The Top Museums To Visit In Marbella

History buffs will find plenty to investigate in Marbella: the city’s museums focus on everything from its prehistoric roots to great works of art. Read on for the top museums to visit in Marbella.

1. Contemporary Engravings Museum

Museum

Opened in 1992, Marbella’s Contemporary Engravings Museum is housed in a beautiful 16th-century building that was once a hospital. Its permanent collection comprises around 4,000 works and explores the history of printing and engraving in Spain. Pieces of art by some of the country’s most important artists, including 20th-century painters Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró, are also on display.

2. Bonsai Museum

Museum

Marbella’s Museo Bonsai is home to Europe’s largest collection of wild olive trees, one of which is 300 years old. But as fascinating as these are, it is the collection of mini trees that make this one of the province’s quirkiest and most enjoyable museums. Some of the miniature specimens are native to the rugged hills outside Marbella, and were on the verge of extinction before being rescued by the museum.

3. Ralli Museum

Museum

Located just three miles to the west of Marbella (about a 10-minute drive) is the Museo Ralli, home to one of Europe’s most prestigious collections of Latin American art. Attractively displayed in a series of spacious, white rooms are paintings and sculptures by leading 20th-century artists such as Salvador Dali, Marc Chagall and Leopoldo Torres Agüero.

5. Olive Oil Museum (Cortijo Miraflores)

Museum

Marbella’s Cortijo Miralflores Cultural Centre is housed in an elegant 18th-century building that was once used as a sugar mill and an olive oil factory (with an animal traction-operated olive press). Nowadays, it is home to two fascinating museums, one of which showcases items relating to Marbella’s crucial olive oil industry. Its centrepiece is a cast-iron, hydraulic olive press from the latter half of the 19th century.

6. Archaeology Museum (Cortijo Miraflores)

Museum

The Cortijo Miraflores Centre is also the setting for Marbella’s archaeology collection, which explores the history of the city and its surrounding area from the Lower Palaeolithic period – an epoch that lasted from three million years ago to 300,000 years ago – to modern times. Notable pieces some important Roman remains and cannonballs from the last few centuries, while a number of explanatory panels enable a deeper appreciation of the artefacts.

10 Calle San Pedro Alcantara, Marbella, Spain +34 952 90 27 14

The walls of Marbella’s Moorish castle; Tyk/Commons Wikimedia

7. Marbella Castle

The Castillo de Marbella was built around the 9th century during the Moorish occupation of southern Spain, at which time Marbella was one of the most important cities in Al-Andaluz (as Moorish-ruled Spain was then called). Its defensive walls and ten watchtowers date from the 10th and 11th ceturies and, although battle-scarred and crumbling in places, are still formidable.

7 Calle Portada, Marbella, Spain

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.