Antwerp for first-time visitors
Carolus Borromeuskerk is a Baroque church anchoring one of Antwerp's quietest squares. The earliest of the picks for first-time visitors in Antwerp opens at midnight and the latest closes at 01:00.
Antwerp for first-timers, in numbers
- Picks on this page
- 24 places across 2 lists, led by Carolus Borromeuskerk, St. James' Church, Antwerp, St. Paul's Church
- Posted hours
- 12 picks post hours earliest 00:00, latest 01:00; 1 open by 09:00, 9 past 21:00
Questions first-timers ask about Antwerp
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Must-see
Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal on Groenplaats. The 123-metre Gothic tower is the tallest in the Low Countries, and inside hang four Rubens altarpieces including the Descent from the Cross, worth the €12 entry alone. Go before 10am on a weekday, when the nave holds maybe 30 visitors instead of the 300 who fill it on Saturday afternoons.
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Best time to visit
Go in late May, June or September: daytime highs run from about 17 to 22°C, the café terraces on the Grote Markt stay full into the evening, and the museum queues stay short. Avoid November through February, when daylight drops below eight hours, drizzle is frequent, and the wind along the Scheldt quays makes walking the centre a chore.
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Airport to city
Take the direct NMBS train from Brussels Airport (BRU) to Antwerp-Centraal station. Trains depart every 15 to 20 minutes, the ride takes 33 minutes, and a second-class ticket costs around €13 ($15 USD). No transfer needed. Antwerp-Centraal sits at the eastern edge of the city center, within walking distance of the Meir and the Diamond Quarter.
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How to get there
Antwerp has no major international airport. Fly into Brussels Airport (BRU), 45 km south, then take a direct SNCB train to Antwerp-Centraal in about 35 minutes for roughly €16. From elsewhere in Europe, Eurostar high-speed rail reaches Antwerp-Centraal from Paris in 1h48m and Amsterdam in 1h10m. From London, change at Brussels-Midi for about 3.5 hours total.
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Getting around
Walk. Antwerp's center fits in a 2-kilometer radius from Centraal Station. You can reach the Grote Markt, the Rubenshuis, and the Scheldt in 15-25 minutes on foot. For longer distances, De Lijn trams run every 7-10 minutes. A day pass costs €7.50. Bolt beats Uber on price. Skip driving. LEZ fines start at €150.
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Curated for first-timers
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Must-see attractions
Antwerp's must-sees are mostly old stone that is still in use, not museum pieces behind glass. The Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal dates from 1352 and is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Antwerp City Hall, dating from 1564, shares that status. The riverside fortress of Het Steen goes back further still, to 1200. Between them sit parish churches that are each a protected monument, among them Carolus Borromeuskerk from 1621 and St. Paul's Church from 1517, as well as a neoclassical theatre opened in 1834 and a protected cinema, De Roma. Two picks take you out of town on purpose: Fort Breendonk in Willebroek, a military fort that served as a Nazi prison camp, and the Zimmertoren, a fortified clock tower in Lier. This list is for visitors who would rather spend an hour inside one remarkable building than ten minutes outside six. Wear comfortable shoes, check each official site before you set out, and leave room in the day for the sobering trip south.
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Best restaurants
Antwerp eats the way it dresses: unfussily, but with a point of view. The old-town grid around Groenplaats, Handschoenmarkt and Oude Koornmarkt puts a Korean grill, a ramen counter, an Indian kitchen and a Belgian seafood bar within three minutes of each other on foot: a truer picture of the city's appetite than any single cuisine would give. This is a list for a visitor who has one lunch and one dinner and does not want to waste either on a menu translated four ways. It skews toward kitchens where the cooking is specific, the room is honest, and the hours are long enough to catch you after a museum or before a train. You will find Korean, Japanese, Indian, Belgian, Italian, Turkish, Greek, Afghan and a waffle counter that earns its place. None of them ask you to dress up. All of them ask you to show up hungry, which is a fair trade in a city that has never confused eating out with performing.
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