in 1946.
She was known for founding schools, and housing projects, and protecting San Juan’s cultural heritage.
This small house is filled with pictures, outfits, and memorabilia of Felisa Rincon de Gautier.
Capilla del Cristo
This chapel houses paintings and artifacts from the 17th to 19th centuries.
📍 Google Maps | 🎫 Cost: Free | 🕕 Hours: 12 pm – 6 pm, Sat-Sun
The Chapel of the Holy Christ of Health is both a small chapel and a museum considered one of the best places to visit in Puerto Rico.
Capilla del Cristo’s altar has artifacts from the 17th to 19th centuries, including paintings by Jose Campeche and Manuel Garcia.
It’s said the chapel was built in the current location after a man fell with his horse over the city walls in that same spot and survived.
Santurce Es Ley
Explore Calle Cerra and find mesmerizing and colorful murals.
📍 Google Maps | Website | 🎫 Cost: Free | 🕕 Hours: 24 Hours
While not exactly a museum, a trip through Calle Cerra in Santurce feels like you’re inside one.
Tour this and other streets in Santurce to find dozens of murals created during the annual festival Santurce es Ley, which usually takes place in the summer.
During the festival, local and international artists paint murals on this neighborhood’s streets. The murals change during each festival, so you’ll find a new piece almost every time you visit. Best of all, it’s free.
La Galería de la Sede del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña
Immerse yourself in a gallery that celebrates Puerto Rico’s culture and patrimony.
📍 Google Maps | Website | 🎫 Cost: Varies per exhibition | 🕕 Hours: 10 am – 12 pm & 1 pm – 5 pm Wed-Sun, Closed Mondays and Tuesdays
La Galería de la Sede del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (ICP) is a gallery created by a governmental entity in charge of preserving and promoting Puerto Rico’s legacy and culture.
The gallery is located within the institution’s building next to Museo de las Américas in Old San Juan.
The ICP hosts frequent exhibitions in this gallery; some of which include parts of Puerto Rico’s national collection. Art fans can learn about new and upcoming exhibitions through their website.
El Arsenal
Find exhibitions in this historic building that was once a naval station.
📍 Google Maps | 🎫 Cost: Varies per exhibition | 🕕 Hours:9 am – 12 pm & 1 pm – 5 pm Mon-Fri, Closed on Weekends
El Arsenal is a historical building from the 19th century located in La Puntilla in San Juan.
Once a Spanish naval station, this building is often overlooked by tourists on their way through San Juan. El Arsenal is absolutely worth visiting though if you’re into architecture. It also features art exhibitions.
👉 Pro Tip: Hours and prices vary per exhibition.
La Liga de Arte
This art school hosts frequent exhibitions from local artists.
📍 Google Maps | 🕕 Hours: 8:30 am – 9 pm Tues-Wed, 8:30 am – 5 pm Thurs-Sat, Closed Sundays and Mondays
La Liga de Arte is a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching and promoting plastic arts in Puerto Rico.
Besides serving as a school, La Liga de Arte also has multiple galleries including Galería Delta de Picó and Espacio Betsy Padín. Here, art enthusiasts can see exhibitions from local artists and students.
Occasionally, you’ll get guided tours by the exhibit’s artists and workshops. It’s open until late multiple days of the week.
La Princesa Prison
A building in Paseo La Princesa that has galleries and historic prison cells.
📍 Google Maps | 🎫 Cost: Free | 🕕 Hours: 8:30 am – 4:30 pm Mon-Fri, Closed on Weekends
La Princesa Prison is a historical landmark in Paseo de la Princesa in Old San Juan.
Although the building is currently the site of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, it was also the first prison in Puerto Rico.
Besides getting information on what to do and where to stay in San Juan, you can also tour the building where you’ll find a gallery with exhibitions. You can see the prison cells and interior patio too.
FAQs
What are the two most important museums in Puerto Rico?
The two most important museums are the Puerto Rico Art Museum and the Museo de las Americas in San Juan. Other top museums on the island include the Ponce Art Museum, Casa Blanca, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, and Castillo Serralles.
What time does everything close in Old San Juan?
Most popular attractions in Puerto Rico close around 4 to 5 pm including government buildings, historic sites, and museums. But, bars, restaurants, and shopping malls close between 9 pm and 12 pm.
What is the #1 attraction in Puerto Rico?
The #1 attraction in Puerto Rico is Old San Juan. This neighborhood is home to the most popular historical sites on the island, including El Morro, the San Juan Gate, Paseo de la Princesa, and Castillo San Cristobal.
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You’ve reached the end of the best San Juan museums list! Keep adding fun to your vacation with all the fun things listed in our popular attractions in Puerto Rico.
