Diego Velázquez Museum
Diego Velázquez Museum
Diego Velázquez Museum
4.4
What is Travellers’ Choice?
Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
Are you currently on your trip?
Help us find experiences available for you.
The area
Reach out directly
Best nearby
We rank these restaurants and attractions by balancing reviews from our members with how close they are to this location.
Restaurants
63 within 5 kms
Attractions
33 within 10 kms
Contribute
Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
We perform checks on reviews.
Tripadvisor’s approach to reviews
Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.
When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.
Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.
Learn more about our review moderation.
4.4
297 reviews
Excellent
156
Very good
101
Average
34
Poor
2
Terrible
4
NenaM128
Kelowna, Canada13 contributions
Feb 2022
it was a pleasure to visit this house. We got our guide who spoke very good English. He gave us a tour thru each room, explaining in details the furniture, paintings, house tools, utensils, etc. It was interesting to see how early immigrants lived at that time.
Written 22 April 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Betula103
Australia7,832 contributions
Jan 2020
The museum is in one of the oldest houses in Cuba since it dates from 1516. Casa de Diego Velázquez house has lattice screens. The Museo de Ambiente Histórico Cubano has a wonderful collection of furniture from the 1600's to the 1800's and I liked the way that it was displayed in chronological order. Unlike some places it was possible to freely take photos and video. The guide's explanations were very clear and informative.
Written 5 March 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
RBCFlorida
Fort Lauderdale, FL20 contributions
June 2013 • Friends
Just a few days ago, I enjoyed a brief tour with an English-language guide through the Diego Velazquez museum in Santiago. The residence, originally built beginning around 1515, has been largely reconstructed. Nevertheless, the museum contain furniture and artifacts from each generation of the house's existence. The tourist entrance fee is $2.00 CUC.
Written 7 June 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
sc3traveller
Canada/UK137 contributions
We were quite keen to visit this museum; the oldest standing house in Cuba, but it ended up being the biggest hassle of our entire 2 week trip.
As soon as we entered we had a lady following us giving information about the museum. I told her we didn't want a tour ($) and eventually she left. Then we had someone inspect our ticket and said we hadn't paid for photography and they wanted money. We said we had and eventually they left. Not long after someone else came up to us and said the same thing. When we didn't pay them either they threatened to inform the "management". Another person posing as a manager then came up to us and wanted money for photography. Finally, we said they could all come with us to the front desk where we purchased the ticket and sort it out. This finally stopped the verbal harassment but two women continued to follow us around like a shadow for the duration of our stay.
Very unpleasant visit. Spent more time arguing with people than viewing the exhibits. Would definitely NOT recommend.
As soon as we entered we had a lady following us giving information about the museum. I told her we didn't want a tour ($) and eventually she left. Then we had someone inspect our ticket and said we hadn't paid for photography and they wanted money. We said we had and eventually they left. Not long after someone else came up to us and said the same thing. When we didn't pay them either they threatened to inform the "management". Another person posing as a manager then came up to us and wanted money for photography. Finally, we said they could all come with us to the front desk where we purchased the ticket and sort it out. This finally stopped the verbal harassment but two women continued to follow us around like a shadow for the duration of our stay.
Very unpleasant visit. Spent more time arguing with people than viewing the exhibits. Would definitely NOT recommend.
Written 7 December 2007
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
conchesdojump
Toronto, Canada741 contributions
Apr 2013 • Couples
You don’t have to be an antique aficionado to enjoy this beautiful colonial building which is almost 500 years old. The former residence of Cuba’s first governor includes many beautiful hand-carved period furnishings as well as porcelain and glass from Spain, Germany, France and even China but the wooden ceilings and delicate wooden shutters are just as impressive. Believe it or not, the smithed latches and hinges on the centre full-swing shutters work perfectly even today. In its heyday, the governor lived on the upper floor whereas the trading house and gold foundry was located on the lower level. The original melting oven for the gold foundry can still be seen today. One can also see some of the original frescoes on the upper level and the restoration work that has been done. Fortunately we had an English guide to translate for us – otherwise it might have been a little difficult to appreciate the history of all the pieces. To top off a most interesting visit, we lucked into some traditional Cuban music in the Casa’s courtyard. We think it’s definitely worth a visit.
Written 15 April 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
TubaKoseogluOkcu
Istanbul, Türkiye7,010 contributions
This beautifully kept old house is a must visit in Santiago de Cuba. It gives a great idea about how life was during colonnial time. The old furnitures, antique accessories, the house itself are all very impressive. As in all museums in Cuba, if you want to take pictures inside you have to pay 1 CUC in addition but you should definitely do that as inside the house there are plenty of beauties you would like to keep the picture as souvenirs. The whole visit takes utmost 30 minutes and I recommend it.
Written 24 December 2010
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Ben W
New Westminster, Canada3,590 contributions
May 2015 • Solo
Just to tell it at the beginning: In contrast to most reviews I was writing, this is a very personal one. I was deeply disappointed by this museum (official name: Museo de Ambiente Histprico, Casa de Diego Velazquez). The house is nice and also the pieces on display appear to be interesting. But there were no labels, not even in Spanish. And the paintings are almost black – the century-old patina should be removed. A guide for a German group explained some of the objects. But I hesitated to join since I was not a part of that particular group. So I walked alone through some rooms in the first floor for about 20 minutes until a woman who was sitting there with others (assumingly staff) came and try to explain to me that she would be my guide and she can speak English. But I had huge difficulty to understand her. First I thought that this is her accent until I realized that she is not really able to speak reasonably English. All my questions were left unanswered since she didn’t understand them at all. The words that she threw at me indicated that she also has not much knowledge about the objects that were displayed. At least the German guide (that I considered more competent) explained the origin of several objects differently. After just two rooms she told me that the tour is over despite there were much more rooms and the ground floor. I was so shocked that I gave her a tip anyways. So I walked alone further. When I went down to the ground floor the German guide was still not finished talking to the German group. It was to me one of the worst experience that I ever have had in any museum that I visited in the world yet. 1.5 out of 5
Written 21 June 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Jess-Harpenden
Harpenden, UK90 contributions
Feb 2014 • Couples
We were very lucky to have a private visit to this museum by the Curator. He made it come to life for us. It is the oldest building in Santiago de Cuba and it houses antiques from each period of history in beautiful rooms. It has to be one of the most fascinating museums I have ever visited. Don't miss it!
Written 6 May 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Stephanie B
Melbourne, Australia66 contributions
Aug 2013 • Couples
If old stuff thrills you, this will give you goosebumps. The house is 500 years old, and some say it's the oldest home in Latin America. Metre-thick walls, carved ceilings, and a sense of solidity and dignity that give you an idea of the wealth and power of the Spanish empire in that era. (We were interested to learn that a "new" extension was built about 200 years later. When Hurricane Sandy arrived a couple of years ago, it blew down a lot of buildings in Santiago, including the new wing: but the original 16th-century building survived unscathed!)
Written 30 September 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Peter R
Guildford67 contributions
June 2013 • Couples
I think this is the oldest building in Santiago, dating back to C16 and certainly a good tour with enthusiastic guide with good english. What I did object to was the charge of 5 CUC (not just here but for each museum you go to) to take photos, My advice is save 5 CUC and look on google images!
Written 14 June 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Showing results 1-1 of 1
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
*Likely to sell out: Based on Viator’s booking data and information from the provider from the past 30 days, it seems likely this experience will sell out through Viator, a Tripadvisor company.
Is this your Tripadvisor listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
Claim your listing