Luxury Travel in Antwerp — Trip Planner

What things cost in Antwerp

A bolleke of De Koninck sits around three and a half euros, a plate of stoofvlees with fries twenty-two to twenty-six, and a dish-of-the-day lunch in Het Zuid under twenty. Plantin-Moretus is twelve euros, KMSKA roughly twenty, and a single tram ride three with an hour of transfers. Velo, the city bike scheme, sells a day pass for less than one tram journey.

Antwerp after dark

Flemish cafes keep no fixed closing hour, so the bars around Stadswaag and antique-lined Kloosterstraat empty when the last table does, frequently past four. Cafe d'Anvers, a converted chapel in the Schipperskwartier, has run house nights since the late eighties. Het Zuid is the dressed-up choice and the Eilandje docks the newer one. Fashion-school students set the dress code, and it is not casual.

What to eat in Antwerp

Ask for a bolleke and you get De Koninck's amber ale in its round-bellied glass. Antwerpse handjes, the hand-shaped biscuit descended from the Brabo severed-hand legend, taste better from a bakery than a souvenir shop. Het Zuid around Marnixplaats is where the city actually eats out; the streets behind Central Station hold kosher bakeries, and Van Wesenbekestraat is a compact, serious Chinatown.

Antwerp with kids, realistically

Antwerp Zoo backs directly onto Central Station's platforms, opened in 1843, and works from toddler age upward. The Sint-Anna foot tunnel, with its 1933 wooden escalators dropping into a tiled tube beneath the Scheldt, is free and reliably thrills seven-year-olds. Park Spoor Noord has the water play. Newer trams are step-free, and a single ride costs three euros with an hour of transfers.

When the weather turns in Antwerp

Bad weather is precisely the right moment for De Ruien, the covered medieval waterways beneath the old town, where the tour hands you boots and takes you below whatever is falling above. Otherwise the Meir shelters you from end to end, and the Stadsfeestzaal is a shopping centre worth entering purely for its gilded belle-epoque ceiling. KMSKA comfortably absorbs three hours.

When to go to Antwerp

The month to avoid is January — around 7°C (45°F) with roughly 13 rain days. Prices and crowds track the weather here: June is the sweet spot, January the month most people skip.

Pack for peak season: Summer clothes, plus one light layer for air-con and evenings, A packable rain shell or compact umbrella earns its space, Comfortable walking shoes — every guide on this site assumes you'll use them.

Where to base yourself in Antwerp

• Old Town — Medieval centre — Grote Markt, the cathedral, the historic guildhouses.
• Diamond District — Tight quarter behind the station — diamond shops, kosher restaurants, Orthodox community.
• Het Zuid — Hip south side — fashion boutiques, restaurants, the contemporary-art museum.