Architect Alfred Waterhouse had relief panels scattered across the outrageously ornate French Romanesque-style terra-cotta facade of this museum, depicting extant creatures to the left of the entrance, extinct ones to the right. The museum was in danger of becoming crusty itself and has invested millions in a superb modernization program, with more of the wow-power and interactives necessary to secure interest from younger visitors. The Darwin Centre takes you behind the scenes of the museum's collection. It showcases all the museum's creatures, great and small (all 22 million), in their pickling jars and vats, from a tiny Seychellian frog to the giant Komodo dragon lizard. It's a unique opportunity to see these wonders close up and witness the workings of a celebrated scientific research institution. There are 14 daily Explore tours from the main information desk.

You'll find, in the Creepy Crawlies Gallery, a super-enlarged scorpion so nightmarish that it makes tarantulas seem cute (8 out of 10 animal species, one learns here, are arthropods). Other wonderful bits include the Human Biology Hall, which you arrive at through a birth-simulation chamber; the full-size blue whale; and the moving dinosaur diorama. The Earth Galleries are also unmissable, with ambitious exhibits about the structure of the planet: The Power Within, with an earthquake simulation, Restless Surface, and Visions of the Earth. In the basement, quieter, more absorbing hands-on activities are offered in the Investigate section, which allows you to do just that with actual objects, from old bones to bugs. COST: Free. Tube: S. Kensington.