Museums That Spark Wonder: Asturias's Best Indoor Adventures for Children
There was a quiet moment in MUJA’s fossil hall when Alba crouched beside a massive sauropod footprint, holding out her small hand to compare. Around her, Jurassic beasts towered in the dim light - life-sized models casting prehistoric shadows across the polished floor.
"It’s like a real dinosaur walked right here," she whispered, her voice filled with the kind of wonder that makes a parent’s heart skip a beat.
Outside, rain lashed against the museum’s windows. Inside, time collapsed back 150 million years.
That day, Alba became a time traveller. As she asked questions about fossils and the colours of dinosaurs, I saw firsthand how museums can awaken a child’s curiosity - not through lectures or labels, but through the magic of presence and discovery.
Asturian museums are particularly good at this. They're immersive spaces where science comes alive, history feels close, and children are welcomed as participants, not just observers. Whether your child is fascinated by dinosaurs, ancient tools, or expressive art, these museums turn learning into an adventure - through workshops, interactive displays, and spaces designed for real family exploration.
What sets them apart is their quiet balance of authenticity and accessibility. Children can examine replica fossils while learning about real ones, engage with digital exhibits grounded in historical accuracy, and come away with a deeper appreciation for the world around them - even when it’s pouring outside.
MUJA: Where Prehistoric Giants Come to Life
Museo del Jurásico de Asturias (Colunga)
Perched above the sea cliffs of Colunga and shaped like a giant dinosaur footprint, MUJA is hard to miss - and even harder to forget. With one of Europe’s richest Jurassic fossil collections, this museum manages to feel both impressive and completely kid-friendly.
Alba was captivated the moment we stepped onto the grounds. Even in the rain, watching mist swirl around the life-sized Diplodocus and Allosaurus sculptures scattered through the garden felt like stepping into another world. Inside, she loved the hands-on exhibits - piecing together a fossil puzzle, testing her knowledge at interactive screens, and comparing her footprints to a dinosaur’s. It’s the kind of place where kids naturally start asking big questions about time, extinction, and discovery.
The museum’s seasonal workshops are especially worth checking - Alba once spent an afternoon learning how paleontologists cast fossils, and came home with muddy knees and a brain full of new facts. These workshops turn a great museum visit into something even more memorable.
📍 Essential Details:
Address: Rasa de San Telmo, 33344 Colunga
Phone: +34 985 185 860
Hours: July-August daily 10:30-19:00; other months Wed-Sun with reduced hours - activities need to be booked in advance
Tickets: €7 adults, €4 children - make sure to book in advance
Website: MUJA - museojurasicoasturias.com
Best for: Ages 3+ (outdoor sculptures captivate even toddlers)
Asturias Vacations Insider Tips
“Pack raincoats for the cliffside sculpture garden - the dinosaurs are surprisingly magical in light rain or mist. School holidays often include fossil workshops (check the museum calendar online). The museum shop is excellent for high-quality books and science kits if your child catches the dino bug. And from our properties, the coastal drive to MUJA is part of the experience - with sweeping Cantabrian Sea views that help bring the prehistoric world into perspective.”
Museo Arqueológico de Asturias - Time Travel in a Monastery
Tucked inside the 16th-century Monasterio de San Vicente, Oviedo’s Museo Arqueológico de Asturias invites families to explore Asturian history through everything from prehistoric cave tools to Roman milestones and medieval ceramics. The museum’s stone cloisters and vaulted chambers feel like part of the exhibit - a setting where the architecture whispers stories of its own.
Alba, especially enjoys the interactive touchscreens and scale models, where she can rotate ancient pottery in 3D or trace the path of Roman roads across the region. While the museum doesn’t offer constant hands-on exhibits, some replica objects and visual tools help children grasp the technology and traditions of early Asturian life - from Celtic castros to Visigothic inscriptions.
One of the joys of this museum is how quiet, immersive, and self-paced the experience is. Children move between rooms of stone and shadow, pausing to look closely at polished axes, golden torcs, or tiny ancient coins. The transition from monastery to museum reflects something quietly powerful about Asturias: a deep respect for the past that invites even its youngest visitors to listen in.
📍 Essential Details:
Address: Calle San Vicente, 3, 33003 Oviedo
Phone: +34 985 21 54 05
Hours: Tue-Fri 9:30-20:00, Sat 9:30-14:00 & 17:00-20:00, Sun 9:30-15:00
Admission: Free
Best for: Ages 5+ (especially children curious about how people lived long ago)
Website: museoarqueologicodeasturias.com
Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias - Saturdays with Art
Fine art museums might not seem like the obvious place to entertain kids - but Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias in Oviedo gently defies that expectation. Through their “Sábados en el Museo” program, children aged 8-12 are invited to experience art through hands-on exploration that respects their creativity as much as the cultural heritage they’re discovering.
Alba, our own 10-year-old explorer, has joined several of these Saturday sessions - including one where the children studied Asturian landscapes by Darío de Regoyos, then recreated their own versions using soft pastels and watercolour washes. “I liked making the sky look stormy and wild, like it really is here,” she said, proudly showing us her green-blue seascape with charcoal clouds.
👉 Workshops are free but require advance booking, usually opening early in the week via the museum’s website or phone. Spaces fill fast - especially during school holidays.
In another workshop themed around portraits with history, she observed noble figures in lace and velvet and then designed her own 17th-century-style self-portrait - complete with an imaginary family crest. These activities go far beyond colouring sheets. They encourage children to look closely, think critically, and respond personally, building early connections to Asturian and Spanish artistic heritage.
Outside of the structured workshops, the museum occasionally offers family-friendly art booklets and gallery scavenger hunts, turning a quiet visit into a treasure hunt of visual detail. These tools help young minds slow down, observe technique, and begin to understand the stories behind the paintings - all while having fun.
📍 Practical Details
Address: Calle Santa Ana, 1, 33003 Oviedo
Phone: +34 985 21 30 61
Opening Hours:
Tue-Fri: 10:30-14:00 & 16:30-20:30
Sat: 11:30-14:00 & 17:00-20:00
Sun: 11:30-14:30Admission: Free
Best for: Ages 6+, especially 8-12 during Saturday workshops
Website: museobbaa.com
El Parque de la Vida - Science Through Wonder
This privately-run science and nature centre near Luarca captures what we love most about Asturias’s educational gems: passion-led, purpose-built learning spaces that go far beyond the standard museum experience. Founded by marine biologist Luis Laria, El Parque de la Vida blends astronomy, animal rescue, space history, and giant squid research in a setting that feels more like a working lab than an exhibit hall.
Alba has explored real star charts, met rescued turtles, and learned about deep-sea creatures like the legendary Architeuthis (giant squid). The quirky, authentic atmosphere - complete with homemade models and personal stories - turns complex science into memorable discoveries. It’s a space where children are encouraged to ask questions, imagine freely, and engage directly with real-world science.
More than anything, the centre reflects a distinctly Asturian idea: that education is personal, intergenerational, and connected to the land and sea around us.
📍 Practical Details
Address: La Mata, s/n, 33700 Luarca, Asturias
Phone: +34 608 75 88 24
Opening Hours: Guided visits only - advance booking required
Admission: €6 adults, €4 children (subject to change)
Best for: Ages 6+ (some scientific content may require reading ability)
Website: parquedelavida.org
MUMI - Deep Into Asturias's Industrial Heart
At MUMI - Asturias’s Museo de la Minería y de la Industria in El Entrego - history doesn’t sit behind glass. It surrounds you. Built around a simulated mine shaft, this museum offers a thrilling and sobering look at the lives of the miners who once powered northern Spain’s economy.
Alba found the mine simulation unforgettable - the cool air, narrow passages, and echoes of dripping water gave her a tangible sense of what miners once endured daily. Children ride a simulated mining elevator, explore vintage locomotives, and handle tools that show the scale and danger of industrial work.
What sets MUMI apart is its balance: deep respect for workers’ lives, and age-appropriate storytelling that helps children connect with hard history without feeling overwhelmed. It’s a powerful way to understand Asturias’s past - not just as a place of green mountains and beaches, but of coal, iron, and resilience.
📍 Practical Details
Address: El Trabanquín, s/n, 33940 El Entrego
Phone: +34 985 66 31 33
Hours: Wed-Sun with seasonal variations
Tickets: €3 adults, €1.50 children
Best for: Ages 7+ (mine simulation can feel intense for younger children)
Website: MUMI - mumi.es
Family Preparation Note
"Pack warm layers for MUMI's mine simulation – the underground conditions are cool and damp, which adds to the educational impact but requires appropriate clothing. The experience helps children understand industrial working conditions in ways that book learning cannot provide."
Why Cultural Museums Matter for Families
What stands out about Asturian museums is how naturally they invite children to get involved. Whether it’s sketching in a gallery, handling replica fossils, or tracing Roman roads on a touchscreen map, kids are encouraged to ask questions and explore - not just observe.
For visiting families, this can be a glimpse into the real Asturias, the kind of local knowledge that adds depth to a trip and often leaves a lasting impression. These institutions don’t talk down to young visitors. They offer real tools, thoughtful guidance, and space to discover at their own pace. Alba has come away from workshops knowing how to identify fossils, make charcoal sketches, and recognise medieval symbols - and she remembers these things because she was part of the process.
Many are free, and most are designed with families in mind. Locals visit regularly, and travellers are welcomed without fuss. That combination makes them feel like true community spaces, not just tourist attractions.
And when the rain starts to fall - as it often does - there’s something lovely about being inside, fully absorbed in discovery. The steady tap of water on old windows becomes part of the atmosphere, not a reason to rush through. These museums give families space to slow down, learn something real, and leave with stories that last longer than the weather.
Written by Bree Delian, The Regenerative Explorer at Asturias Vacations. A designer, writer, and sustainability advocate, Bree brings a family-conscious perspective to Asturian cultural experiences, always seeking activities that connect multiple generations to authentic heritage and the educational values that preserve community knowledge.
