Interesting remains of a village built into the hillside by the island's original inhabitants, hundreds of years before the Spanish arrived. The painted cave itself is sealed off to protect it, with a glass passageway that lets you stand inside without interfering with the controlled climate. Photos aren't allowed inside the cave, but you do get a good view of the geometric patterns painted on the walls. Guided tours are available in various languages, and the staff are very friendly and helpful if (like me) you arrive between tours and don't want to hang around. Maybe it's just because I visited in January and it was quite quiet, but I would have had to wait over an hour for the next tour. The attached museum has a couple of short films about the history of the island and the background of the village (again, the staff will put these on for you in whatever language you need). The first one in particular gets quite dark (spoiler: the arrival of the Spanish on the island doesn't end well for the natives) and includes some brief nudity, in case that bothers you. The museum also includes various items found at the site, from pots and plates to tiny figurines and carved stamps. There are also a couple of recreated houses in the village to show how they might have looked originally. Aside from that, there are a few quick videos on screens scattered around the site explaining various things, and an AR app for your phone, although I only noticed one spot with a QR code to use it at, and that wasn't very exciting. Overall it could maybe have done with a little more information to help picture what the various structures were and understand the site. Once you get inside there's a raised metal walkway going around the whole site, giving you good views across the village. Lifts are available to take you between levels, for anyone who needs them.

Highly recommended!!! A very engaging guided tour on the history of the island, just the right amount of time and information. The guides can speak Spanish, French, English, German (possibly other languages, too, but those four were what we heard).

Very nice miseum, lovely hosts and hostesses who guide you around with a lot of knowledge and patience. Sundays you can visit the museum for free. The video about the first island inhabitants was very well made.

Definitely a recommendation if you want to enjoy the history of the island. We joined one of the guided tours and definitely recommend doing that. Do look at the website for a tour in your language as it seems like there's only one tour in each language per day. We were lucky enough to be multilingual, so for us it didn't matter, but a lot of info the guide had to share wasn't written down. The rest of the city is lovely too!

Very well presented archeological dig. No photos allowed of the piece de résistance (the painted cave) which was frustrating, but nice "recreations" of typical Guanche house interiors. Worth a visit, but not spectacular.

What a lot of work has been done here to preserve and show this amazing site. The videos were excellent and the guides so friendly. Expect to spend a good hour here. The cave itself was atmospheric. A replica can be seen in the Museo de Canaria in Las Palmas but I recommend the real thing! There's a good VR activity too which our kids loved. Great little shop too.

Good exhibition, nice collection and show of history of Gran Canaria. On a hot day very hot inside under the canopy. Sundays the entrance is free of charge. Advisable to use it.

The museum was closing 1.5 hour before the expected closure time (may be due to after season) and we had a feeling that we're just lucky with the guide but some other visitors could miss some attractions/films. The place is quite poorly guided with descriptions and we almost missed the painted wall (the main attraction). Anyway, it's great to remind that there were existing, sometimes more valuable, civilisations prior to 'barbarians' coming from Europe and imposing religion through the price of blood. When will we learn that there is no religion asking us to kill other people? Probably never, as we use religions or 'democracy' famous word to conquer others.

Enthusiasm of the german/English guided tour gets 11 stars out of 5! We learned some interesting fact about Canaria and the Spanish oppression. Nice films. We had low expectations, but actually liked it a lot. Every sign in the museum is Spanish. Not sure if the Canaria government is aware that there are tourists on the island ? (Hint: yes, there are) so please, add something, it would be so worthwhile.

6€ ticket is very well invested price, i recommend the guided tour (also in English), because the nice guide will tell you lot of valuable information which you would miss without her*him, moreover in very entertaining way, nothing boring. The visit includes two short movies and some other videos, you can see lot of artifacts and reconstructed dwellings of original population of Gran Canaria. Enjoy!

If you want understand the history of the island, this archeological museum is highly recommend. You can choose an individual tour or to follow a guide tour in English, Spanish, German and French. Personally, I suggest you to follow the guide. The tour guided experience was fantastic and we understood better the history of Canary! Thank you Gáldar

Great interactive experience, multiple languages spoken, great for families. The Spanish government spent millions on this site, and it shows! Definitely a highlight of my trip to Gáldar where this sits on the edge of the city center. Lots to do around this archeological site, restaurants, shops, bars.

Surprisingly very interesting site to visit and explore. It is much larger then expected. I left the place with some insight and understanding of aboriginal life and culture. Really worth to see.

it’s a lovely museum, partly open air, and it’s free on sundays. you can choose self or guided tour (which ends up to be the same anyway) but the entrance is “timed” the staff is super interesting, speaks many languages (not french) and are very friendly. they love their jobs, it comes across loud and clear, the pride in the aboriginal people with which they feel a strong connection. no photos nor videos allowed in the painted cave.

Part of a larger village has been exposed under cover. They are still digging to uncover the history. We managed to get a free tour as it was a Sunday, and oir guide spoke good English. The Spanish invaders do not come off well in this interpretation. As it is free on Sundays, the museum gets very busy. You can turn up to get tickets, but as they are popular you need to plan ahead if you want a specific time. The foreign language tours are much quieter than the Spanish-speaking ones on these days.

It was a very interesting experience, I could tell that people who work there are really fascinanted by their field so I recommend asking them questions because you can learn many extra things! :))

Very cool place to see the history of Gran Canaria, friendly staff and 6 euro for entry, 3 for students or 65+.

That was one of the best museums in Gran Canaria I have visited so far. The tour guide and the explanatory movies were very helpful in understanding the pre-spanish area of GC. Absolutely worth the money and the while

Amazing museum and archeological site! One of the best we’ve seen. We were lucky and got a free tour in English for 1:40h, with a very dedicated tour guide. It’s unbelievable that you can still see the pre-colonial times there and the cave, as I’m sure in some years it’s destiny will become Altamira’s or so… stop by if you’re a history and archeology lover! PS: They have access for people with disabilities, too, which is great.

Very friendly and helpful staff - all English speaking - guided us around this interesting museum. There were several videos to watch that explained the history of the indigenous population and the way that they lived in caves on the island. Lots of stairs but lifts available too. All under cover so perfect in the unlikely event of rain. The town square and the old dragon tree in a building on it are worth seeing whilst you’re there.

We absolutely loved it here. Easy to find just of the main square by the tourist information office. Our tour guide Alba was amazing and gave us so much information and answered all our questions. We learnt a lot about the original inhabitants of Gran Canaria and its history from her. We saw a short film about original settlers and artefacts found on site and in the local area and learnt what they were used for and about their lives . We walked around the excavation site town and found out about what the builds were used for. We saw the remains of cave houses and the reconstruction of 2 style round houses. Their was a short film of how the houses were constructed . We also saw the famous painted cave which is being preserved and she explained what archaeologists thought the paintings were and what they used for colours. Their are lots of steps, but those in our group with mobility issues used the lifts to access other levels. This was offered by Alba and they did not even have to ask. Their were toilets and a well stocked gift shop. A must see visit if you are in Galdar and like history and want to learn about the area. Older children would find this very interesting. Make sure you have a guided tour in your language rather than a self tour. We were here about 2 hours and had a pre booked guided tour in English.

We had a fabulous English speaking tour guide who explained the history and led us through the museum and archaeological dig into the ancient Canarians history.

Loved this, great video about the aboriginal people and the staff were extremely knowledgeable especially Raul. The site and painted cave were amazing and well worth a visit. Staff very helpful, great experience and recommended.

The staff are particularly helpful, very accommodating and attentive. The information is all in Spanish and they do have language-speaking tours to cater for everyone.

If you are interested in how things happened 800 years ago, you'll enjoy the Paonted Cave. Although we opted for a self-guided tour, the staff volunteered to show us around and explain everything - in English! They are very keen and interested in the cave and its surrounding settlement and that enthusiasm shows through. To be honest its not a very exciting place but we spent a very entertaining 90 minutes there and also discovered the lovely town that houses it. Worth the excursion.

Nice place and experience. Chip entrance including a guide. I would recommend to go.

We came on good luck and luck we had. Not only was it possible, to start the tour right away, we didn't have to pay entry fee because of a general discount that specific day. The museum is impressive to watch and very informative on Canarian culture. They really make an effort to explain, show and highlight the massive archeological sight. Also the multimedia approach is very much appreciated. When in Gáldar, make sure to visit beautiful Plaza de Santiago & Calle Capitán Quesada.

Really special archaeological park. Helpful guides showed us around, telling us about the people who lived here long ago and the way they made their lives. Thank you for speaking other languages so well. Essential visit for anyone who spends time in Gran Canaria!

There is more to Gran Canaria than the resorts, Galdar is lovely old town that surrounds an old volcano, in which you will find a museum that has a cave that has painted walls from before the spanish invasion.

Historically fascinating

Great place to understand the Canarian History.

I loved the Cueva Pintada. So interesting re pre Hispanic history. Very well presented.

You can visit it with a guide, but at the end you can go back to the sites by yourself. A very informative guiding, good videos, highly to recommend with kids too.

Fabulous, with very welcoming staff. Very few people about, but it is Mid-december. Parking is hell, but little worse than anywhere else I have tried this week.

Nice museum, but they don't let you take pictures inside the cave for 'copyright reasons'

Me and my family found La Cueva and the Tour super interesting. There is a lot of work done that is worth seeing. The personal was amazing and very helpful. This trip works also as complementary one to my hiking routes through Gran Canaria. It was well ventilated and clean, parking was a bit hard but doable. For elderly people, the way to the caves is easy and accessible. A must if you want to know more about the Canary Islands history.

You can tell they put a lot of money and effort into this small museum. It seems like most people are taken around in tours. Though I could not find tour information on the website. I would have made the effort to come at a certain time in order to have an English tour. I arrived around 1 and was told there were no more English tours. Walking around by myself was fine, there are lots of screens with English as an option. It was not busy so I was able to select English. Signage was not great, staff kept correcting where I was going. The excavation site is interesting though if you've seen other older bigger cave paintings around the world this might not be so impressive.

A great way to learn about the history of the island people. Great multi lingual guides and well displayed artifices. More translations into English of the displays would help, but still worth visiting.

The museum is an archeological site of many caves that were found and brought back to light. The main attraction is one of those caves. It was the main cave, a gathering point for celebrations. This was deducted because of it's location and size and the drawings on the walls, hence 'cueva pintada'. Free entrance: visited on a Sunday (might make a difference) The cave can be visited every 30min and only guided. The rest of the site can be seen without a guide.

You learn a lot about natives of the gran canaria. I enjoyed a lot about the tours as well. And we learnt that Saturdays they have free yours. Totally recommended kind staff and very informative guidelines.

Great museum to learn more about the history of the island. Although it may look small, it is actually very big after you have seen the two introduction movies and the exchibition room is shown to you

Great your guide. Amazing preservation of the archeological site. I really enjoyed it. Reconstructions are amazing. Lovely gift shop and staff were really friendly.

Super mega interresting and very friendly people guiding you through this incredible trip to the very past... the moment when Castilla changed the history of the Canary Islands... Today was the fourth time we visited the CUEVA PINTADA

Great museum, superb, really recommend the place!!

Great museum! Ideal if you want to learn about the history of the Canaries, with a cinematographic introduction to the story of an aboriginal woman, who is used as a narrative thread during the visit. By the way, I'd recommend the guided visit, as the are virtually no information posters. Nonetheless, the staff informed us you can use an app and scan different QR codes to get the information that is not on display. There are also numerous videos explaining some details, available in Spanish, English, German and French. The staff was one of the highlights of the visit. They were knowledgeable and very nice. Tickets were free on the day we visited, but I don't think that is the case every other day. Either way, I would recommend visiting this museum to anyone interested in History, archaeology, sociology or if you just want to have a nice time walking around.

Fascinating and crucially important, this museum is more like a step into the past. It's a reverential site, so go in with humility and curiosity, and leave with admiration, wonder, and knowledge.

Nice place to learn about archeology. Really nice people attending.

Impressive excavation-restoration and small(*) collection of Guanche artifacts. But what the museum has on display is high quality, especially the little clay and stone figures. As everywhere on the Canaries: well organised tourist attraction and friendly staff. (*) 'small': because of the historic fact that Guanche culture and people did not survive, not many traces are found on the Canaries. Not judging here, just a fact.