Brussels · With kids

The nine steel spheres built for Expo 58, at Place de l'Atomium 1 in Laeken; five are open, with a lift to the top panorama. €17 adults, €9 for children above 115cm up to 17 and free below 115cm, and the ticket also covers the Design Museum Brussels next door; tickets are valid 10am–5.30pm.

Scale models of European landmarks in the park at the foot of the Atomium, so the two work as one afternoon. €20 adult and €14.20 for under-12s booked online, €23 and €16.50 at the gate, free for children under 115cm.

Rue Vautier 29 in Ixelles: a 3,000 m² hall the museum calls Europe's largest devoted to dinosaurs, built around the Bernissart iguanodons dug out 322m down a coal mine, plus a cast of the T. rex 'Stan'. €15 adults and €6 for ages 3–25; open Tue–Fri 9.30am–5pm, weekends 10am–6pm, free for all from 1pm on the first Wednesday of the month.

Rue des Sables 20, in an Art Nouveau warehouse designed by Victor Horta; a permanent run through a century of Belgian comics plus temporary shows, and about an hour and a half to get round. Tue–Sun 10am–6pm with last admission at 5pm, and also open Mondays in July and August.

Belgium's railway museum in the old Schaarbeek station at Prinses Elisabethplein 5, where you are allowed to touch and climb into most of the stock. Tue–Sun 10am–5pm with last admission 3.30pm; €15 adults, €11 for ages 6–17, €5 for 4–5s and free under 4.