Atomium & Heyzel area, Brussels

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This area of exhibition halls lies just north of the Atomium (which itself was built for the 1958 Expo). There are a total of 12 halls altogether, five of them dating from the Universal Exhibition in 1935 and the other's were built for the 1958 Expo. Hall 5 is the largest of the halls and features a wonderful Art Deco façade with four statutes on top and more statues at ground level.

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These are some of the views that you can see from the top of The Atomium. You can get a pretty good view over the high-rise office blocks of the city centre as well as a good view of the Basilique Nationale de Sacre-Coeur, Heysel stadium, Parc des Expositions and Domaine de Laeken.

Open: 10am-6pm daily. Admission: €7,00.

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This strange looking structure was built for the 1958 World Fair and is probably, (along with the Grand Place), the most identifiable symbol of Brussels. It was designed by Andre Waterkeyn to replicate an iron atom magnified 165 billion times. Each of the nine spheres are 18m (60ft) in diameter and are linked by esculators. The Atomium was re-opened for visits on February 18th 2006 after more than a year of renovation. You can take a lift up to the top sphere where the views over the Heysel area and city centre are pretty good.

Open: 10am-6pm daily. Admission: €7,00.

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Mini-Europe is located in the Heysel area of NW Brussels and features a large area of model buildings and street scenes from each country of the EU. I arrived early on a Monday when the park had just opened and had the whole place to myself to wander around in and marvel and the intricately designed models. Each model has a scale of 1/25 and 55 professional workshops from 9 EU countries were contracted to carry out the mammoth task in making the 100 plus models.

As you walk round the models you can play each countries national anthems by pressing a big red button on top of a sign that shows population and area figures for that country. The models are very well done. Favourites for me are the House of Parliament (UK), Grand Place (Brussels!), Eiffel Tower, Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela (Spain), Pisa (Italy), Mount Vesuvius (Italy - where you press a button and it erupts shaking the ground and sending smoke into the air), Prague and all the models in Holland and Belgium.

If you pick up a leaflet from your hotel it may have a €1,00 off the entrance coupon which is handy to take as the entrance fee is a rather hefty €12,00. You're given a good booklet that outlines all the models in each country when you pay.

Open: 9.30am - 6pm daily or 9.30-8pm daily in summer. Admission: €12,00.

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I had mixed opinions given by people on both the Atomium and Mini Europe, some saying that our twin sons, age 4, would be bored. Not so! Our sons would move into the Atomium if given the chance. It has had a recent facelift so I don't know what it was like before and they hadn't finished placing all the exhibitions inside the, what are they called? The balls, the atoms? The entrance fee is currently €9 per adult and for the experience of climbing up all those atoms it is value for money. The boys got in for free, the advantages of being 4 I suppose. Firstly you have to take various stairs and escalators up, including one scarily steep one, not for vertigo sufferers! Then, on decending back down to the bottom you take an elevator up to the top, the elevator has a clear ceiling so look up if you dare. The views are wonderful from the top, as my eldest boy said, "Mummy are we giants now?" The restaurant is quite pricy, high prices for a high position.
We were giants again when we took the short walk over to Mini Europe. Now this was a lot of fun for adults and children. The buildings are fantastic, I doubt minature buildings are to everyones taste - well, just don't go then because this place is full of them. The interactive buttons and exhibition at the end kept the tiddlers happy. The attention to detail and the facts and figures kept the big ones happy! You get a handy booklet at the entrance plus a photograph with the turtle mascot which you have the option to buy (as a photograph or keyring) later on.

Built for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (Expo '58), the 103-meter (335-foot) tall. Atomium monument represents a unit cell of an iron crystal (body-centered cubic), magnified 165 billion times, with vertical body diagonal, with tubes along the 12 edges of the cube and from all 8 vertices to the center.

Windows in the top sphere give a panoramic view of Brussels. Other spheres have 1950s exhibitions.

Opening hours: from 10 a.m. - 5.30 p.m. & from April - August till 7.30 p.m.

Looking at this picture might be misleading, this is not the real City Hall but the miniature one in Mini Europe - one of the must see of Brussels - in the Brupark near the Atomium. The hall is in fact taller than a human, and the Grand Place is pictured during the flower carpet festival.

The Atomium is actually quite old. Built for the 1958 International Exhibition, what it tries to do is to be a lasting icon like that of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Representing the basic structure of a molecule, it has viewing observation floors on the three middle level spheres. I was told that the views from up there is not that great anyway as the glass windows are blurry, not a good idea when you're already pissed with all the blondes and donkers...perhaps a good experience for the teetoetallers!