Easy to wander
Antwerp
Easy to wander, easy to linger — and the river is never far away.
Antwerp is a city you can walk without much of a plan. The old streets are narrow, another one appears every few steps, and the river is never far away. The wider roads are there too, but most of the time you stay among the smaller streets, moving at your own pace.
What we recommend
The Top 5 in Antwerp
Five classic sights. See them anyway — here’s what to know before you do.
Antwerpen-Centraal — The station is nicknamed the railway cathedral, because of the vast dome above its main hall. The current building dates from 1895 to 1905. It is a working station, so you can simply walk in, and besides being a landmark it is where the walk into town begins, with a steady flow of people in the streets around it.
Rubenshuis — The former home and studio of Peter Paul Rubens, now a museum. The courtyard opens onto a Baroque garden that he planned himself.
Cathedral of Our Lady — The tallest church tower in the Benelux, at 123 metres, with paintings by Rubens inside. It is not only something to visit, either: the streets around it are where cafés and restaurants open straight onto the street.
Grote Markt — The central square, with the Renaissance town hall, the guildhouses and the Brabo fountain. Smaller streets run off it in every direction, which makes it an easy place to start a walk.
Het Steen — A medieval fortress on the Scheldt, in the old centre. From here the river walk begins, with benches along the quay.
The Cathedral and Rubenshuis need a ticket. Everything else, you just walk into.
The lay of the land
How the city is built
A simple way to get to know Antwerp is to think of three points: the station, the old centre and the river. Antwerpen-Centraal is not a station people simply pass through. In the main hall, people slow down, look up and take it in.
From there, the old centre is around Grote Markt, with smaller streets running off the square in every direction. And at Het Steen you reach the Scheldt, where the walk along the river begins. Station, old centre, river. If you start with these, Antwerp is easy to get to know.
A few places to start
How the city changes
A few areas give a sense of how Antwerp shifts as you move through it. A starting point, not the whole map.
Antwerpen-Centraal — a station where people slow down and look up.
Grote Markt — the old centre, with smaller streets running off the square in every direction.
Het Steen and the Scheldt — where the river walk begins.
How it feels to walk
How It Feels to Walk Antwerp
You can walk through Antwerp without much of a plan. In the centre, another street appears every few steps, and there is usually more than one way to keep going. You can turn off whenever you like, loop around and come back a different way.
That smaller scale continues well beyond the oldest streets. Across a large part of the city the blocks stay compact, so the next turn never feels very far away. And the streets keep changing as you go. One is narrow and quiet, the next leads into a small square, and then you are somewhere busier again.
Most of the heavier traffic stays away from the streets you are actually walking through. But when you do meet one of the wider roads, you notice it. The road is broad, the traffic is heavy, and at the crossing you wait. For a moment your pace is set by the traffic rather than by you. Once you are across, you are quickly back among the smaller streets.
Everyday rhythm
Street Life Between the Squares
The centre of Antwerp is busy, and plenty of the people here are visitors. But the street life does not stay on the main squares. It carries on between them, along the streets that connect them. On the busiest routes the pavements stay full for long stretches. Move away from them and things get quieter, but not empty.
The activity becomes more spread out: a small square here, bikes passing, people spending time outside. You can walk through a quiet stretch, turn a corner and find people gathered again. A lot of them are not really on their way anywhere. They are talking, meeting someone, spending part of the day outside. And if you are anything like us, you will end up doing the same.
The quieter pleasures
Where Antwerp Lets You Pause
In Antwerp you do not have to plan a break. Along the river, benches face the water, with the Scheldt in front of you and boats coming and going. If you want a few quiet minutes, you can simply sit down.
Back in the city you find a different kind of pause. Smaller squares have trees, shade and public seating, and there are parks when you want somewhere quieter. Then there are the cafés. Tables spread out onto pavements and squares, so taking a break does not mean leaving the street life behind. It is rarely far to the next place to sit: the river, a shaded square, a park or a café you happen to pass.
The Travel Without Chaos Index
How Antwerp scores
Three dimensions, each out of five — not a ranking, just an honest look at what the city feels like when you slow down.
Easy to move through. The old streets give you plenty of choices, and you rarely need a plan. The wider roads are there, and when you reach one, you wait for your turn before you are back among the smaller streets.
The centre is busy, but what stays with you is everything around it. In the smaller streets, people are not only passing through. They are meeting, talking and spending time outside.
The river, the squares, the parks and the cafés. You are rarely far from somewhere to sit down.
On foot
Want to Know What Earns These Scores?
A few places worth knowing for walking, for street life and for pausing. It is how the video moves through Antwerp.
Start at Grote Markt. Leave the square by one small street and come back by another, because there are plenty to choose from. Then try Sint-Andries, where the streets are quieter and the squares smaller. Walk towards Sint-Andriesplaats and come back along Nationalestraat. For a longer walk, take the Sint-Annatunnel under the Scheldt and come up on Linkeroever, with green space and the city across the water.
Grote Markt and the streets around the cathedral, where cafés and restaurants open straight onto the streets between the squares. Then a walk around Antwerpen-Centraal, with a steady flow of people. And Sint-Andries, where smaller squares bring a quieter kind of street life into the neighbourhood streets.
The small square near Lange Vlierstraat, with trees, shade and public seating right in the neighbourhood. Linkeroever, where you can spend some time after the tunnel with the city across the water. And the quay between Het Steen and the Sint-Annatunnel, with benches appearing along the walk.
This is how the video walks Antwerp — the full route is in the film.