Antwerp

Rubens behind a cathedral door, guild houses on the Grote Markt, and a castle on the Scheldt, all of it floodlit after dark.

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💎 Antwerp Essentials

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Best Time: Apr-Jun, Sep

Terrace weather on the Grote Markt

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1-2 Days Ideal

Perfect overnight from Brussels or Amsterdam

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Currency: EUR (€)

Cards standard everywhere

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Trains: 30 min to Brussels

Direct high-speed line, about 1h10 from Amsterdam

🧭 Why Visit

The old city is small enough to cross in twenty minutes and it hides a 123 metre cathedral tower until you are almost under it. Four Rubens paintings hang inside. Outside there are guild houses, a castle on the river, a baroque church on its own quiet square, and a cafe full of salvaged saints. Antwerp also runs a working diamond quarter and a serious fashion scene, but the part you will remember is the walk.

🏛️ A Little History

In the 1500s this was the richest port in Europe. The money is still legible on the Grote Markt, where the guild houses face a city hall finished in 1565 and burned out by mutinous Spanish troops eleven years later. Het Steen, down on the Scheldt, is older than all of it and is the oldest surviving building in the city. The trade moved to Amsterdam after the wars; the port quietly came back and is now the second largest in Europe.

💡 Did You Know?

The cathedral was meant to have two towers. The second was left at the third string course and never finished, which is why the west front reads lopsided from every angle. Rubens painted thirty-nine ceiling pieces for Sint-Carolus Borromeus nearby and every one was lost in the fire of 1718. And around 80 percent of the world's rough diamonds still pass through a quarter of this city barely half a mile across.

The cathedral over the square

The Cathedral of Our Lady

The tower is visible from most of the old city and it arrives without warning from any street that leads to it.

Bronze statue of Rubens on the Groenplaats with the Cathedral of Our Lady tower behind.
Rubens on the GroenplaatsThe Rubens statue stands at the middle of the Groenplaats with the cathedral tower behind it. The square was the cathedral's churchyard until the 1780s, which is why it opens so abruptly beside the church.
The west front and main portal of the Cathedral of Our Lady seen from a narrow street.
The West FrontThe west front seen from the lane that runs up to it. There is no grand approach to this cathedral, so the tower arrives all at once.
The north tower of Antwerp's Cathedral of Our Lady seen from directly below.
One Tower of TwoThe north tower reaches 123 metres. Its twin was left at the third string course and never finished, which is why the front reads lopsided from every angle.
The floodlit cathedral tower above the Groenplaats at blue hour.
Blue Hour on the GroenplaatsFloodlights come on over the Groenplaats before the sky has finished going dark. This is the short window when the stone reads warm against blue.
The floodlit west facade of Antwerp's Cathedral of Our Lady at night.
Four Rubens InsideThe full west front under floodlight. Four Rubens paintings hang inside, including the Raising of the Cross and the Descent from the Cross.
The Grote Markt

The Grote Markt

Guild houses, the Brabo fountain, and a city hall that Spanish troops burned out eleven years after it was finished.

Guild houses and cafe terraces on the Grote Markt in Antwerp.
Guild Houses and TerracesGuild houses along the Grote Markt with the terraces set out and the square still empty. Most of these facades are later rebuilds of the sixteenth century originals.
The Brabo fountain lit at night in front of the guild houses on the Grote Markt.
The Brabo FountainThe Brabo fountain throws its bronze hand toward the river with the guild houses lit behind it. The legend has the Roman soldier Silvius Brabo cutting off a giant's hand and throwing it into the Scheldt.
Antwerp's Renaissance city hall floodlit at night with flags along its facade.
The City Hall at NightThe city hall dressed with flags and lit for the evening. It went up between 1561 and 1565, and mutinous Spanish troops burned it out eleven years later, leaving only the outer walls.
Het Steen and the river gate

Het Steen

The oldest surviving building in the city, standing where Antwerp meets the Scheldt.

The floodlit gate of Het Steen castle with the Lange Wapper statue in the foreground.
The Oldest Building in AntwerpThe gate of Het Steen at blue hour with the Lange Wapper statue on the approach. The castle is the oldest surviving building in the city.
Carved stone portal and oriel window at the gatehouse of Het Steen.
The Gatehouse DoorwayThe gatehouse doorway with its carved arms and the oriel window above it. The stone changes colour where centuries of repair meet.
A crucifix beside the wall of Het Steen at dusk.
A Crucifix at the WallA crucifix stands against the castle wall at dusk, one of the small devotional markers still scattered through the old city.
Old city corners

Old City Corners

A cafe hung with salvaged statuary, a baroque church on a quiet square, and devotional stone left standing against new glass.

The facade of Het Elfde Gebod cafe in Antwerp with a cherub frieze above the door.
The Eleventh CommandmentHet Elfde Gebod sits in the cathedral's shadow with a frieze of cherubs over the door and the menu chalked up beside it. The name means the Eleventh Commandment and the interior is packed with salvaged religious statuary.
Ivy-framed window of a cafe showing painted religious statues inside.
Saints in the WindowIvy frames a window full of painted saints. The collection inside starts at the glass.
The floodlit baroque facade of the Sint-Carolus Borromeus church at night.
Sint-Carolus BorromeusThe baroque front of Sint-Carolus Borromeus on its own quiet square. Rubens worked on the facade and painted thirty-nine ceiling pieces for the church, all of them lost in the fire of 1718.
A white stone calvary group with a modern apartment facade directly behind it.
Old Devotion, New FacadeA calvary group in white stone stands directly against a new render and glass facade. Antwerp sets its old devotions beside its new building without much ceremony.
An ornate baroque stone doorway on a brick building at dusk.
A Baroque DoorwayA carved baroque doorway on a brick corner in the old centre, catching the last of the light.
The nineteenth century city

The Nineteenth Century City

Between the station and the old centre the city changes register, from guild houses to boulevards and banks.

The pedestrianised Meir shopping street in Antwerp on a bright day.
The MeirThe Meir runs from the station down toward the old centre and carries most of the city's shopping. The belle epoque frontages survived pedestrianisation intact.
The stone corner facade of the National Bank of Belgium building in Antwerp.
The National BankThe Antwerp branch of the National Bank of Belgium, built to Hendrik Beyaert's design between 1874 and 1878 and in use from 1879. The corner carries the entrance and the block runs on down the boulevard.
Den Botaniek

Den Botaniek

A botanical garden of 1825, two minutes off the Meir, on ground that grew herbs for the Sint-Elisabeth hospital.

The entrance sign and palm border at Den Botaniek, Antwerp's botanical garden.
Behind the PalmsDen Botaniek opens off the Leopoldstraat behind a screen of palms. The garden was created in 1825 on ground that had served the Sint-Elisabeth hospital as a herb garden.
A succulent and cactus border in Antwerp's botanical garden.
The Dry BedA dry bed of aloes and cacti runs along the gravel path with the old hospital building behind it.
A rockery waterfall running into a koi pond in the botanical garden.
The Rockery PondWater steps down through the rockery into a pond with koi turning under the surface.
A brick house and a stone statue on the lawn of Antwerp's botanical garden.
The Keeper's HouseThe keeper's house sits at the top of the lawn with a statue on the grass in front of it.
A bed of pink and white sweet william flowers with a plant label.
Sweet William, LabelledA bed of sweet william in flower, labelled and dated the way everything in a botanical garden is.

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Getting There & Around

  • Come back to the Grote Markt after dark. The floodlighting on the guild houses and the city hall is the best free sight in Antwerp
  • The historic centre is entirely walkable, and Het Steen on the river is five minutes from the cathedral

Local Know-How

  • Cathedral of Our Lady holds four Rubens masterpieces, and the EUR 12 entry beats any museum queue in Belgium
  • Den Botaniek, off the Leopoldstraat, is free, central and almost empty. Het Elfde Gebod by the cathedral is a cafe hung with salvaged church statuary

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Antwerp worth staying overnight?
Yes, and the photographs on this page are the argument. Day-trippers see the Grote Markt in daylight. Stay over and you get the floodlit square, Het Steen at blue hour, and morning light on the cathedral with nobody in it.
What about the diamonds?
A working trade quarter by Central Station handles most of the world's rough stones. It is an office district rather than a sight, so visit the DIVA museum or take a certified showroom tour, and buy only with certification.
How do I get there?
Direct trains take about 30 minutes from Brussels and about 1h10 from Amsterdam on the high-speed line. From the station it is a 15-minute walk down the Meir to the old centre.
Antwerp or Bruges?
Different films. Bruges is the preserved medieval postcard. Antwerp is a working city that happens to have a medieval core, and it is livelier after dark. With two nights in Belgium, do one each. They are 90 minutes apart.

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