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Musée Magritte
A completely anonymous, suburban yellow-brick house: that's the façade of the Musée Magritte, and the façade that René Magritte, Belgium's most famous surrealist artist, showed the outside world. This museum in Jette occupies the house where Magritte and his wife Georgette lived from 1930 to 1954. Its appeal comes from its incredibly ordinary nature. It's odd to think the man responsible for some of the 20th century's most enduring images spent 24 years of his life in this bourgeois backstreet.
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Musée Royale de l'Armée et d'Histoire Militaire
One for military buffs, this museum houses an extensive array of weaponry, uniforms, vehicles, warships and documentation dating from the Middle Ages through to Belgian independence and the mid-20th century. There's a panoramic view of the park's triumphal arch (built in 1880), the Arcade du Cinquantenaire, from the top floor.
Read more about Musée Royale de l'Armée et d'Histoire Militaire
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Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire
Antiquities and artefacts from non-European civilisations are the highlights of the Royal Museum of Art and History (including sections set up for the visually impaired), contrasted by comprehensive coverage of European decorative arts.
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Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique
This museum houses Belgium's premier collections of ancient and modern art and is particularly well endowed with works by Pieter Breugel the Elder, Rubens and the Belgian surrealists. Both sections are large and you'll need a good day here if you want to do them justice.
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Museum of Cocoa and Chocolate
Exhibits at Brussels' museum of cocoa and chocolate give you a quick rundown of chocolate's history in Europe, along with chocolate's anti-aging and antidepressant properties. A couple of small treats along the way include a tasting at the praline-making demonstration. Better yet are the museum's occasional one-hour praline-making courses - call for details.
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Museum of Natural Sciences
Colossal skeletons of iguanodon dinosaurs that roamed the land some 135 million years ago, found in a Belgian coal mine in 1878, are displayed in their 10m-high fossilised glory in this newly renovated and highly absorbing Museum of Natural Sciences.
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Pavillon Chinois
The Pavillon Chinois is a Léopold II leftover, built after he saw similar at the 1890 Paris World Fair. It is a gloriously glittering affair and houses an extensive collection of Chinese porcelain.
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Royal Museums of Fine Arts
The Royal Museums of Fine Arts combines the Musée d'Art Ancien, the adjoining Musée d'Art Moderne and the brand new Magritte Museum. All in all it's Belgium's premier collection of ancient and modern art, and is not to be missed. It's particularly well endowed with works by Pieter Breugel the Elder and Rubens, though Belgian surrealist René Magritte currently holds pride of place.
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Scientastic Museum
Kids aged six and over may yet think science is fun after a couple of hours at this interactive museum, where they can make their voice mimic a duck, 'fly' using mirrors and enjoy other sensory pursuits. A winner for rainy days.
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Tour Japonaise
On the edge of the Domaine Royal, Tour Japonaise is used for temporary Japanese art exhibitions.
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Wiels
Brussels' old Art Deco Wielemans-Ceuppens brewery, just southeast of the Marolles, has been converted into a chilled new contemporary art space mounting six temporary exhibitions each year. You can leaf through art magazines at the café-restaurant and occasionally catch live music here.
