Is Antwerp Worth Visiting? Our Weekend in Belgium
Antwerp started at the train station. Lisa and her nephew BJ took the train from Eindhoven on Friday afternoon, one change and about an hour and 20 minutes they arrived to what some say is the most beautiful train station. I waited for Dylan to finish class and we drove. The drive was supposed to be just over an hour, but Friday traffic made it closer to 1 and a half. By the time we met up with them, Lisa had already decided Antwerp Central was one of the prettiest stations she’d ever seen, and BJ said walking up to it felt like walking into Hogwarts.
We had about 40 hours. We didn’t plan much, we had a list of things we wanted to see and dinner reservations for Friday night, but that was it. The old town is small enough that we saw almost everything just by walking around, eating fries and stopping wherever we wanted.
So is Antwerp worth visiting? Yes. It’s less touristy than Bruges or Ghent, it’s easy to get around and we liked it enough that by Sunday morning I was telling Lisa I could live there.
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Things to Do in Antwerp
If you’d rather book a tour or experience while you’re in Antwerp, GetYourGuide has several options worth looking at.
Our Tip: Book your dinner reservations before you go. We had trouble finding tables on Friday and Saturday night, and the one we managed to get without a reservation came with a 45-minute time limit. For lunch and casual places, we had no trouble finding somewhere to eat.
What We Liked About Antwerp
Antwerp isn’t on most first-time visitors’ lists for Europe. We heard very little English all weekend. Most of the visitors we saw were European, and the only obvious American was a man wearing shorts and flip-flops on a cold October afternoon who looked like he was reconsidering his packing choices.
It’s busy, especially in the old town on a Saturday night, but it never felt overwhelming. In Florence, there were days when I needed to find a café just to get away from the crowds. I never felt that way in Antwerp.
What I liked most was that we didn’t need much of a plan. We could walk around, stop for something to eat, sit in a bar when it started raining and still feel like we’d seen plenty of the city.
Antwerp Central Station
Even if you drive to Antwerp, go see the train station. As you come up from the lower platforms, the view gets better with every level. First, you see the iron and glass train hall, then the older stone building with its enormous clock.
Lisa and BJ took dozens of photos inside, but when they walked outside and turned around, they realized the exterior was just as impressive.
If you’re arriving by train, Antwerp Central is about a 20-minute walk from the Grote Markt, straight down the Meir shopping street.
The Grote Markt and the Brabo Fountain
Grote Markt is the main square in Antwerp’s old town, surrounded by beautiful historic buildings, including the City Hall. In the middle is the Brabo Fountain, which deserves a closer look because there’s quite a lot going on.
At the top is a man holding a severed hand, with water spraying from it. Below him are various creatures, including a turtle with a broken shell. It’s a strange fountain until you hear the story behind it.
According to local legend, a giant named Druon Antigoon demanded payment from ships passing along the Scheldt River. Anyone who refused had their hand cut off. A Roman soldier named Brabo eventually defeated the giant, cut off his hand and threw it into the river. The legend also offers an explanation for the city’s name, from hand werpen, meaning to throw a hand. Historians generally favor a different origin connected to the riverbank, but the hand story is the one you’ll see celebrated throughout Antwerp.
Once we knew the legend, we started noticing hands everywhere. They’re on chocolates, cookies and even the beer tasting glasses at De Koninck Brewery.
Het Steen and the Lange Wapper Statue
A short walk from Grote Markt takes you to Het Steen, a medieval fortress right on the Scheldt River. It’s Antwerp’s oldest surviving building, and it’s worth walking down to see, even if you don’t go inside.
Outside is a statue that Lisa and I both thought looked like Peter Pan standing over a group of little people. It turns out he’s another giant from Antwerp folklore, named Lange Wapper. According to the legend, Lange Wapper could make himself enormous or shrink down to a much smaller size. He enjoyed frightening people, especially drunks walking home at night. One story even claims he was found as a baby inside a giant red cabbage.
Between Brabo and Lange Wapper, Antwerp certainly has some unusual stories about giants.
The Cathedral of Our Lady and Nello and Patrasche
You can’t miss the Cathedral of Our Lady when you’re walking around Antwerp’s old town. We could see it from our Airbnb, and naturally, we wanted to go inside. The cathedral is known for its paintings by Peter Paul Rubens, but admission was €12 per person. We decided to skip it and look at pictures of the interior instead.
Outside the cathedral is a beautiful sculpture of a young boy and his dog tucked beneath what looks like a blanket made from the cobblestones. At first, we thought they were sleeping. Then we learned the story. The sculpture represents Nello and his dog Patrasche from the 1872 novel A Dog of Flanders. Nello is a poor orphan who dreams of seeing the Rubens paintings inside the cathedral. On Christmas Eve, he finally gets his chance, but he and Patrasche are found frozen to death the following morning. It’s an incredibly sad story, especially when you realize that the sculpture isn’t showing a boy and his dog sleeping peacefully. What we found interesting is that the story became enormously popular in Japan, where it was adapted into an animated television series in 1975. It’s much less familiar to American audiences.
Naturally, Lisa even brought Rex over to pay his respects to Patrasche.
Madonnas on Every Corner
Look up as you walk around Antwerp. You’ll see statues of the Virgin Mary built into the corners of buildings, crucifixes next to light posts and religious figures in places you wouldn’t expect. We saw similar things when we lived in Italy, but never quite as many as we noticed here. The Madonna on Hoogstraat, with her crown and little lantern, is one to look for.
If you want to see this taken to an extreme, have lunch at the Elfde Gebod. The restaurant is filled with religious statues, including several life-sized figures of the Virgin Mary. We had lunch there, and I’ve never seen another restaurant quite like it.
The Sint-Anna Tunnel and the Ferry Back
One of the more unusual things we did in Antwerp was walk underneath the Scheldt River through St. Anna’s Tunnel. It opened in 1933 and connects the old town with the opposite bank of the river.
Getting down to the tunnel is part of the experience. There are two sets of old wooden escalators that take you deep underground. They reminded me of the wooden escalators at Macy’s in New York City.
The tunnel itself is long, brightly lit and covered in white tiles. It takes about 10 minutes to walk across, and there’s something slightly strange about being that far underground. Lisa thought it looked like the setting for an old movie. I thought it smelled like my elementary school. Once we reached the other side, we walked around the park for a bit and enjoyed the view back toward the old town. None of us particularly wanted to walk through the tunnel again, so BJ found a free ferry that took us back across the river.
The ferry was a nice alternative, especially because we got to see the city from the water. If you want to experience the tunnel without walking through it twice, I’d recommend doing exactly what we did.
Berchem and the De Koninck Brewery
De Koninck is known for Bolleke, Antwerp’s local amber beer, traditionally served in a round glass. The brewery is in Berchem, about a 15-minute drive from the old town, in a former industrial area that’s now home to restaurants and bars.
The brewery tour is self-guided, so you move through different rooms learning about the history of De Koninck and how beer is made. It’s not the traditional brewery tour where someone walks you through the actual production area, which BJ pointed out is what he’s used to in the US. Some of the rooms were fairly basic, but others were much more entertaining. There was an old Western saloon with moving images on the walls and a short film we watched from inside an old beer van that moved as though we were driving over cobblestones. I thought that part was great. Lisa isn’t much of a beer drinker, but she actually found the explanation of why different Belgian beers are served in different glasses to be the most interesting part of the tour.
Two beers were included with admission, one when we entered and another partway through. We could even carry our drinks around while exploring, which none of us had experienced on a brewery tour before. Afterward, we stopped at the bar and ordered an additional tasting flight that included a cherry beer and a sour beer the bartender recommended because it was only available on tap at the brewery. Tickets were around €20 for adults when we visited, with a reduced student price. You can check current prices and book directly through the De Koninck website.
Berchem is also home to the Zurenborg neighborhood, known for its Art Nouveau architecture. We didn’t have time to explore it on this trip, but it’s somewhere I’d like to see when we go back.
Shopping, Markets and Museums
One thing we noticed while walking around Antwerp was how many interesting furniture and home design shops there were, along with plenty of vintage and secondhand stores. We didn’t spend much time shopping, but it’s definitely a city where I’d like to come back and browse. There are also two weekend outdoor markets outside the old town that we didn’t manage to visit.
We skipped the museums on this trip, but there are a few I’d like to see next time:
- MAS (Museum aan de Stroom): We kept hearing about the rooftop and its views over Antwerp and the harbor. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to go.
- DIVA: Antwerp’s diamond and jewelry museum. Lisa walked past it with Rex on our last morning and spotted an exhibition featuring jewelry associated with rock stars.
- The Rubens House: The artist’s former home and studio is undergoing a major renovation, with the historic residence expected to remain closed until at least 2030. Parts of the site, including the garden, are open.
- Museum Plantin-Moretus: A museum dedicated to the history of printing, housed in a historic printing workshop and residence.
Visiting Antwerp With a Dog
We brought Rex along for the weekend, and overall, Antwerp was a very dog-friendly city. We saw dogs in restaurants, cafés and bars, including one sitting on a table at Elfde Gebod. At a café called HIDDEN, we even met the resident dog, Otis. Dogs are also allowed on Antwerp’s trams, which makes getting around a little easier if you don’t want to walk everywhere.
The one thing Lisa found difficult was walking Rex through the old town when it was busy. In the Netherlands, we’re used to having fairly clear separation between pedestrians, bicycles and cars. In Antwerp, everyone seemed to be sharing the same space, and she had to keep Rex close to make sure he wasn’t getting in anyone’s way. Saturday night was particularly busy, although the streets were much quieter early in the morning, which was a much better time to take him out.
Antwerp’s historic center is easy to explore on foot, even with a dog, but the cobblestones can be uneven, and you’ll need to pay attention to cyclists. We had no problems bringing Rex into the places we visited, but it’s still worth checking with individual restaurants before making a reservation.
Getting There and Getting Around
Antwerp is an easy city to visit for a weekend, especially if you’re already traveling through Belgium or the southern Netherlands. Lisa and BJ took the train from Eindhoven, which took about an hour and 20 minutes with one change. Dylan and I drove, and although the trip normally takes just over an hour, Friday afternoon traffic added another 20 minutes or so. If you’re coming by train, Antwerp Central is within walking distance of the old town.
If you’re driving, there are a couple of things to know. Antwerp has a low-emission zone covering the city center, and foreign-registered vehicles may need to be registered before entering, even if they meet the emissions requirements. Our Dutch-registered car didn’t require separate registration. We parked in a garage near the old town for around €30 per night, and there were several other garages nearby.
Once we arrived, we did almost everything on foot. Antwerp has trams, but we didn’t use them, and we found the historic center easy to navigate without public transportation. Just be prepared for cobblestones, occasional steep staircases and busy streets, particularly on Saturday evenings. If you’re planning dinner at a popular restaurant, make a reservation ahead of time. We had trouble finding tables without one, especially on Friday and Saturday nights.
Where We Ate
We ate a lot in Antwerp. Not many vegetables, but plenty of excellent food. Our first dinner was at Chicon, where we had traditional Belgian dishes, including stoofvlees, a Flemish beef stew cooked in beer and served with fries. BJ ordered Belgian endive wrapped in ham with cheese sauce, which arrived practically bubbling. It was his first trip to Belgium, so we wanted him to try some of the local food.
We also went to Frites Atelier, which we’d already visited in Ghent and couldn’t wait to go back to. The fries are fantastic, and there are enough sauces and toppings to make an entire meal out of them. Across the street, we picked up Antwerpse handjes from Philip’s Biscuits, buttery cookies shaped like hands that make a lot more sense once you know the Brabo legend. Another memorable stop was Elfde Gebod Riverside, where we had lunch surrounded by more religious statues than I think I’ve ever seen in one place.
Our dinner at Black Smoke was one of the funniest parts of the weekend. BJ managed to get us a table even though they were fully booked, but we had exactly 45 minutes to eat. The barbecue was some of the best I’ve had in years, although we barely had time to enjoy it before the staff told us our table was needed. We finished our drinks downstairs at the bar, where we also tried Elixir d’Anvers, a local herbal liqueur that we all preferred with a little ice.
Where We Stayed
We rented an Airbnb right in the center of Antwerp’s old town, close enough that we could see the cathedral from our window. The apartment was spacious, clean and surprisingly quiet considering how busy the streets were on Saturday night. We could walk almost everywhere we wanted to go, which made it easy to head back to the apartment whenever we needed to.
With four of us and Rex, an apartment made more sense than booking hotel rooms this time. If you’d rather stay in a hotel, we’ve put together a separate Where to Stay in Antwerp guide with options in the old town, including smaller luxury hotels and dog-friendly accommodations.
So, Is Antwerp Worth Visiting?
bsolutely. We had about 40 hours in Antwerp, and by the time we left, I was already thinking about going back. It’s the kind of city where you don’t need a packed itinerary to enjoy yourself. We had a few things we wanted to see and dinner reservations booked, but otherwise we spent most of our time walking around and stopping wherever we felt like it. BJ’s advice was to grab some fries and a beer and see where the day takes you, and I think that’s a pretty good way to approach Antwerp.
If you’re planning a longer trip through Belgium, Antwerp is easy to combine with Brussels, Ghent or Bruges. We’ve visited all three, and Antwerp felt less crowded with tourists than the others. I’d happily recommend spending a weekend here rather than trying to squeeze everything into a day.
We’re already planning to return in December for the Christmas market, which we haven’t visited yet. Living just over an hour away makes that pretty easy, but even if we were traveling from farther away, I’d want to come back.
Listen to Our Antwerp Episode
We recorded this episode of The Getawayz right after returning from Antwerp, with Lisa’s nephew BJ joining us to talk about his first trip to Belgium. We get into the stories behind some of Antwerp’s unusual landmarks, our experiences at the restaurants and brewery and what we thought of the city after spending a weekend there. There’s also the story of how BJ managed to get us a table at a fully booked restaurant, only to find out we had 45 minutes to eat.
Short on time? Our One Day in Antwerp itinerary fits the highlights into a single day.
