Best museums in Brussels: prices, the Monday closures and the free first Wednesday and first Sunday

💡 The Short Version: Most Brussels museums are closed on Mondays: the Magritte Museum, the Old Masters, the Musical Instruments Museum, the Art & History Museum, the Comic Art Museum, the Horta Museum, the City Museum, Train World and the Museum of Natural Sciences. Autoworld is open, and so are the free Parlamentarium and House of European History from 13:00. The Magritte and Old Masters combination is €20, the Musical Instruments Museum €18 and the Comic Art Museum and the Horta Museum €14 each. The first Wednesday of the month is free from 13:00 at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts, the Musical Instruments Museum and the Art & History Museum, and the first Sunday at the Horta Museum (booked), the City Museum and the GardeRobe. The Fin-de-Siècle Museum has been closed since January 2024. Prices are in euros. Or book a tour: the Musical Instruments Museum ticketad is €18 and the Comic Art Museum ticketad €14 (GetYourGuide).

Closed days and free days

Prices are the adult rate from each museum’s own site, for the permanent collection. The Atomium and its Design Museum are open daily and have their own page.

The Royal Museums of Fine Arts, the Musical Instruments Museum and the Art & History Museum also close on 1 May and on 1 and 11 November, which the Comic Art Museum does not. What to book in Brussels has the hours for every sight.

Free days and passes

• First Wednesday of the month, from 13:00: the Magritte Museum, the Old Masters Museum, the Musical Instruments Museum and the Art & History Museum, for their permanent collections. The next ones are 4 November and 2 December 2026, and 6 January and 3 February 2027.
• First Sunday of the month: the Horta Museum, which needs an online booking, and the City Museum and the GardeRobe. The first Sunday of November 2026 falls on 1 November, when both are closed, so the next are 6 December 2026, 3 January and 7 February 2027.
• Brussels Card: free permanent collections at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts, the Musical Instruments Museum, the Comic Art Museum, the City Museum and GardeRobe and the Art & History Museum. At Autoworld and Train World you go to the desk without an online ticket. It does not cover the Horta Museum. Brussels Card: is it worth it? has the sums.
• museumPASSmusees: a year-long pass for more than 200 museums. The Horta Museum, the Comic Art Museum and the museums above take it.
• Art Nouveau Pass: three Art Nouveau sites, including the Comic Art Museum, the Horta Museum and the Musical Instruments Museum. Brussels Art Nouveau lists the nine.
• Under 18: free at the Magritte Museum, the Old Masters Museum, the Musical Instruments Museum and the Art & History Museum.

The Royal Museums of Fine Arts

Magritte Museum €13 · Old Masters €13 · both €20 · closed Mondays · Place Royale 2 and Rue de la Régence 3

The Old Masters Museum holds Memling, Bosch, Bruegel, Rubens, Van Dyck and Jordaens, from the 15th to the 18th century. The Magritte Museum runs through the Surrealist’s life from the top floor down. Magritte Museum tickets has the prices, the two entrances and the guided tours. The Fin-de-Siècle Museum, in the same Royal Museums, has been closed to the public since 8 January 2024, and the Wiertz Museum since 11 October 2024; neither has a reopening date. The Meunier Museum, the home and studio of the sculptor Constantin Meunier in Ixelles, is free and open Tuesday to Friday only.

The Musical Instruments Museum

€18 · closed Mondays · free first Wednesday from 13:00 · Rue Montagne de la Cour 2

The Musical Instruments Museum, the MIM, fills four floors of the Art Nouveau Old England building, by Paul Saintenoy, with instruments from around the world. The multimedia guide is included in the ticket, and the museum says you can listen to the sounds the instruments once produced. Tickets are for a time slot, bought at the desk or online. Sales stop at 16:00 and the last entry is 16:15. Seniors and groups pay €14, ages 18 to 25 €7, and under-18s are free. Brussels Card, museumPASSmusees and Art Nouveau Pass holders enter free, but not the guided tours. Photographs are allowed without flash, and there are lockers. The restaurant on the top floor is closed for renovation.

The Old England building, home of the Musical Instruments Museum, Rue Montagne de la Cour, Brussels. Photo: Fred Romero, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

The Art & History Museum

€10 · closed Mondays · free first Wednesday from 13:00 · Cinquantenaire Park 10

The Art & History Museum runs from prehistoric flints and Merovingian tombs to Brussels tapestries and altarpieces, Buddha statues, and Aztec and Maya sculpture. A hall of Belgian Art Nouveau and Art Deco is on the route, and the museum also shows the Wolfers Frères jewellery-shop fittings that Victor Horta designed. The Antiquities galleries are closed for renovation with no reopening date, and the museum hopes to show part of them again by 2028 in another area. Ticket sales end at 16:00. Seniors pay €8, ages 18 to 25 €4, and under-18s are free. The exhibition Inuit: Impressions of the Canadian Far North runs from 16 October 2026 to 18 April 2027.

The Comic Art Museum and the Horta Museum

Comic Art Museum €14 · Horta Museum €14 · both closed Mondays

The Comic Art Museum is in a Horta building and takes about 1 hour 30 minutes. The comic strip route walks the murals to its door. The Horta Museum is the architect’s own house, and only an online booking guarantees entry; it opens at 14:00 on weekdays. Horta Museum tickets has the rules.

The City Museum and the GardeRobe MannekenPis

€10 for both · closed Mondays · free first Sunday · the King’s House on the Grand-Place and Rue du Chêne 19

One ticket covers the Brussels City Museum in the King’s House, which holds the original Manneken Pis, and the GardeRobe, which shows about 150 of his costumes at a time. Manneken Pis has the dressing calendar.

The Cinquantenaire: Autoworld and the Royal Military Museum

Autoworld €18 · open Mondays · Parc du Cinquantenaire 11

Autoworld shows more than 250 vehicles and takes about 1 hour 30 minutes. It is open seven days, Monday to Friday 10:00 to 17:00 and at weekends 10:00 to 18:00. The discounted ticket is €14, ages 6 to 12 pay €11, and under-6s are free. Booking online at least a day ahead takes €1 off each ticket. Brussels Card and museum pass holders go to the reception desk. Lockers are available, and the brasserie and shop have a separate entrance. Autoworld 40 Years runs to 13 December 2026, and 75 Years of Ferrari in Belgium from 19 December 2026 to 28 February 2027.

The iron-and-glass hall that houses Autoworld, Parc du Cinquantenaire, Brussels. Photo: Stratoswift, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Royal Military Museum is in the same park, closed on Mondays and open 09:00 to 17:00 on other days, with the last entry at 16:00; backpacks and tripods are not permitted. The Cinquantenaire combiticket is €30 and covers Autoworld, the Art & History Museum and the Royal Military Museum, against €28 for Autoworld and the Art & History Museum alone.

Train World

€15 · closed Mondays · Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 17:00, last admission 15:30 · Place Princesse Elisabeth 5, Schaerbeek

Train World, the museum of the Belgian railways, is in and beside Schaerbeek station, two minutes’ walk from the platforms. It describes itself as a museum where you may touch almost everything. Ages 6 to 17 pay €11, ages 4 to 5 €5, and ages 0 to 3 are free. A Train World ticket bought online comes with a code for a Discovery Ticket, which takes 40% off a return train fare to Schaerbeek on the day of your visit, and Train World says children under 12 travel free on the train. Brussels Card and museum pass holders get in free but must collect the ticket at the cash desk. The old ticket hall is shut on 19 November, and the museum on 5 December 2026. Trams 7 and 92 also stop at the station.

The Schaerbeek station building that holds Train World, Brussels. Photo: Smiley.toerist, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Museum of Natural Sciences

€15 · closed Mondays · Rue Vautier 29

The Museum of Natural Sciences shows the Bernissart Iguanodons and has a Gallery of Humankind. It is open Tuesday to Friday 09:30 to 17:00 and at weekends 10:00 to 18:00, with the last admission between 15:30 and 16:00 on weekdays and between 16:30 and 17:00 at weekends. Ages 3 to 25 pay €6, seniors €11, and ages 0 to 2 are free. The PaleoLAB workshop adds €4. It is closed on 25 December, 1 January and 1 May, and closes at 15:00 on 24 and 31 December.

The dinosaur gallery of the Museum of Natural Sciences, Brussels. Photo: Benoît Prieur, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

The free museums in the European Quarter

The House of European History and the Parlamentarium are free every day of the week and open on Mondays from 13:00. The Parlamentarium needs a physical passport or national ID card. Free things to do in Brussels has both.

Where to buy

What to book in Brussels has the closed days for every sight. Brussels with kids sorts the museums by age. 3 days in Brussels builds a Monday plan from the open sights. The Grand-Place and the Atomium are open on Mondays. For a bed, see where to stay in Brussels.