Rubens altarpieces, a railway station built like a cathedral and the world's diamond trade, all inside a two-day walk.
Antwerp works best as a 2-day city break. Antwerp is the Flemish city that Bruges day-trippers skip, and the swap pays: a Gothic cathedral holding four Rubens altarpieces, a UNESCO-listed printing house that has barely changed since 1600, and most of the world's rough diamond trade running through a few guarded streets beside the station. That station, Antwerpen-Centraal, is a sight in itself, a stone terminus under a 75-metre dome with four levels of platforms stacked inside it. The historic centre is small enough to cross on foot in twenty minutes, but the city keeps going beyond it: rebuilt docks around the MAS to the north, museums and kitchens in Het Zuid to the south, and streets of art nouveau mansions out at Zurenborg. This guide splits two or three days so you get the Rubens and the river without spending the trip on trams.
Ideal stay
2 days
Best months
Apr · May · Jun
Mid budget
130 EUR/day
Airport
Most visitors arrive by train rather than by plane
Four picks that cover the realistic range, from splurge to budget. Prices are low-season starting points; check live rates for your dates.
Couples€€€Monastery turned five-star · Het Zuid
A walled complex of former convent and hospital buildings on Leopoldstraat, converted in 2022 into the city's only five-star hotel with its own herb garden and four restaurants. The botanical garden next door is public and free, and the cathedral is a twelve-minute walk north.
from ~320 EUR/night
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Couples€€Quiet townhouse boutique · Historic Centre
Two linked 16th-century houses on Korte Nieuwstraat with a courtyard, an honesty bar and a rooftop terrace that looks straight at the cathedral tower. There is no sign on the door beyond the house number, which tells you how much the owners care about keeping the place quiet.
from ~195 EUR/night
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First visit€€Big reliable station hotel · Diamond Quarter and Centraal
Long known as the Radisson Blu Astrid, it stands on Koningin Astridplein facing the domed front of Antwerpen-Centraal, so you can be off a Brussels or Amsterdam train and in your room in five minutes. The indoor pool, sauna and gym come with the room and look out over the station roof, with the pool open 7am to 10pm.
from ~130 EUR/night
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Budget€Official Flemish youth hostel · Historic Centre
A purpose-built hostel on Bogaardeplein in the Sint-Andries quarter, two streets from the Plantin-Moretus printing museum and the fashion shops of Nationalestraat. Breakfast is included in the dorm rate, which is rare at this price in Belgium, and there is a bike shed for arrivals on two wheels.
from ~32 EUR/night
Check pricesReal hotel photos · prices are indicative from-rates, not live quotes · booking links support the site at no extra cost
A little history
Antwerp grew rich because ships could sail deep inland up the Scheldt, and by the middle of the 16th century it was the busiest port and money market in Europe, printing books, cutting diamonds and paying for the paintings of Peter Paul Rubens. That golden century ended in 1585, when Spanish troops took the city and the Dutch republic closed the mouth of the river, cutting the port off from the sea for more than two hundred years and sending its merchants north to Amsterdam. Napoleon reopened the story in 1803 by ordering the first stone docks north of the old centre, the basins you now walk around at Het Eilandje, because he wanted a naval base facing England. The river trade came back in the 19th century along with the diamond trade around Centraal station, and Antwerp today runs the second largest port in Europe while its fashion academy keeps the city's name on shop fronts far from Belgium.
Antwerp is known for
Pick the itinerary that matches your trip. Each one is a full day-by-day plan, not a list of 30 things to squeeze in.
2
days
Two days is the right length for Antwerp, because the historic centre is small and everything except Middelheim and Zurenborg sits inside a twenty-minute walk. Day one takes the medieval core: the Grote Markt and the Brabo fountain, the cathedral with its four Rubens altarpieces, the UNESCO-listed Plantin-Moretus printing house, Het Steen on the quay, and then the 1933 wooden escalators of the Sint-Annatunnel for the skyline view from the far bank.
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3
days
Three days is the comfortable version of Antwerp, and the third day is what separates it from a Bruges trip: a green half day at the Middelheim open-air sculpture museum, free and closed only on Mondays, then the art nouveau streets of Zurenborg around Cogels-Osylei. Day one covers the medieval core, the Grote Markt and Brabo fountain, the cathedral's four Rubens altarpieces, the Plantin-Moretus printing house, the DIVA diamond museum, Het Steen and the 1933 wooden escalators of the Sint-Annatunnel.
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Antwerp has a walkable center, so the neighborhood you pick sets the tone of the whole trip.
Historic Centre
First visit
The old core runs from the Grote Markt and its stepped-gable guild houses down past the cathedral and Groenplaats to the Scheldt quays, a few hundred metres of cobbles holding most of what people come for.
Het Eilandje
Family
The Eilandje is the oldest part of the port, a grid of nineteenth-century docks north of the centre that sat derelict for decades and was rebuilt from the 2000s around the MAS, the Red Star Line Museum and two marinas.
Het Zuid
Nightlife
Het Zuid was laid out in the 1880s on the site of a demolished citadel, which is why it has wide boulevards and open squares where the rest of Antwerp has lanes.
Colored months are the sweet spot. Struck-through months come with a warning. Each page covers weather, crowds, prices and what to pack.
Tight budget?
Antwerp on a budget: same trip, around 65 EUR a day
Read the budget guide →
Pairs well with
2 days is the sweet spot for Antwerp. Day one takes the medieval core: the Grote Markt and the Brabo fountain, the cathedral with its four Rubens altarpieces, the UNESCO-listed Plantin-Moretus printing house, Het Steen on the quay, and then the 1933 wooden escalators of the Sint-Annatunnel for the skyline view from the far bank
The best months are April, May, June, September, December. Think twice about November: The weakest month of the year: grey, damp, around 10C and dark by five, with little on the calendar until the Christmas lights go up in the last days. Rates are at their lowest and the museums are empty, so come only if the indoor half of the city is what you want.
Antwerp sits around the European average. Plan roughly 65 EUR per day on a tight budget, 130 EUR for a comfortable mid-range trip, and 260 EUR and up if you want top hotels and restaurants.
Historic Centre is the safest first-visit base. The old core runs from the Grote Markt and its stepped-gable guild houses down past the cathedral and Groenplaats to the Scheldt quays, a few hundred metres of cobbles holding most of what people come for. Staying here puts the Rubens altarpieces, the Plantin-Moretus house and Het Steen within a five-minute walk, and the square softens once the day visitors head back to the station. It is the obvious base for a first, short trip.
Yes. Antwerp has a walkable center, so most of a short trip is done on foot. Most visitors arrive by train rather than by plane, and they arrive at Antwerpen-Centraal, the stone and iron terminus locals call the railway cathedral. From Brussels Airport (BRU) the direct train reaches Antwerpen-Centraal in about 35 to 45 minutes for roughly 16 to 18 EUR, because every ticket sold at the airport station carries a fixed supplement on top of the normal fare. From Brussels itself the intercity from Brussels-Midi or Brussels-Central runs several times an hour, takes about 45 minutes and costs around 9 EUR, and the high-speed Eurostar services on the Paris to Amsterdam line also stop at Antwerpen-Centraal. Antwerp has its own small airport at Deurne (ANR) about 5km southeast with a handful of routes, linked to the centre by bus in roughly 20 minutes. From Centraal it is a flat 15-minute walk down the Meir to the cathedral, or two stops on the underground tram.
Most visitors arrive by train rather than by plane, and they arrive at Antwerpen-Centraal, the stone and iron terminus locals call the railway cathedral. From Brussels Airport (BRU) the direct train reaches Antwerpen-Centraal in about 35 to 45 minutes for roughly 16 to 18 EUR, because every ticket sold at the airport station carries a fixed supplement on top of the normal fare. From Brussels itself the intercity from Brussels-Midi or Brussels-Central runs several times an hour, takes about 45 minutes and costs around 9 EUR, and the high-speed Eurostar services on the Paris to Amsterdam line also stop at Antwerpen-Centraal. Antwerp has its own small airport at Deurne (ANR) about 5km southeast with a handful of routes, linked to the centre by bus in roughly 20 minutes. From Centraal it is a flat 15-minute walk down the Meir to the cathedral, or two stops on the underground tram. It is the cheapest and usually the fastest option.
Antwerp is best known for Peter Paul Rubens, The diamond district, Antwerpen-Centraal station, The Antwerp Six, Scheldt river port, Bolleke De Koninck. Antwerp grew rich because ships could sail deep inland up the Scheldt, and by the middle of the 16th century it was the busiest port and money market in Europe, printing books, cutting diamonds and paying for the paintings of Peter Paul Rubens.