Mind-Bending Marvels-What Awaits You At The Museum Of Illusions Madrid

As someone with three kids, I am always looking for ways to have fun with my kids here in Madrid. There are plenty of museums and parks to go to, but every so often we come across an original attraction, and the museum of Illusions in Madrid is a great way to spend some fun time with your kids. If you are looking for some fun things to do in Madrid, be sure to add this place to your list.

The staff are really nice here, super friendly to the kids and adults alike and this really adds to the experience. It can get pretty busy and there can be queues at times, so its really a good idea to pre book your tickets for the museum of illusions before hand to avoid long queues.

The Museum of Illusions is conveniently located right in the heart of Madrid city center and you can walk there in a couple of minutes from the Puerta del Sol. So once you finish up here, you can just continue your tour through the city without having to travel any great distance.

The Museum of Illusions is not really just for kids, its a great way to spend a little time with some friends to break up the day as well, you really do laugh and have a lot of fun so its a great way to add some unforgettable memories of your trip to Madrid.

As well as completely confusing you, these illusions also teach you a lot as you get to understand how and why the exhibits are tricking you vision and mind, not that there is much you can do, you are along for the ride now and it does get a little trippy with things like the vortex!

The vortex is one of my favorite illusions here. You walk through a vortex tunnel and are given the illusion that you are struggling to walk and make it through, yet you are on completely flat ground. Or the hard to believe upside down room where you will definitely take some of the coolest and funniest pictures of your trip.

Seeing the collection of holograms that have at the museum of illusions really makes you think again at how we perceive the world. Its a playful reminder that we have a pretty narrow view of the world.

The educational room with games and puzzled is probably the best part of this exhibition. It’s really cool to watch their little brains just fizzle out in their amazement of what they ‘think’ they are perceiving.

What Exhibits Do They Have At The Museum Of Illusions Madrid

The Ames Room

On the face of it, it looks and feels like you are in any other room just with some really trippy wallpaper. But then, if you stand in one corner and someone in the other, as you walk towards each other the size of the person shrinks/grows before your very eyes.

It´s a very strange feeling, as you know in reality this is not what is happening, but then your eyes completely deceive you and you experience this really cool visual illusion.

The Rotating Room Illusion

This is definitely the best photo opportunity here in the museum of illusions. Don´t ask me to even try and explain this one to you, but the room rotates and every part of your brain is telling you that you are upside down! Get your cameras ready for this one. Its a tremendous amount of fun and was definitely my kids favorite exhibition.

The Infinity Room

This is similar to when you are in front of a mirror and someone holds another behind you, and it seems to go on forever. Well this is an entire room like that! Imagine the same thing, but all the mirrors are ceiling height giving you the optical illusion of standing in an infinite space.

A bit of advise, walk around slowly in here as you can end up walking into one of the walls trying to get a closer. Your minds and vision is not quite what it is normally once you have spent a little time in the museum of illusions so just do everything a little slower than you normally would while you are visiting the museum.

The Anti-Gravity Room

ant gravity room at the museum of illusions madrid

This one will have you questioning the rules of Newton and Einstein. Your brain gets thrown for a loop trying to figure out if you are standing on a flat or tilted surface and makes every step you take a little risky, and extremely funny for the kids.

To add to the fun, you´ll experience water running uphill, balls rolling upwards, seemingly impossible but happening right there before your eyes. I really enjoyed this part, because you know its not physically possible and its just trickery of the mind, but you would swear you are looking at a ball rolling uphill against gravity. Very cool experience and good luck trying to explain the math behind that one to the kids.

The Vortex Tunnel

Make sure you hold on to the rails with this one, it can get pretty tricky. All you have to do is walk across a bridge, and there is no trickery there, it really is a flat surface. What makes you feel like you are going to topple over at any second though is the rotating chamber that for some reason makes all your sense betray you and you just feel completely off balance.

The vortex tunnel at the museum of illusions in Madrid is the only of of its kind here in this part of the world, so if you get the chance to feel the experience don´t miss out.

The Beuchet Chair Illusion

We walk around using our eyes all day, never really thinking how the size of any object we look at is perceived based on the context of the surrounding objects. But once you enter this room you can throw logic out the window and take some really cool pictures. You can really play around with size rations and feel your mind just bending to the will of the illusion.

The Infinity Tunnel

As well as all the main attractions here at the museum of illusions, there are a few smaller exhibits laid out around. Like looking in to a bottomless pit, but on a wall, you have the infinity tunnel, a quick photo op as you move around between exhibits.

The Stereogram

This was a massive throwback for me. Remember in the late nineties or so, there were those pictures that looked like a scrambled t.v, but if you looked hard enough you would see a raised 3d image, well this is exactly that. It´s only a tiny part of the exhibit, but I had to mention it because it brings back so many memories, and I enjoyed watching my kids get frustrated with it.

But, I do have a little cheat code on how you can see the image. If you get real close to the image, and look at the painting cross eyed and slowly move away from it, your eyes will focus and you see the 3d image. Well it worked for me anyways.

The Clone Table

Ever wanted to sit down and have a conversation with yourself, or be able to sit across from yourself at the poker table to see your own tells, well this is your chance. With the help and trickery of mirrors, when you sit down you feel like you are sitting at the table with 5 other clones of yourself. If you have younger kids that are not yet wise to all the ways of the world their reactions are absolutely priceless at this one.

Head On A Platter

This is another really popular one because you get a great set of pictures. Again, with the help of a few mirrors and the decor of the room, you get the appearance of your head being served up on a platter. You get the best image when you take it level with the box so you cannot see the head coming out of the hole in the box, just a little something I realized when taking pics.

Rubins Vase

Rubin’s vase (also referred to as “The Two Face, One Vase Illusion”) illustrates the silhouette of a vase in black and the profiles of two inward-looking faces in white. The figure-ground distinction made by the brain during visual perception determines which image you will see..

For sure you have come across Rubin’s vase before. Whether in a magazine or lately on social media where they as you what shape you can see. Well this is what all of that is based off of, Rubin’s vase is made in a way that when you look at the outline you can make out shapes, usually the profile of a face.

The Hollow Face Illusion

You know those creepy paintings you see in movies where the eyes are always following you, well this is an illusion based on that. The hollow-face illusion refers to the fact that people generally perceive a concave (hollow) mask as being convex, despite the presence of binocular disparity cues that indicate the contrary. What this does is that while looking at the face, no matter from which angle, it seems to always follow us. Also a great way to creep someone out.

The Turntables

I know I am a grown man, but I really do like any interactive exhibit. The optical illusion in this exhibit is represented by two turntables mounted on a wall, which, while turning, create a true hypnotic illusion. The round shape of the object reminds you of a turntable so your mind already associates how a turntable functions in the real world, inciting you to spin the objects. The turntables are painted in patterns which create different hypnotic illusions while in motion and when you look away shapes start to do weird things.

Not the biggest, but definitely one of the best exhibits at the Museum of Illusions in Madrid.

The Tricky Stick Illusion

You have probably seen this one pop up when you are scrolling through social media, but seeing it in person is even more confusing. This illusion plays on our mind and visions sense of space. You look at the space in the panel then the shape and angle of the stick on the rotating base, and you there is no way that stick is going through that gap, but as my mind deceives me my eyes show me different, the stick actually goes through the space!

Summary of a visit to the Museum of Illusions Madrid

All in all this is a really cool way to spend some time and have fun with the family or a group of friends. The tour lasts approximately one hour and its just not stop mind bending enjoyment. You will take away some really great pictures of your experience and have something fun to talk about for the rest of the day.

Opening Hours

The Museum of Illusions in Madrid is open during the following hours:

Monday to Thursday: 11 am to 9 pm
Friday: 11 am to 10 pm
Saturdays and Sundays: 9:30 am to 10 pm

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