Antwerp itinerary: 1 to 3 days
Plans for one to three days in Antwerp, day by day: the Rubens House, the MoMu fashion museum, City Hall and Het Steen first, then the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum Mayer van den Bergh and the MAS, and the Middelheim sculpture park and the Zoo as you add days. Every stop has a typical visit length.
How long do you have?
Map: 3 days
Antwerp in 1 day
Day 1
Cathedral of Our Lady (Antwerp)
Belgium's largest Gothic church, with a soaring spire and several major altarpieces by Rubens.
Grote Markt and Brabo Fountain
Antwerp's central square, surrounded by the Renaissance Town Hall and guildhalls, with the Brabo Fountain at its centre.
Antwerp City Hall
Renaissance town hall of the 1560s by Cornelis Floris on the Grote Markt, facing the Brabo fountain; interior by guided tour.
Het Steen
Medieval riverside fortress, the oldest building in Antwerp, now the visitor centre with a city experience and Scheldt views.
Plantin-Moretus Museum
The home and printing workshop of the Plantin-Moretus family, with the world's oldest surviving printing presses; a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
ModeMuseum Provincie Antwerpen
MoMu, Antwerp's fashion museum in the ModeNatie building, with changing exhibitions on designers and the Antwerp fashion school.
Antwerp in 2 days
Day 1
Cathedral of Our Lady (Antwerp)
Belgium's largest Gothic church, with a soaring spire and several major altarpieces by Rubens.
Grote Markt and Brabo Fountain
Antwerp's central square, surrounded by the Renaissance Town Hall and guildhalls, with the Brabo Fountain at its centre.
Antwerp City Hall
Renaissance town hall of the 1560s by Cornelis Floris on the Grote Markt, facing the Brabo fountain; interior by guided tour.
Het Steen
Medieval riverside fortress, the oldest building in Antwerp, now the visitor centre with a city experience and Scheldt views.
Plantin-Moretus Museum
The home and printing workshop of the Plantin-Moretus family, with the world's oldest surviving printing presses; a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
ModeMuseum Provincie Antwerpen
MoMu, Antwerp's fashion museum in the ModeNatie building, with changing exhibitions on designers and the Antwerp fashion school.
Day 2
Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp
KMSKA, reopened in 2022 after an 11-year renovation, with Flemish Primitives, Rubens, Ensor and modern Belgian art.
Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp
M HKA, the Flemish museum of contemporary art in a former grain silo near the Scheldt quays.
Museum Mayer van den Bergh
A collector's house museum with medieval art and Pieter Bruegel the Elder's Dulle Griet.
Museum aan de Stroom
MAS, a stacked red-stone and glass tower on the Eilandje docks with museums of the city and port and a free rooftop.
Antwerp in 3 days
Day 1
Vleeshuis
A former butchers' guildhall of red brick and stone, now a museum about music and sound in Antwerp.
Plantin-Moretus Museum
The home and printing workshop of the Plantin-Moretus family, with the world's oldest surviving printing presses; a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
ModeMuseum Provincie Antwerpen
MoMu, Antwerp's fashion museum in the ModeNatie building, with changing exhibitions on designers and the Antwerp fashion school.
Museum Mayer van den Bergh
A collector's house museum with medieval art and Pieter Bruegel the Elder's Dulle Griet.
Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp
M HKA, the Flemish museum of contemporary art in a former grain silo near the Scheldt quays.
Day 2
Het Steen
Medieval riverside fortress, the oldest building in Antwerp, now the visitor centre with a city experience and Scheldt views.
Grote Markt and Brabo Fountain
Antwerp's central square, surrounded by the Renaissance Town Hall and guildhalls, with the Brabo Fountain at its centre.
Antwerp City Hall
Renaissance town hall of the 1560s by Cornelis Floris on the Grote Markt, facing the Brabo fountain; interior by guided tour.
Cathedral of Our Lady (Antwerp)
Belgium's largest Gothic church, with a soaring spire and several major altarpieces by Rubens.
Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp
KMSKA, reopened in 2022 after an 11-year renovation, with Flemish Primitives, Rubens, Ensor and modern Belgian art.
Day 3
Middelheim Open Air Sculpture Museum
Free sculpture park in a large green estate south of the centre, with works from Rodin to contemporary artists.
Nachtegalen Park
Large park in the south of the city with lakes, woods and old country estates, next to Middelheim.
Museum aan de Stroom
MAS, a stacked red-stone and glass tower on the Eilandje docks with museums of the city and port and a free rooftop.
Antwerp Central Station
A grand railway station with a monumental stone hall and dome, often counted among the world's most beautiful stations.
Antwerp Zoo
One of the oldest zoos in the world, opened in 1843 beside Central Station, with listed 19th-century animal houses.
Watch: Antwerp
A one-minute look at the plan: every stop, day by day, with the map.
When to go to Antwerp
May to September brings the mildest weather and long evenings for terraces along the Scheldt and in the old town. Winter, from November to February, is cold, damp and grey but quiet, and a Christmas market fills the Grote Markt in December. Antwerp sees fewer tourists than Bruges, so crowds are rarely a problem except on summer weekends.
Plan the rest of your trip
- Where to stay: hotels in Antwerp on Booking.com or Trip.com
- Skip-the-line tickets: museums and sights in Antwerp on Tiqets
- Tours and day trips: things to do in Antwerp on GetYourGuide
- From the airport: a private transfer in Antwerp with Kiwitaxi
- Data on arrival: an eSIM for Belgium from Airalo
- Last day: leave your bags in Antwerp with Radical Storage and keep sightseeing
Some of these are affiliate links: we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Tips for Antwerp
- Most museums, including the MAS, the Museum Mayer van den Bergh, the Plantin-Moretus Museum and Middelheim, are closed on Mondays.
- The Cathedral of Our Lady has four Rubens altarpieces, including The Elevation of the Cross and The Descent from the Cross; entry is paid.
- The MAS rooftop viewing terrace is free and gives a wide view over the port and the old town.
- Antwerp Central Station is worth a look on arrival; trains from Brussels take about 40-50 minutes.
- The Sint-Anna pedestrian tunnel of 1933 runs under the Scheldt to the left bank, with a view back to the skyline.
Make it your own
Open the guide in Andiamo Places to see every stop on a map with walking directions, move places between days, check opening hours for your dates, and add your own finds. After the trip, your photos become a journal and, if you like, a printed photo book.
Guides are made with the help of AI and public sources such as Wikipedia, and may contain errors. Opening hours and prices change, so check before you go. Spotted a wrong photo, a pin in the wrong place, a missing stop or a better one? Write to andiamotravelapp@gmail.com: the e-mail opens with this guide filled in.
Photo credits
- Antwerp Central Station: Fred Romero from Paris, France, CC BY 2.0
- Antwerp City Hall: No machine-readable author provided. Klaus with K assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0
- Antwerp Zoo: Donar Reiskoffer, CC BY 3.0
- Cathedral of Our Lady (Antwerp): Yair Haklai, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Grote Markt and Brabo Fountain: Maros M r a z ( Maros ), CC BY-SA 3.0
- Het Steen: Jean-Pol GRANDMONT, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Middelheim Open Air Sculpture Museum: Jules Grandgagnage, CC BY-SA 4.0
- ModeMuseum Provincie Antwerpen: Romaine, CC0
- Museum Mayer van den Bergh: Jozef Janssens de Varebeke, Public domain
- Museum aan de Stroom: Zinneke, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp: Roger Price from Antwerp, Belgium, CC BY 2.0
- Nachtegalen Park: ZZyXx, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Plantin-Moretus Museum: Klaus Graf, CC BY 2.5
- Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp: Ad Meskens, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Vleeshuis: Jozef Linnig, CC0
Opening hours change; check before you go. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
