8 of the best things to do in Antwerp

With its international port, established diamond trade and rich cultural contribution, Antwerp offers much to travelers, particularly those interested in history, art and food. Antwerp boasts a plethora of world-class museums, a fashion and design world of international renown, and a culinary scene to make every type of food and drink enthusiast excited. 

Here are our recommendations of the best things for the culturally curious visitor to do while they're in Antwerp.

1. Arrive into Antwerpen-Centraal, the city’s iconic central train station

Described as among the world’s most beautiful train stations, Antwerpen-Centraal is a great place to start your visit to the city. Not only is it an architectural marvel of the early 20th century – complete with the marble tiles, stained glass, and grand clocks of architect Louis Delacenserie’s neo-baroque design – but, as one of only four Belgian stations on a high-speed rail network, it’s one of the most important transport hubs in the country.

As a public station, you can freely navigate its four levels and 14 tracks, starting from the upper level where the six terminating platforms are separated by a central opening that showcases impressive views of the lower levels. If you’re lucky, you might spot a Belgian celebrity or catch a flash mob event: you may even recognize the station from when it hosted 200 dancers in the viral video performance of a song from the 1965-movie The Sound of Music.

Detour: Right in front of the station are streets lined with diamond shops. If you’re shopping for something that sparkles, this is the place to go: 86% of all rough diamonds in the world are traded in Antwerp. Keep an eye out for the “Most Brilliant” label, a mark of quality awarded to jewelers who meet strict standards established by the City of Antwerp and the Antwerp World Diamond Centre. You can even have diamonds you’ve bought somewhere else checked for quality during a 15-minute evaluation at Antwerp’s “Checkpoint Diamond”, located at the Orsini Diamonds shop on De Keyserlei.

2. Shop for fashion at Het Modepaleis

Antwerp is a city famous for fashion, and especially for a collective of young designers – Walter Van Beirendonck, Dirk Bikkembergs, Ann Demeulemeester, Dries Van Noten, Dirk Van Saene and Marina Yee – who trained at Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts in the early 1980s. The group became famous after they drove in a van from Belgium to present at London Fashion Week and unexpectedly made an impact. The reporters couldn't pronounce their Flemish names so began collectively referring to them as the “Antwerp Six”. 

On your visit, pop into Het Modepaleis (“Fashion Palace”) on Nationalestraat, a store owned by Dries Van Noten. It’s located in a listed building that dates to 1881, complete with wooden counters, tiled floors and curved windows.

Great fashion stores await you all over the city’s Fashion District, where major fashion brands rub shoulders with independent designers. Pop into the store of Ann Demeulemeester to immerse yourself in her dark romance, with elegant silhouettes and edgy details. Or visit the store of Christian Wijnants to experience his striking prints, artisanal knitting techniques and rich color palette. Jan-Jan Van Essche’s sober, integrative designs and timeless antique collection can be found at Atelier Solarshop in Dambruggestraat.

Detour: Walk 2 minutes' south on the same street as Modepaleis to Antwerp’s internationally renowned Fashion Museum, MoMu. Founded in 2022, the museum houses the largest collection of contemporary Belgian fashion in the world. Take in one of its immersive fashion exhibitions and digest it all afterwards with a drink in the museum’s MoMu Café.

3. Walk through the Valley of the Great Apes at Antwerp Zoo

Antwerp Zoo was established in 1843, making it not only the oldest animal park in the country, but one of the oldest in the world. It receives over a million visitors each year, and houses 5000 animals of 950 different species. The zoo provides a cultural function to the city, with a concert hall – known as A Room with a ZOO – that is the residence of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra. It's also a significant scientific institution, home to the Centre for Research and Conservation.

A major highlight for visitors is the Valley of the Great Apes, the adventure playground of the gorillas, chimpanzees and owl-headed monkeys. The great apes walk from their indoor enclosures via an underground passage to their spacious outdoor enclosure. Sheltered niches between the different terraces provide protection to visitors from the elements and reduce reflection on the windows. This facilitates viewing and photographing as the animals traverse their climbing equipment and natural rocks.

The zoo runs a project in Cameroon to counter the poaching of the western lowland gorillas species found at the zoo, one which combines research with raising awareness amongst locals and helping to provide sustainable sources of income that reduce the need for poaching.

Planning tip: The zoo is open every single day of the year, between 10am and 5pm. Check out the ever-changing program of talks and tours when you visit to see if you catch one of the research deep-dives or animal updates.

4. Treat yourself to world-famous fine dining

Antwerp might just be the gastronomic capital of Belgium, with restaurants of all styles serving pockets of all sizes. It’s particularly exciting when it comes to fine dining, perhaps because it has historically brought global cuisines through its international port. Its reputation as an important central hub for trade in the region has also attracted innovative and talented chefs and hospitality entrepreneurs from all over Benelux.

One of your many options is Zilte, a three Michelin-star restaurant from chef Viki Geunes, known for its meticulously detailed dishes served on the rooftop of the MAS museum. Then there’s Michelin-star restaurant DIM Dining, where you can grab a seat at the counter to watch chef Simon van Dun’s prepare his Asian-inspired dishes using local ingredients and listen to sommelier Jonas Kellens offer sake recommendations.

Another exciting fine-dining option in the city is found at the five-star hotel Botanic Sanctuary Antwerp, which opened on the grounds of a 15th-century monastery with botanic gardens in the spring of 2022. The hotel houses two gastronomic restaurants from famous Flemish restaurateurs Gert De Mangeleer and Joachim Boudens, including Hertog Jan at Botanic Antwerp, a two Michelin-star restaurant that boasts its own greenhouse, beehives and herb garden. Hertog Jan presents an “omakase” menu, a term borrowed from Japanese cuisine meaning “I leave it up to you,” allowing the chefs to express their creativity through a mix of West Flemish garden inspirations and global culinary techniques.

Planning tip: The fine-dining establishments in Antwerp are reservation only and often have long waiting lists. If you’re hoping to secure a table, it's best to book well in advance of your trip.

5. Take a stroll in the garden of Rubens’ house

The home of Peter Paul Rubens, the city’s most famous artist (and one of the world’s greatest painters), is an attraction in itself, but don’t miss the garden of Rubens’ house. Rubens worked all over Europe, but acquired this 16th-century house and land in 1610, combining the old-Flemish style with an Italian Renaissance look and feel. The portico and garden pavilion are as architecturally intriguing to modern day eyes as they would have been in Rubens' time, with one structure offering a view of the other thanks to a unique sightline. 

The garden is designed so as to create the illusion of an island in time. It showcases two large parterres, garden sections made up of symmetrical patterns of plant displays and gravel paths. A bluestone fountain occupies the central spot on each parterre and the paths in between the flowerbeds are colored with blooms that match the architectural hue of Rubens’ workshop.

Rubens' famous painting the Walk in the Garden seems to have been used as inspiration for these parterres, in which 17,427 plants bloom throughout the seasons: they’re lined with some 450 yew hedges, 40 citrus trees and numerous glazed terracotta pots.

Detour: Take a 3 minute walk south from Ruben’s house to the city’s Latin Quarter, home not only to two of Antwerp’s most renowned theaters, the Stadsschouwburg and Bourla, but to a Saturday market on Theaterplein (locals call it the vreemdelingenmarkt or “foreign market”), which spotlights everything from spicy Moroccan bites to shrimp croquettes.

6. Drink a local beer at Café Den Engel

Perhaps Antwerp’s most famous brown cafe (small old-fashioned pub noted for the interior), Den Engel is housed in an old guildhall, a protected monument, on the city’s Grote Markt. Sit at wooden tables and admire the decor, including interior wooden paneling, an array of mirrors and a patchwork of mosaic floor tiles. Photographs of previous evenings enjoyed by patrons at "the Angel” line the tops of the walls, and in winter, a little stove offers a warm backdrop to cozy conversations. 

You’ll find locals with their newspapers and dogs here, alongside politicians grabbing a beer after their council meetings, which take place right across the street in city hall. Time seems to sit still, partly due to the large clock that tells you it’s always five to twelve. Your order will be a Bolleke, an easy-drinking amber coloured Spéciale Belge-style beer (5.2% ABV), a brand which has been ubiquitous in Antwerp cafes since 1952 and which took its name from the spherical glass in which it’s always been served (bol-eke or “little ball”).  

Detour: If you’re interested in how the Bolleke is produced, why not visit the place of its production, Brouwerij De Koninck, located 4km (2.5 miles) from Den Engel in the Green Quarter of the city and owned by the well-known Duvel Moortgat group of breweries. The brewery offers an interactive tour (audiovisual, no guide, lasts ~1 hour) during which you drive through town in a vintage delivery van, walk inside a representation of a Bolleke glass, see the brewing hall, and test your beer pouring skills.

7. Learn the story of European migration at the Red Star Line Museum

Two million passengers traveled to North America on the Red Star Line ships that left from the port of Antwerp between 1873 and 1934. The Red Star Museum, located in the Eilandje district of the city, presents the history of that migration and features the stories of passengers who came from all over Europe to board the ship and flee poverty or persecution.

On your visit to the museum, you’ll see diary entries, photos from passport control and medical checks, and the accounts of 20th-century emigrants who faced storms, seasickness, and quests for a new life, all of which are moving exhibits that encourage dialogue about migration in today’s world. 

Learn about the famous scientist Albert Einstein, a regular and much-loved guest on board the ships, who sailed several times on the SS Belgenland and who, in the 1930s, left Europe on a Red Star Line boat for his new home in America. You’ll also discover the stories of child travelers, crew members and more contemporary emigrants.

Detour: When you’re done at the Red Star Line Museum, why not pop into MAS museum, across the dock on Het Eilandje, nestled in an iconic warehouse building with 10 storeys of exhibitions about connectedness that are stacked like boxes. It offers incredible views of this port city. When you’re ready to sit down and digest the museum experiences, wander over to ‘t Waagstuk, a highly regarded cafe in the neighborhood with a cute enclosed terrace area and a menu featuring beers from breweries in the region such as De Scheldebrouwerij, Antwerpse Brouwcompagnie and Brouwerij Het Nest.

8. Chill with a book and drink in Antwerp’s bookshop wine bar

Luddites is a bookshop and wine bar located in a stately mansion in the city center’s Hopland, noted for its specialization in English-language books and its great selection of European wines (heavily featuring interesting German, Austrian, Belgian and Danish producers).

The owners – Richard Bolte and Jorien Caers – named their business after an English secret society of textile workers who wrote poems, songs and letters to factory owners. Bolte and Caers claim Luddites is “a safe haven for people who want to evade the digital world, in pursuit of quietude or Bacchic bliss”.

Detour: If you want to pick up books and alcoholic beverages in one stop, try Bookz & Booze on the Vrijdagmarkt. If it’s coffee you’re after, try Bookshop Stad Leest on Oudaan, a quirky bookshop and cafe that has cultivated a community of readers in the city identified by the Stad Leest tote bags they wear. For reading (and drinking) later in the evening, head to Café Boekowski at the Palace of Justice, more like a neighborhood cafe with walls full of books than an actual bookshop, where you’ll discover a curated beer menu and a culture of book exchange.