Best Things to Do in Antwerp, Belgium (2026 Guide)

1Start at the Grote Markt and the Brabo Fountain

The historic heart of Antwerp is a triangular square framed by ornate 16th-century guild houses and the Renaissance City Hall — many of the buildings burned down in the 16th century and were rebuilt in the same style. At the centre stands the Brabo Fountain (Jef Lambeaux, 1887), which tells the city’s founding legend: the Roman soldier Silvius Brabo defeats the giant Antigoon, who chopped the hands off ships that refused to pay his river toll, and hurls the giant’s own severed hand into the Scheldt. That “hand-throwing” (hand werpen) is said to be where the name Antwerp comes from.

A guided walk is the best way to unlock stories like this one, and it usually strings the square, the cathedral and the old streets around them into a single route:

Best for: The obvious first stop and the heart of the old town. Duration: 30–45 minutes, longer with a café stop. Free.

2See Rubens at the Cathedral of Our Lady

You’ll spot the cathedral’s 123-metre tower from across the city long before you reach it. Built over roughly 170 years from 1352, it’s Belgium’s great Gothic showpiece, and inside it Rubens’s altarpieces hang in the settings they were designed for: The Elevation of the Cross, The Descent from the Cross, and the Resurrection triptych, alongside vivid stained glass and an ornate pulpit. Seeing them here, rather than behind museum glass, is much of the point.

Best for: Art lovers and anyone who wants one genuinely world-class experience. Duration: 45–60 minutes. Around €12 entry (under 18s free). Typical hours are Monday–Friday 10:00–17:00, Saturday 10:00–15:00 and Sunday 13:00–17:00, but services, weddings and events can close parts of the nave, so check the cathedral’s official site before you go. Arriving early avoids the queue.

3Admire the “Railway Cathedral” (Antwerp Central Station)

Most cities hide their train stations; Antwerp shows off theirs. Built between 1895 and 1905, the stone-clad terminus is topped by a 75-metre dome inspired by the Pantheon in Rome and opens onto a marble-and-gold hall, with a 186-metre glass-and-steel canopy arching over the platforms behind it. It was designed by Louis Delacenserie — the same architect behind Bruges’s neo-medieval flourishes — and Newsweek once ranked it the fourth most beautiful station in the world. It’s a working station, so you can simply walk in.

Best for: Architecture fans, and a great first or last impression of the city. Duration: 15–30 minutes. Free. The zoo and the diamond district are right next door.

4Take the Free Rooftop View at the MAS

Ten storeys of red sandstone and rippling glass in the Eilandje harbour district, the MAS (Museum aan de Stroom, opened 2011) tells the story of Antwerp, its port and the wider world. But the real draw is the rooftop: a continuous route of escalators climbs through the building to a 360-degree panorama over the old town, the Scheldt and the port cranes — and the panorama is free, with no museum ticket required.

While you’re down in the Eilandje, a public cruise through the old docks is a great way to see this working harbour district from the water:

Best for: The best free view in the city, especially around sunset. Duration: 30–60 minutes for the roof, half a day for the galleries. The panorama is open Tuesday–Sunday 9:30–22:00 (until midnight from 1 April to 30 October) and closed on Mondays; it can also close temporarily in bad weather. Galleries run Tuesday–Sunday 10:00–17:00, with last entry at 16:00.

5Step Into the Plantin-Moretus Museum

This is the only museum in the world on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and it’s easily the most atmospheric in Antwerp: the 16th-century home and printing works of the Plantin-Moretus family, who ran the business for three centuries. You walk through the family’s rooms, a hidden baroque garden and the workshop itself, which holds two of the oldest printing presses in the world alongside tens of thousands of old books, manuscripts and lead letters. An audio guide is included in the ticket.

Best for: History, books and design lovers. Duration: 1.5–2 hours. Open Tuesday–Sunday 10:00–17:00 and closed on Mondays; standard ticket €12 (26+), €8 concession, under 18 free. Entry is timed, so book ahead online.

6Visit the Rubenshuis (Rubens’s House)

Peter Paul Rubens’s home and studio is one of Antwerp’s best-known addresses, but there’s an important catch: the historic residence itself is currently closed for renovation. What you can visit today is the Rubens Experience (an immersive exhibition), the baroque garden and the library on one ticket, with the original paintings temporarily relocated elsewhere. It’s still a pleasant, quiet visit, but it’s the optional card on this list unless you’re a committed Rubens fan — if it’s his paintings you’re after, the cathedral (card 2) is where they are.

Best for: Rubens fans and garden lovers. Duration: 1–1.5 hours. Prices and hours vary by source while renovation continues, so confirm on the official Rubenshuis site before you go; typical hours run 10:00–17:00 on weekdays and 10:00–18:00 at weekends.

7Walk the Scheldt Riverfront to Het Steen

The Scheldt is the reason Antwerp exists, and a stroll along the river is the best way to feel it. The route runs to Het Steen, the medieval waterfront fortress often described as the city’s oldest building and home to a small visitor centre. In the Brabo legend, this is where the giant Antigoon lived, so it ties neatly back to the fountain on the Grote Markt. The riverside is at its best in the evening light.

Best for: A free, easy, atmospheric walk. Duration: 30–60 minutes. Free.

8Ride the Wooden Escalators Under the Scheldt

Antwerp’s quirkiest attraction is really a piece of infrastructure: the Sint-Anna Tunnel, a 572-metre pedestrian and cycle tunnel that opened in 1933 and runs about 31 metres beneath the river to the Left Bank (Linkeroever). You reach it via original 1930s wooden escalators, which rattle and creak but still run, set inside listed Art Deco entrance pavilions. Emerge on the far side and you’re rewarded with a skyline view back over the old town. The tunnel is free and open 24/7; the escalators are serviced on Thursdays but the lifts keep running, and cyclists share the space, so watch for bikes. A ferry back across the river is a handy alternative to walking it twice.

Best for: Something completely different, and a great skyline photo. Duration: 30–45 minutes there and back. Free. Bring a light layer, as it can feel chilly underground. The entrance is near Steenplein, right by Het Steen.

9Look Up at Zaha Hadid’s Port House

Like a jagged diamond — or a spaceship that’s crash-landed on the docks — the Port House (Havenhuis) is one of the last buildings Zaha Hadid completed before her death in 2016. She kept the original heritage fire station intact and added a glass-and-steel extension shaped like a diamond above it, and it now houses the Antwerp Port Authority and around 500 staff. It looks best from the outside, so don’t plan a long visit around it; access inside is by occasional guided tour, so book ahead if you’d like to see it from within.

Best for: Modern architecture fans. Duration: 20–30 minutes from outside. Free to view. It’s a short walk or tram ride north of the MAS, so the two pair well.

10Explore the Diamond District

Around 84% of the world’s rough diamonds pass through Antwerp, and the trade here dates back to at least the 15th century. The heart of it is a tiny, unglamorous quarter right beside Central Station, centred on Hoveniersstraat, where roughly 1,500 diamond companies do business behind police cameras and armed patrols. You can walk the streets freely and window-shop, and DIVA — the museum for diamonds, jewellery and silver, opened in 2018 — tells the story properly. If you’re thinking of buying, stick to certified dealers and learn the “4 Cs” (carat, cut, colour, clarity) first.

Best for: Curiosity, jewellery lovers and a genuinely only-in-Antwerp story. Duration: 1–2 hours, longer with DIVA.

11Wander Zurenborg’s Art Nouveau Streets

Just outside the centre, Zurenborg is one of Europe’s finest stretches of Art Nouveau and fin-de-siècle architecture. Cogels-Osylei is the showpiece: a street of turrets, mosaics, wrought iron and facades built to outdo each other, most dating from between 1894 and 1906. Nearby Transvaalstraat and Waterloostraat are just as rich, and the cafés around Dageraadplaats make a good place to finish. These are people’s homes, so admire from the pavement.

Best for: Architecture and photography lovers who want to escape the tourist core. Duration: 1–1.5 hours for a stroll (a self-guided route runs about 2km). Free. Reach it by tram or a roughly 25-minute walk from Antwerpen-Berchem station.

12Spend an Afternoon at Antwerp Zoo

Founded in 1843, Antwerp Zoo is Belgium’s oldest and among the oldest in the world, and it’s as much a piece of 19th-century architecture as it is a zoo. The Egyptian-temple entrance, the Art Deco aquarium building and the Moorish-style antelope house are worth the ticket on their own, and it sits right beside Central Station. It’s the natural pick for families, and it’s open every day of the year.

Best for: Families and anyone who loves historic architecture. Duration: 3–4 hours. Around €29 adult, €25 for ages 12–17, €21 for ages 3–11; buying online a day ahead saves a couple of euros and skips the gate queue.

Taste Belgian chocolate and beer — Antwerp has plenty of both. Sample proper pralines, fries and regional beers in the cosy cafés of the old town, or join a guided tasting.

Shop the Meir and the fashion quarter — Antwerp has a reputation as Belgium’s capital of cool, thanks to a thriving fashion scene, and the Meir is its main shopping street.

See the city by bike — A guided bike tour covers the main monuments and squares of the historic centre at an easy pace, orientation without the flat-out walking:

Middelheim Sculpture Park — An open-air collection of modern sculpture in the Zuid area, where art meets a leafy park.

Bruges, Ghent and Brussels by Train

Central Station is one of Belgium’s major rail hubs, which makes Antwerp an easy base for day trips. Bruges is the obvious pairing: see our 12 best things to do in Bruges for the medieval fairytale to Antwerp’s port-city grit. Brussels and its Grand Place are also close, and our guide to the best things to do in Brussels covers the highlights, while Ghent makes a good third city.

Best for: Adding a second Flemish city to your trip. Duration: half to full day.