The National Air and Space Museum of France, officially known as the Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace, is one of the most important aviation museums in the world. Located at Paris–Le Bourget Airport, just northeast of central Paris, it occupies a historic airfield that played a central role in early commercial aviation. More than a museum, it is a vast historical archive of human flight, spanning from the earliest experiments with balloons to modern space exploration.

The Technik Museum Speyer in Germany is one of Europe’s most impressive museums dedicated to aviation, space exploration, and technology. Visitors can explore a vast collection that includes the Boeing 747, the Antonov An-22, the Buran space shuttle, submarines, classic cars, locomotives, and hundreds of other exhibits. In this in-depth review, aviation photographer Kris Christiaens tells us all about this impressive museum.

For anyone who still gets goosebumps at the sight of a tail-fin or who can recite Fokker type numbers in their sleep, Aviodrome at Lelystad Airport is a museum that rewards curiosity. It’s not a sterile “glass case” collection: Aviodrome combines big-airliner spectacle (yes, there’s a real KLM Boeing 747 outside you can board), intimate classics in hangars, a reconstructed 1928 Schiphol terminal, interactive flightsims, and a surprisingly deep slice of Dutch aviation history.