Museo del Agua EPM is the popular water museum in Medellín that is dedicated to educating people how important water is to the planet. Museo del Agua EPM was created by Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM), the local public utility company in Medellín.
This museum doesn’t show up in some English-language travel guides. But TripAdvisor ranks it #5 out of 16 museums that the site has listed for Medellín. In addition, this museum is very kid-friendly and it’s considered educational for adults as well as kids.
This museum is worth exploring for an hour or two, as you are bound to learn more about water than you knew before. In addition, we included Museo del Agua in our list of the 12 best Medellín museums.
The first time I went to this museum several years ago I was happy to have made the trip. I have gone to this museum a few additional times with Colombian friends going with their children and also with friends visiting from the U.S.
One of the exhibits in Museo del Agua
History of Museo del Agua EPM
Museo del Agua EPM was originally known as Museo Interactivo EPM (Interactive Museum EPM), which was created by the EPM Foundation in 2000.
In 2010, Museo Interactivo closed its doors after it had received more than 1 million visitors to transform and redefine the theme of the museum.
In 2012, the museum reopened as Museo del Agua EPM. The goal of the museum is to educate citizens about how precious water is. In addition, Museo del Agua is considered a museum of science, art and technology.
Birth of the universe and creation of the planets
Inside Museo del Agua EPM
The museum is high-tech with many big screens and even TVs in some of the floors. And it has interactive touch screens in many places where you can explore a variety of subjects in-depth.
The museum has exhibits divided into nine different “rooms”:
- Birth of the universe and evolution of the planet
- Vital water resource
- Ecosystems, units of life
- Cultures forged by water
- Water supply
- Transformation of the environment
- H20 News
- Blue Planet
- Art room with art displays
The tour starts with the birth of the universe and creation of the planets. It’s a trip through time. It goes on to the evolution of life on Earth and the start of the Homo sapiens species. This is all done with a focus on water and the formation of the Earth’s atmosphere.
The museum also looks at how several ancient civilizations created ingenious hydraulic systems to provide themselves with water.
As you move through the museum it becomes more Colombia specific with several small rooms showing the varied ecosystems of Colombia including Colombia’s forests, plains and deserts.
The forest – one of the ecosystem exhibits in Museo del Agua
Each of these small rooms shows how water is important within each ecosystem in Colombia. And each room tries to demonstrate how the ecosystems vary with different temperatures (hot and cold) and different humidity levels.
Exhibits showing how water is brought to Medellín’s citizens
In addition, the museum looks at the modern aqueduct system used by EPM in the Aburrá Valley to supply Medellín with water from the reservoirs surrounding the city.
Also, the museum looks at the importance of conservation and an approach that is environmentally sound to manage our water and other natural resources.
Demonstrates the waste that we all generate and how to conserve
Furthermore, the museum demonstrates the waste that we all generate. For example, waste from the purchase of plastic water bottles and the increasingly prevalent electronic waste from old computers and electronics. It also demonstrates the typical water usage for showering, washing cars and watering gardens.
As you walk through the museum there are plenty of staff in the exhibit rooms. And there are many well-designed interactive displays.
The bubble-making activity at Museo del Agua is very popular with kids
Museo del Agua is Kid-Friendly
In Museo del Agua, you will typically see many parents with their children. This is due to Museo del Agua having many interactive activities that are designed to be used by both children and adults. So, it’s a great place for kids.
The kids’ activities in the museum are fun for all, particularly the bubble making activity that is very popular with kids.
We have looked at several other kid-friendly things to do on this website.
How to Get to Museo del Agua EPM
One way to get to Museo del Agua is via the Medellín Metro. To get there take the A metro line to the Alpujarra metro station. And Museo del Agua is located about a 10- to 12-minute walk from this metro station.
Alpujarra metro station
In addition, Museo del Agua is located next to Parque de los Pies Descalzos (Barefoot Park).
Some taxi drivers in Medellín will know where this museum is located. If not, give them the address below and tell them “Museo del Agua cerca Parque de los Pies Descalzos”.
Also, it’s also fairly easy to catch a taxi on the street in front of the museum.
Website: http://www.grupo-epm.com/site/museodelagua/
Address: Carrera 57 # 42-139, Medellín
Telephone: +57 (4) 380 1790
Museo del Agua hours
Entrance Fee and Hours for Museo del Agua
Entrance is free to Museo del Agua for up to four people if you live in Estratos 1 to 3 and bring an EPM utility bill. Entrance is also free for children less than 5 years old and adults older than 60 years old. For others, the entrance fee is 6,000 pesos per person.
Hours: Tuesday – Friday: 8:30 am – 4 pm; Saturday, Sunday and Holidays: 10:30 am – 5 pm. On Monday the museum is closed for maintenance.
There is a ticket window outside the museum. When you get your entrance ticket they will assign you a time to enter the museum.
Museo del Agua ticket window
Every 15 minutes they permit a group of up to 16 people to enter the museum with a guide. The duration for touring the museum is approximately two hours but they permit you to skip ahead and go faster.
Unfortunately, the tours are in Spanish. But they have a few guides that speak some basic English. It helps greatly if you speak Spanish, but it shouldn’t deter you if you don’t speak Spanish, as the exhibits and interactive displays are well designed. So, you can figure most of them out even if you don’t speak Spanish.
In addition, if you have a group of more than 15, it’s recommended to make a reservation.
Museums in Medellín
On the Medellin Guru website, we have looked at 17 different museums in Medellín:
- Museo de Antioquia – the most popular museum in Medellín, worth visiting. It’s best known for a collection of art of Medellín-born artist Fernando Botero.
- Medellín’s Museo de Arte Moderno (Modern Art Museum) – worth a visit with an intriguing mix of exhibitions located in a striking building.
- Parque Explora – Medellín’s popular interactive science museum and aquarium. It has over 300 activities and the largest freshwater aquarium in South America.
- Jardín Botánico – Medellín’s free botanical gardens that is also considered a museum with over 1,000 different living plants on display.
- Planetario de Medellín – Medellín’s Planetarium and space museum that is very popular and worth seeing, particularly with kids.
- Museo El Castillo – Medellín’s beautiful Gothic-style castle that is a museum.
- Museo Cementerio San Pedro – a cemetery that is also a popular museum in Medellín worth visiting. It also has a church with many beautiful stained-glass windows.
- Museo Casa de la Memoria – a museum dedicated to honoring the victims of urban conflict in Medellín and Colombia and is worth seeing to better understand the city and country.
- Museo del Agua – the popular Medellín water museum.
- Casa Museo Otraparte – a hidden gem in Envigado consisting of a museum, cultural space and café dedicated to the life and works of Colombian philosopher Fernando González.
- Museo Universidad Antioquia (MUUA) – a Medellín museum located on the University of Antioquia’s campus with a huge collection of nearly 40,000 archaeological and natural history pieces.
- Museo Casa Gardeliana – a museum located in Medellín that is dedicated to tango music and musician Carlos Gardel.
- Pedro Nel Gómez Casa Museo – a museum located in Aranjuez that is dedicated to the life and works of important Colombian artist Pedro Nel Gómez who is best known for his extensive work as a muralist.
- Museo Etnográfico Miguel Angel Builes – a hidden gem museum in Medellín dedicated to showing the cultural diversity of indigenous and ethnic groups in Colombia.
- Rafael Uribe Uribe Palace of Culture – Medellín’s palace in El Centro is one of the most photographed buildings in the city. It’s considered a museum by the city of Medellín but there aren’t very many exhibits to see inside.
- Museo Entomológico Piedras Blancas (MEPB) – an insect museum located at the Parque Ecológico Piedras Blancas, which is an ecological park located in Santa Elena near Medellín.
- Museo de Ciudad – Medellín’s City Museum, which is located next to Pueblito Paisa. This museum has a scale model of the city and a photo exhibit with photos from the 1890s to about 1950 showing the history of the city of Medellín.
The 10 English-language Colombia guidebooks that I have are missing several of these museums. And each guidebook only includes six to nine out of the 17 museums in Medellín we have looked at.
The Bottom Line: Museo del Agua – Medellín’s Water Museum
Museo del Agua is an interesting and unique museum in Medellín. It has a beautifully designed series of interactive displays and high-tech entertainment that provides a lot of interesting information.
Medellín has a very clean water system and you can drink the tap water in Medellín. This museum shows how this is possible. But it’s also ironic how polluted the Medellín river is.
If you are looking for a different type of museum, Museo del Agua is certainly worth visiting. The bottom line is that Museo del Agua is very educational for all ages and its very kid-friendly.
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4 thoughts on “Museo del Agua: A Guide to the Popular Medellín Water Museum”
This museum is dark, felt outdated, and lacked interactive exhibits to hold our children’s attention (2 and 5 years old). There is a bit on water conservation at the end which was cool. The best part of the museum for us was that it was near Barefoot Park. Your mileage may vary but for us we would rather visit Parque Explora or Jardin Botanical.
We went to this museum with our kids last month and our kids loved it, especially making the huge bubbles. It’s also educational for adults. I recommend it — especially if you have kids.
Out kids also loved this museum. It’s a great place to go with kids for a couple hours. Also the barefoot park is next to the museum.
Thanks Jeff, look to be very educational as well as fun. Another for my to do list.