Cultural Sites
Museums
The National Museum and Art Gallery was established in 1892 and was originally called the Royal Victoria Institute. It is located at Frederick Street, Port of Spain, just opposite Memorial Park and south of the Queen's Park Savannah. The Museum manages a collection of some 10,000 items. Among the items on display in seven major galleries are petroleum and geological exhibits, the permanent national art collection, and Trinidad's Carnival arts.
Location: Corner Frederick Street and Knox Street, Port of Spain
Opening Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 10 am to 6 pm and Sunday 2 pm to 6 pm
Admission: Free
The Museum of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service chronicles the history of the country's police service. It is located in the former Police Headquarters building on St Vincent Street, Port of Spain and guided tours are available.
Location: Corner St Vincent Street and Sackville Street, Port of Spain
Opening Hours: Tuesday and Saturday, 10 am to 3 pm
Admission: Free
The Central Bank Money Museum is located on the ground floor of the Eric Williams Financial Complex, Independence Square, Port of Spain, and details the history of Trinidad and Tobago's currency. Special tours can be arranged. For more information, call (868) 625-2601 ext. 2400 or 2120.
Location: Eric Williams Financial Complex, Independence Square, Port of Spain
Opening Hours: Tuesday to Friday and guided tours are available twice a day, at 9.30 am and 2 pm
Admission: Free
The City of Port of Spain Museum is located on South Quay, on the grounds of the former Fort San Andres. The history of Port of Spain is outlined from its beginnings as an Amerindian (Arawak) village that Walter Raleigh saw in March 1595 to the present day.
Location: Corner of Broadway and South Quay, Port of Spain
Opening Hours: Tuesday to Friday 9am to 5pm
Admission: Free
The Angostura Rum and Bitters Museum is located at the House of Angostura in Laventille, east of Port of Spain. On the tour you will learn about the making of rum and the world famous angostura bitters. You won't learn the secret formula for Angostura Bitters, but you will be able to indulge in some product tasting at the Angostura Bar. The tour also includes a 15-minute historic video and a visit to the Angostura Butterfly Collection. Call Angostura at (868) 623-1841 for further information.
Location: Eastern Main Road, Laventille
The River Estate Museum uses photographs to trace the history of Diego Martin Valley. River Estate was one of the largest cocoa estates in Diego Martin and the legacy of this crop is the museum's main focus. The original Water Wheel, used for grinding sugar cane, still exists and is part of the restored estate house and museum, park and picnic facilities.
Location: River Estate, Diego Martin
Opening Hours: The Park is open daily from 7am to 6pm
Admission: Free
Just off the Western Main Road in Chaguaramas, between the Convention Centre and heliport, lies the Chaguaramas Military History and Aerospace Museum, probably the largest collection of historical military artefacts in the Caribbean. The 4-acre site includes 12,000 square feet of indoor displays and memorials. The museum traces the military history of Trinidad with displays of Amerindian wars to the war in Iraq. For more information you can call the museum at (868) 634-4391
Location: Western Main Road, Chaguaramas,
Opening Hours: Daily from 9am to 5pm
Admission: Adults TT$20 and TT$10 for children over the age of three. Special group rates are also available.
The Lopinot Museum is nestled in a beautiful valley. Once a cocoa estate owned in the early 1800s by French count Charles Joseph de Lopinot, the former estate house, prison and slave quarters now house a museum. Around the museum are large shady Samaan trees with picnic benches and nearby is a small cemetery where the Count and his wife are buried.
Location: Lopinot Road, off the Eastern Main Road, Arouca, East Trinidad
Opening Hours: Daily from 6am to 6pm
Admission: Free
Dedicated to Amerindian culture, the Cleaver Woods Museum is set in a pine wood with picnic tables and ajoupas throughout the property. Exhibits at the thatched visitor centre include Amerindian cooking and fishing utensils, drawings and furniture. Please note that the woods are lonely in this area.
Location: Arima Old Road, D'Abadie, East Trinidad
Opening Hours: Daily from
Admission: Free
Exhibits at the Maha Sabha Indian Caribbean Museum include musical instruments, agricultural tools, cooking utensils, clothing, photographs and books; precious mementoes of the East Indians who arrived in Trinidad from 1845 as indentured labourers.
Location: Waterloo Road, Carapichaima, Central Trinidad
Opening Hours: Wednesday to Sunday 10 am to 5 pm
Admission: Free
A former school project, the Toco Folk Museum has grown into a non-profit community enterprise, reflecting the landscape (rainforest and coral reefs), culture and history of Trinidad's Northeast coast. Highlights of the museum include a traditional clay oven; medicinal herb garden; Amerindian artefacts; snakeskin, butterflies; a working gramophone and collection of rare calypso recordings. For more information call (868) 670-8261.
Location: Toco Composite Secondary School, Galera Road, Toco, Northeast Trinidad
Opening Hours: Monday to Friday 10 am to 2.30 pm
Admission: Free
Historical Landmarks
Bought in 1817, by the Port of Spain Town Council for the purpose of creating a park, the Queen's Park Savannah is the oldest recreation ground in the West Indies.
North of the Savannah lies the Royal Botanic Gardens and Emperor Valley Zoo, along with the official residences of the President and Prime Minister. The Southern side is utilised for Carnival and cultural events, including the Parade of Bands. On the Western edge sits the Magnificent Seven, flamboyant Victorian mansions built in the 1900s by wealthy plantation owners. Occupying about 260 acres, the Savannah is also centre for recreational activity with numerous cricket, football and rugby pitches.
Memorial Park is located just below the Queen's Park Savannah between Frederick and Charlotte Streets. The cenotaph at the centre of the park is dedicated to citizens of Trinidad and Tobago who died in the two world wars of 1914 - 1918 and 1939 - 1945. The names of those who died are inscribed at the base of the cenotaph.
The Royal Botanic Gardens is located in Port of Spain on the northern side of the Queen's Park Savannah. Laid out in 1820 with plant specimens from around the world, these gardens are open everyday from 6am to 6pm. Within the garden is a small cemetery, reserved for Trinidad's governors, with the earliest burial recorded in 1819.
The Arima Dial (clock tower) is the most famous landmark in the eastern borough.
Former Mayor John Francis Wallen donated the Dial to the citizens of Arima in 1898. When the dial was originally installed a stream that ran through the town powered its machinery.
Knolly's Tunnel is the Caribbean's longest tunnel.
Located near the village Tabaquite in south Trinidad you can drive through its quarter-mile length in a horse and buggy, and stay at one of the cottages nearby. This tunnel was part of Trinidad's railway system from 1898 to 1965.