When deciding where to visit in Belgium, Brussels, as the capital and the centre of the EU often comes top of the list. Next comes Bruges for its well-preserved medieval architecture and romantic canals. Ghent is starting to be popular, particularly on social media, as a less crowded alternative to Bruges.
Antwerp is so often missed off this list, and I’ve never understood why. It has long been my favourite city in Belgium, ever since I visited as a student living elsewhere in Belgium, and later on when a friend was posted there. However, it has been a little while since I’ve been there, so I decided to re-visit and see whether it is worth a place on a trip to Europe.
The first thing in Antwerp’s favour is its location. It is in the north of Belgium, and on the direct train line between Paris and Amsterdam, making it extremely easy to get there. It does have its own airport, though it is small enough to be insignificant for our purposes. Brussels has a good airport with a train link to Antwerp. The advantage of arriving by train is that you come straight into one of the most iconic buildings of the city. The train station is a marvel; it has been voted the most beautiful station in the world.
Antwerp is a mid-sized city, with a population of over half a million but from a visitor’s stand point most of the places of interest are situated in the old town, making it very easy to get around.
I chose to base myself at the Hotel Franq (review coming next week), a converted bank right on the edge of the old town and an easy tram ride from the station. I bought a city pass in advance which included the trams so I could take them whenever I wanted without worrying about tickets or validating.
The Antwerp City Pass also includes most of the museums, and entry into the cathedral which at 55€ for 48 hours made it a worthwhile purchase.
I took a walking tour, which is what I recommend in general in European cities. It gives you a sense of the history of a place and allows you to get your bearings. The one I took was by Urban Insight Tours (no affiliation) and was labelled as a free tour, but you are expected to pay the guide at the end. The guide I got wasn’t native to Antwerp but clearly knew her subject and spoke good English.
One would assume that a walking tour would involve a lot of walking, but the historic centre of Antwerp has so many monuments in such a small space I think we barely walked a mile during the two hours. Rather than thinking of it as a walking tour, think about it more as an outdoor history lesson.kmska
We learnt about how the castle Het Steen was built in the 13th century as a way on controlling access to the river Scheldt. And how this became a much larger complex, the walls of which are still visible today.
We learned about the golden age of Antwerp in the 16th century, when Antwerp was the busiest port in North-West Europe. This is when the Antwerp school of painting was developed and when the guild halls were built.
We learnt about the Spanish take-over of the city and how the Protestants were forced to leave, sending many traders and artists to Amsterdam instead, and helping them have their own golden age.
We learnt about how the river Scheldt, whilst bringing in the riches to the city, is tidal so also brought in a large flooding problem. This resulted in the city level being raised by several metres (you can see the original level of the city in the lower windows of the Butchers guild (Vleeshuis).
The history continues with Dutch blockades, Napoleon abolishing the guild houses, Belgian independence in 1830, and the port boom in the second half of the 19th century which brought further wealth to the city.
Antwerp is a city rich in history, and a two hour tour can never fully explain it all, but it helps to give context to the buildings that make up the city.
There are multiple great museums in the city. Some of them are currently closed for renovation. These include the Rubenshuis – which was the home of Peter Paul Rubens and houses some of his most important works. That doesn’t mean you can’t see his works in Antwerp though.
There are four great Rubens paintings inside the Cathedral of Our Lady (12€ entrance fee but included in the city pass). These are some of his more religious works and not the sensuous nudes he is more widely known for. The same is true of the works found at the fine arts museum KMSKA, some of which are on loan from Ruben’s house. That is not to say they aren’t masterpieces. Rubens’ skill is evident in the paintings. If anything, the fact they are religious scenes which are reproduced hundreds of times by different painters, makes his skill at showing light and emotion really stand out.
KMSKA – which stands for Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen – the Royal Museum for Fine Arts, Antwerp (20€ entrance but included in the city pass) is worth visiting for more than just the Rubens paintings. It is an excellent gallery that manages to successfully mix old and new. When I visited there was an exhibition by the British sculptor Antony Gormley who makes humanoid sculptures fashioned from metal that explore the relationship between the human body and space and look a little like something out of a Doctor Who episode. He also makes some huge sculptures that take up an entire room that you can walk in and around and even through.
There was also a display from some young fashion designers that was mixed in amongst the main exhibits in the gallery. Each piece was made in response to a specific work in the collection, reflecting on that work’s story, shape, material mood or technique.
This was my favourite piece; the painting is Portrait of a Family by Cornelis de Vos painted in 1631. The young lady in the foreground is by designer Sofia Rodriguez Rodriguez. I love the way that the characters seem to be talking to each other across centuries.
If you want to see more of the contemporary fashion that Antwerp is famous for then head to the MoMu Fashion museum. (13€ entrance but included in the city pass). The museum specialises in contemporary Belgian fashion. They have an exhibition at the moment celebrating the 40th anniversary of The Antwerp Six: six individual, successful, careers that all started at the Royal Arts Academy in Antwerp. Apparently, they became known as the Antwerp Six in the British press when they were successful at the British Designer Show in 1986 because their names are unpronounceable, and the term stuck. Their avant-garde fashion changed the global fashion landscape in the late 1980s.
This is starting to sound like an advert for the Antwerp City Pass. I have no affiliation, but I do think it is a good deal for visitors. Not only does it get you into the places you were planning to go anyway, but it also encourages you to go to places you might otherwise have skipped. In my case it was the Diva museum, which covers the link between Antwerp and the diamond trade. This is in a building just around the corner from the main Grote Markt and is more informative than visiting the diamond district where most of the interesting things happen behind closed, locked, doors.
Diva covers three floors and the visit starts at the top with an explanation of diamond mining and continues to lower floors with exhibits about cutting and polishing, as well as displays of diamonds. Some of the displays show copies, but some are real, such as the beautiful amethyst and diamond set offered by Napoleon to the Countess Vilain XIIII. They even have the original case with Napoleon’s coat of arms.
Obviously being Belgium any visitor is going to think about beer and chips (fries). The beer angle is well covered, not only by the multiple bars that surround the Grote Markt, but also by the De Konnik Brewery tour (yet again covered by the city pass). The De Konnik brewery is a little out of the main centre, but it is easy to reach by tram. The tour starts with a beer in the courtyard beer garden, which is popular with locals. You are then taken through a series of interactive displays that explain the history of the brewery and the brewing process. You get another glass of beer before you get to the part where you see the actual working brewery. It is a self-guided tour which I found to be both educational and entertaining.
As for the chips (or French fries if you prefer – although the Belgians would fervently contest the use of the word “French”), there are hundreds of frituurs in Antwerp. From the oldest in town (and possibly the world) at Fritkot Max, frying since 1842, to the most popular Frituur Number One (its popularity perhaps due to its location near the Grote Markt). The relatively new kid on the block is Frites Atelier, opened in 2017 by Michelin starred chef Sergio Herman. I decided to test the oldest and newbie to see the comparison. Both did fantastic chips, but the experience of Fritkot Max is very much that of a fast food joint. It is sandwiched in next to a Starbucks and opposite McDonald’s. The drinks come out of a vending machine and nothing about the experience is special. Frites Atelier have taken chips to another level. The restaurant is all marble and copper. There are candles on the tables and champagne on the wine list (seriously, they have a wine list). After seeing it on various social media channels I figured it was all about the look, but I was wrong. These are the best chips I have ever eaten.
In many ways Antwerp fits the vision of a achetypical European city. Historic buildings and cobblestones, people cycling past and sitting at pavement cafes, a river running through it and a cathedral towering over it all add to the postcard image. It is also a vibrant modern city, from its fashion houses to the redevelopment of older buildings – such as the conversion of a military hospital into a green residential and cultural area – and the hip neighbourhood of Eilandje where old warehouses have been converted into restaurants and bars.
Antwerp is also very much a living city, and maintains its link into the art world. I was reminded of this when I met with local guide Carolien (https://antwerpconnection.com/). We were sitting at a lovely bar in Hendrik Conscienceplein, a square with the Baroque church Saint Charles Borromeo beautifully illuminated against the night sky. She was telling me about the many places of interest in Antwerp when a friend of hers cycled by and stopped for a chat. He was handing out posters for an event taking place on the square the following weekend.
Carolien explained that the event was to celebrate a victory the local artists had had. There was a nearby 17th century almshouse that had long ago been bequeathed to the city of Antwerp on the proviso it was used to do good. For many years it housed priests and retired religious people before falling empty sometime in the 1950s. In 1972 an artist proposed to the city that it be turned into an artists collective, and it has been run as such ever since. Twenty-five artists work there, painters, jewellery designers and filmmakers all sharing the space. Last year the city decided that, as the building needed expensive renovation, it would be sold.
The collective launched a citizens cooperative called Ercoland inviting ordinary people to become co-owners and save the space for the artists. They also ran a benefit auction where art works, some relatively famous, were auctioned off for the cause. The campaign raised more than 2.1 million Euros and in June the city confirmed that the cooperative had won the bid to buy the building. The event on the square was to celebrate the win.
It seems such a perfect example of how community is still important in cities and how art is still important to people even in the 21st century.
Antwerp does get tourists. As a matter of fact, this year, due to the low water in many of Europe’s rivers, a record number of river cruises have stopped here. But it is a long way from being overrun with tourists like Bruges. It remains my favourite city in Belgium, and I encourage you to visit. But at the same time I hope it maintains its essence and doesn’t lose itself, although from what I saw there is little danger of that.
*** All the photographs on this article were taken by me in September 2026. There are no affiliate links in this article ***
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