Antwerp
Antwerp is Belgium's largest city and the one first-timers skip, the richest city in Europe in the sixteenth century with the buildings to prove it, the diamond capital of the world in four blocks by the station and the fashion capital of the country. Two nights, the station hall as the first sight, the old town a half-hour walk from it, and the highest restaurant density in Belgium.
Antwerp in a nutshell
Antwerp: what to expect
The numbers below come from 62,000+ planned stops in Belgium on Stippl, and the rest from the guides we cross-check.
Antwerp starts in the station and spreads out from there, and two nights is what it takes. The station hall is the first sight and one of the best, the cathedral holds four Rubens paintings in the building they were painted for, the KMSKA reopened after a decade with Rubens, Van Eyck and Ensor, Plantin-Moretus is a sixteenth-century printing house and the first museum listed by UNESCO, the MAS is a sandstone tower in the old docks with a free rooftop, and Cogels-Osylei is a street of belle époque mansions that works as an outdoor museum. Most travellers give Antwerp 1 night on Stippl.
Antwerp is the Belgian city most often left out, and the one planned latest. The city is on 11.2% of the trips planned through Belgium on Stippl, behind Bruges, a town a fifth its size, 24.1% of its stops are no night at all, and 27.0% of the trips carrying it are planned inside a fortnight, the highest share in the country.
So sleep near the station for a short visit or the old town for atmosphere, look up in the station before leaving it, take the KMSKA and one more museum, and book the starred restaurants well ahead. Skip Antwerp because Bruges and Ghent are prettier, which is the mistake the plans make, skip assuming the old town is next to the station, since it is a half-hour walk, and skip bargaining anywhere but the diamond district.
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Download the appWho Antwerp is for
Second-time Belgium travellers
The favourite city of the people who live in Belgium, and the one first-timers skip: on 11.2% of Belgian trips on Stippl.
Art lovers
The KMSKA reopened after a decade and over €100 million, holding Rubens, Van Eyck and Ensor, with FOMU and M HKA in the same district.
Fashion people
MoMu and the Antwerp Six flagships, in a district that behaves like a village inside the city, and an academy that is a civic point of pride.
Eaters
Over a hundred Michelin-listed restaurants and more than twenty starred, the highest density in the country, booked well ahead.
Chocolate and beer drinkers
Chocolate Nation across the square from the station, and Bolleke brewed by De Koninck in the city since 1952 with a self-guided tour.
Late deciders
27.0% of trips carrying Antwerp on Stippl are planned inside a fortnight, the highest in Belgium, and the rooms are cheaper than in comparable western cities.
Maybe not for you: anyone wanting the concentrated medieval postcard, because Antwerp is a working port city with extraordinary things scattered across it rather than a compact set piece like Bruges, and the walk from the station to the old town is the first proof.
The best time to visit Antwerp
Shoulder
May to June, September
May and June specifically, on temperature and on crowds, with the terraces in Het Zuid open and the museums quiet.
Peak
July and August
The sharpest summer of Belgium's four cities, with a third of the year's plans in two months and the fashion district on holiday in August.
Market season
December
The Christmas market on and around the Grote Markt, with the ice rink and the station hall lit.
Fashion weeks
June and January
The academy's graduate show in June and the sales in January, when the Nationalestraat district is at its busiest.
- Most travellers give Antwerp 1 night on Stippl, and 24.1% of stops are no night at all. The day trip from Brussels or the change of trains to Rotterdam, and the version that sees the station and nothing else.
- Antwerp has the sharpest summer of the four Belgian cities. July and August together take a third of its year on Stippl, and the busiest month is July 18.3% of plans.
- The Saturday food market fills the theatre square. In front of the Stadsschouwburg in the theatre quarter, and the Sunday antique hunt on the Kloosterstraat is a local ritual.
- The starred restaurants book weeks ahead. Over twenty of them, the highest density in the country, the weekend tables go first, and the lunch menus are the cheap way into the same kitchens.
- 27.0% of trips carrying Antwerp on Stippl are planned inside a fortnight. The highest last-minute share in Belgium, because the train from Brussels, Ghent or Rotterdam is a morning's decision.
- The quietest month here on Stippl is February 3.6% of plans. The Christmas market gone, the museums empty, the rooms at their cheapest and the fashion sales still running on the Nationalestraat.
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Things to do in Antwerp
Photo by Keyur Tandel via UnsplashAntwerpen-Centraal
The station hall is the first sight and one of the best, a cathedral of iron and stone, and the reason to look up before leaving.
The Cathedral of Our Lady
Four Rubens paintings in the building they were painted for, and the tallest spire in the Low Countries above them.
The KMSKA
Reopened after ten years and over €100 million, holding Rubens, Van Eyck and Ensor in Het Zuid, with FOMU and M HKA a street away.
Plantin-Moretus
A sixteenth-century printing house with the oldest presses in the world, and the first museum ever listed by UNESCO.
The MAS
A tower of stacked red sandstone in the old docks, with a free rooftop panorama over the port and the city.
Cogels-Osylei
A street of belle époque mansions in Zurenborg that works as an outdoor museum, and De Koninck's brewery nearby.
The neighbourhoods of Antwerp
The Historic Old Town
The medieval centre
Streets radiating from the Grote Markt, with the cathedral, Het Steen and the guild houses all walkable, and the river at the end of the lanes. For a first stay.
Everything historic within a walk, and a half-hour from the station.
Central Station and the Diamond Quarter
The arrival
Big modern hotels, the diamond trade in four blocks, the zoo and the chocolate museum, with the best-value beds and the easiest arrivals. For short visits and day trips.
The best value and the easiest arrival, and the least atmosphere.
Het Zuid
The arts quarter
Parisian boulevards and the arts triple of the KMSKA, FOMU and M HKA, with the restaurant terraces that follow the museums. For art first.
The museums and the terraces, and a tram from the old town.
Het Eilandje
The old docks
The waterfront with the MAS tower, the Red Star Line Museum and the Port House, the city's newest quarter. For a second visit.
The docks and the design, and nothing medieval about it.
Opera
The middle
Between the station and the old town on the shopping street, five minutes to the trains and fifteen to the cathedral. For the undecided.
The position, and a shopping street rather than a neighbourhood.
Zurenborg
The belle époque
Mansions on Cogels-Osylei and the streets around it, one of Europe's great Art Nouveau districts, with De Koninck nearby. For architecture.
The finest streets in the city, and a tram from everything else.
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Where to stay in Antwerp
Near the station for a short visit, the old town for atmosphere and Het Zuid for the art, and the three are twenty minutes apart on foot or a tram. Most travellers give Antwerp 1 night on Stippl, and the rooms run below comparable western European cities.
The Historic Old Town
Boutique hotels and guesthouses in the lanes, €90 to €200 a night.
Central Station and the Diamond Quarter
Chain hotels and hostels around the station, €25 to €130 a night.
Het Zuid
€€
Design hotels and apartments on the boulevards, €90 to €180 a night.
Het Eilandje
€€€
Waterfront design hotels in the docks, €100 to €220 a night.
Opera
€€
Mid-range hotels on the shopping street, €70 to €140 a night.
Zurenborg
€€
Guesthouses in the belle époque houses, €80 to €150 a night.
What to eat in Antwerp
De Koninck's amber ale, served in its own round glass; the taste of the city
Twice-fried, in a cone
Hand-shaped biscuits and chocolates, after the city's founding legend
Neuhaus, Leonidas, Godiva and Pierre Marcolini all have boutiques here
The highest density of starred kitchens in Belgium
Turkish, Moroccan, South American, Asian, vegan
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Antwerp customs and what not to do
Dutch, and proud of its size
The Brussels rivalry is real, the city sees itself as the capital that was not chosen, and the language is Dutch with English everywhere a visitor goes.
Fashion is taken seriously
The academy and its alumni are a civic point of pride in a way that is not true elsewhere in Belgium, and the Nationalestraat is the proof.
Bolleke's glass is round
Every beer has its glass and the city's own comes in a round one, and the café pours it without being asked.
Haggling is expected here
In the diamond district only, where prices are better than elsewhere and negotiation is normal, and nowhere else in the country.
Look up in the station
The hall is the first sight and the locals still do it, so the platform is not the place to hurry through.
Do
- Look up in the station before you leave it
- Book the starred restaurants well ahead
- Haggle in the diamond district, where it is expected
- Walk Cogels-Osylei on a Sunday, when the street is quietest
Don't
- Skip Antwerp because Bruges and Ghent are prettier
- Assume the old town is next to the station; it is a half-hour walk
- Bargain anywhere else in Belgium
What an Antwerp trip costs
Budget
€70
A hostel bed, frituur and market meals, the free churches and the riverside.
Mid-range
€150
A central double, restaurant dinners, the KMSKA and one more museum.
High-end
€300+
A design hotel in Het Eilandje or the old town, a starred kitchen and private guiding.
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Fun facts about Antwerp
Antwerp handles 80 to 90 percent of the world's rough diamonds. And about half of all cut diamonds, through 1,500 firms in four blocks by the station.
The Port of Antwerp is the second largest in Europe after Rotterdam. Handling over 240 million tonnes a year, and the reason the city has never been a set piece.
Plantin-Moretus in Antwerp was the first museum in the world listed by UNESCO. A sixteenth-century printing house with the two oldest presses on earth still inside it.
When Spain took Antwerp in 1585, roughly 60 percent of its 100,000 people fled north. Which directly fed Amsterdam's Golden Age, and emptied the richest city in Europe.
Antwerp's name comes from the legend of the giant Antigoon's severed hand. A giant's hand thrown into the river, which is why hand-shaped biscuits are the local sweet.
27.0% of trips carrying Antwerp on Stippl are planned inside a fortnight. The highest last-minute share in Belgium, and the train from Brussels is why.
Local tips for Antwerp
Walk the centre, tram the rest
The city is large but the centre is compact, and the station to old town walk is twenty to thirty minutes down the Meir.
A day-trip base in disguise
Ghent, Bruges, Brussels, Mechelen and Rotterdam are all under an hour, and the beds by the station are cheaper than in any of them.
The visitor areas are safe
The people who live nearby go into the centre constantly and report no problems, and the city runs below Brussels on the one comparison made.
Pockets at Centraal
The busiest transit point in the city, and the one place the national pickpocketing picture applies, so the bag stays in front on the platforms.
The port is not for visiting
A working port city whose districts beyond the centre are not covered by any guide, and the visitor stays inside the ring.
One night, or two if earned
Most travellers give Antwerp 1 night on Stippl, and 44.9% of stops are a single night, which is the station, the cathedral and one museum.
Antwerp questions, answered
An emphatic yes from the people who live in Belgium, and the plans leave it out: the city is on 11.2% of Belgian trips on Stippl, behind Bruges, a town a fifth its size. It is the city that rewards the second trip, or the first one that skips the postcard.
Antwerp for architecture, fashion, food and value, and Brussels because that is where you land. The two are forty minutes apart by train, and a night in each is the honest answer for a first trip.
Two nights, and the plans give it less: most travellers give Antwerp 1 night on Stippl, and 24.1% of stops are no night at all. Two covers the station, the cathedral, the KMSKA and an evening in Het Zuid.
The district is the world's trading centre, the prices are better than elsewhere and haggling is normal, which is unusual for Belgium. A certified dealer with a shopfront rather than a doorway, and the certificate checked before the money, is the whole of the advice.
Near Central Station: the best value, the easiest arrival, and the diamond district, the zoo and the chocolate museum on the doorstep. Put the station hotel into Stippl with the cathedral for the morning, then ask people in subreddits like r/Antwerpen which Het Zuid terrace they would eat at.
For most people a late decision either way: 27.0% of trips carrying Antwerp on Stippl are planned inside a fortnight, the highest share in Belgium. The station and the cathedral fit a day, and the KMSKA, Plantin-Moretus and the docks need the night.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
Plan Antwerp in Stippl
Day-by-day planning, stays and budget in one app, with every place from this guide already on the map.
Download the app