What should I avoid in Antwerp?

The restaurants with fold-out photo menus along Grote Markt and Handschoenmarkt will charge you €20-25 for stoofvlees that tastes like it came from a steam tray at noon and sat there until your 7pm order. The carbonnade at De Bomma on Oude Koornmarkt, about 3 minutes on foot, runs €14 and arrives with a thick, dark beer sauce that sticks to the beef. Same story with mosselen. The places directly facing Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal mark up a standard pot of mussels to €28-32. Walk 5 minutes south to Dageraadplaats in the Zurenborg neighborhood and you'll pay €18-22 for the same kilo at a place where the locals sit. Worth noting, the cathedral square restaurants aren't terrible food. They're edible. You're paying a €10 surcharge for the view of a 123-meter spire you can see from anywhere in the old center.

Antwerp's diamond district sits between Antwerpen-Centraal station and Pelikaanstraat, and roughly 84% of the world's rough diamonds pass through this four-block grid. The wholesale dealers on Hoveniersstraat operate by appointment and sell to the trade. The shops with bright window displays on Appelmansstraat and Vestingstraat target cruise-ship passengers from the Kattendijkdok terminal, about 3 km north. The markup can reach 40-60% over what a local jeweler on Nationalestraat would charge for the same certified stone. If you want to buy a diamond in Antwerp, get a GIA or HRD certificate number first and compare prices at 3 dealers minimum. Mind you, window-shopping the district is free and the security presence, cameras on every corner, CCTV domes humming overhead, gives the area an oddly calm feel for a neighborhood moving billions in stones.

Antwerpen-Centraal's train hall is one of the most photographed stations in Europe, and the taxi rank outside it is one of the most overpriced. A cab to the Grote Markt area runs €12-15 for a 2 km trip. Tram lines 2, 6, and 9 stop directly beneath the station on the premetro level. Follow the 'M' signs down two escalators and you'll reach Groenplaats in 4 minutes for €3.50 on a De Lijn day pass. The tram smells faintly of damp rubber and hydraulic fluid, but it's reliable and runs every 6-8 minutes until midnight. The Waterbus ferry from Steenplein to Linkeroever looks appealing on a warm day, but Linkeroever is a residential district with nothing for a visitor except a distant view back across the Schelde. The 40-minute round trip is time you won't get back.

Antwerp averages around 200 rainy days a year. The North Sea sits 90 km west and pushes damp air up the Schelde estuary through every season. June averages 14-18°C, and today's 14.7°C feels closer to 12.8°C with the 87% humidity and overcast sky. A packable rain jacket matters more here than in most of Western Europe. The wind along the Schelde promenade near the MAS museum can feel 5-6 degrees colder than the temperature reads. To be fair, the rain tends to come in short bursts rather than all-day downpours, so you can often wait it out under the colonnade at the Vleeshuis or inside Sint-Carolus Borromeus church on Hendrik Conscienceplein. Don't plan an outdoor-heavy first day if you're arriving November through March, when daylight drops below 8 hours and the cobblestones on Vlaeykensgang get slick enough to feel treacherous underfoot.

Skip the Belgian waffle stands clustered around Centraal Station that pile strawberries and Nutella on a lukewarm Liège waffle for €6-8. The better version costs €3 at Désiré de Lille on Schrijnwerkersstraat, served warm from the iron with crunchy pearl sugar crackling between your teeth. Antwerp Zoo, founded in 1843, sits next to Centraal and charges €29.50 for adults. It's a decent collection, but the grounds cover 10 hectares and the enclosures feel cramped by modern standards. A family of 4 will spend €90+ on entry alone before the gift shop. If the kids need animals, the free petting area at Stadspark, a 5-minute walk east, will hold their attention for an hour. One more thing. The Rubenshuis on Wapper pulls over 200,000 visitors a year and the rooms are narrow. Arrive before 10am or after 3pm, when the tour groups from the Kattendijkdok cruise terminal thin out.