It’s one of those places that you cannot fail to see as you are taking a stroll down La Rambla. Big. Fun. Museum. The colourful words positively leap right off the sign and straight into your subconscious.
In all of fairness, we were expecting to be disappointed. The tickets aren’t cheap. The place is slap bang in the middle of Barcelona’s number one tourist district. And the place has the audacity to call itself “Big Fun Museum”.
But actually the place is a lot better than we had expected. Still a little pricey, as of course might be expected for the area, but really rather fun. Kids will certainly enjoy it, and most adults will find it quite interesting too.
So what is the place all about?
The Big Fun Museum actually consists of eight separate attractions spread across three floors. There’s the Sweet Museum, for example, or the somewhat disturbing Museum of Madness. Each area consists of a series of well-designed displays, according to the theme, as well as some very interesting explanations. Learn, for example, all about the legend of the Moth-Man or the smallest woman that ever lift.
From what age can I take my kids?
Much of the museum is suitable for children from the around the age of four. However, you should bare in mind that parts of the museum are quite scary for very young kids.
Giant’s House, Topsy-Turvy House, the Sweet Museum and Alice Through the Looking Glass can all be enjoyed by the younger members of your family.
Parts of Records and Wonders and the Madness Museum are quite scary and only recommended for older children from the age of seven or eight. The Madness Museum has an age recommendation of 12. Some of the animations in the Magic Room – such as the dancing skeletons – could be a little frightening, too.
How much does it cost?
Tickets aren’t cheap: €25 for a single ticket, or €30 if you want to also include a visit to the Big Fun Museums of Illusions, which is just round the corner.
However, you can get a fairly significant discount by purchasing online: €15 for a single ticket or €18.75 for a combo ticket.
How do you get there?
The museum is a 10-minute walk from Plaça de Catalunya down La Rambla: very easy to find!
How long do you need?
The woman on the ticket desk said that we’d probably need around 45 minutes to see all the museum, but in actual fact we stayed for twice this amount of time. We could easily have stayed for longer, too, had our stomachs not got the better of us – there’s quite a lot to take in!
The different zones
Records and Wonders
This is where you’ll learn about some record-breaking phenomenons (the shortest woman that ever lived, the tallest man or the longest finger nails that have ever been grown) and other astonishing wonders (such as the Moth-Man; a legend, presumably, for no evidence of it was ever produced).
Giant’s House
This is where everything is extra-large. Have fun sitting on a chair that is waaaay too large, or trying on a Mexican sombrero that just isn’t the right fit.
Topsy-Turvy House
Everything is upside-down! It’s totally disorientating as you enter on the ceiling and look upwards to the floor. Take some great trick photos… like the shot of a motorbike where you appear to be hanging off the handlebars.
Sweet Museum
Say no more, say no more! A kid’s paradise where all the sweets are super-sized. Unfortunately none of them are real.
Museum of Madness
This is a rather disturbing part of the overall, where you learn about people that have gone insane… and the rather dubious treatments that were once meted out to them. Screeching models of deranged men and women, which come to live when buttons are pressed, make the experience somewhat sinister. There is an notice at the start of the museum, suggesting that this zone might not be suitable for children younger than 12… and for good reason.
Food Art
A fairly small area where famous paintings – Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers – are recreated using plastic food models.
Alice Through The Looking Glass
A particularly fun part of the museum where visitors are guided through a hall of mirrors, full of colourful models taken from Lewis Carol’s magical book.
Magic Room
One of my personal favourite zones, and great as a last stop after visiting all the other areas. Come here to chill out on the comfy beanbags, listening to music and watching the animated video all around you. The video playing changes every few minutes: the bottom of the sea, the cosmos, a wildlife safari park, dancing skeletons. It’s magical. And thoroughly relaxing!
