Antwerp is having a moment. Not just because it’s hosting the anticipated Antwerp Six exhibition at MoMu (Fashion Museum Antwerp), but because word is spreading that this historic port city is alive with artists, designers and a distinctly avant-garde point of view. A visit here stimulates without overwhelming.
Just 45 minutes from Brussels, Antwerp has long been an easy day trip, but that’s no longer enough. In addition, every May, the city hosts Antwerp Art Weekend: a four-day, citywide takeover where galleries, museums and project spaces open simultaneously, creating a dense, walkable art circuit.
Antwerp is defined by contrast. Old-world Flemish grandeur meets industrial port energy. Renaissance façades sit alongside bold contemporary interventions like the Port House, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. The city unfolds through cobbled streets that open out towards the revitalised docklands, shifting scale and atmosphere as you move through it. It feels stylish, slightly raw, and culturally literate – a place where people live, work, and make things. The best thing about Antwerp is that everyone interested in the arts will find a point of entry.
Here’s what we recommend.
An essential guide to Antwerp: 11 hotspots for design lovers
Where to stay
Botanic Sanctuary Antwerp
Botanic Sanctuary Antwerp
Antwerp’s most talked-about development is the rambling, new Botanic Sanctuary, a top-tier hotel occupying an ancient refuge on the edge of the city’s bijou botanical garden. The most striking aspect of the scheme, by the city’s own AID Architecten, is the multistorey spa and rooftop pool, kept indulgently warm under a peaked glasshouse structure that overlooks the 16th-century rooftops and eponymous gardens. It provides the flourishing neighbourhood with another sort of sanctuary.
Botanic Sanctuary Antwerp is located at Leopoldstraat 26, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
De Witte Lelie
De Witte Lelie
Artistic polymath Axel Vervoordt outdid himself by revitalising De Witte Lelie, an 11-room boutique hotel tucked away in a heritage villa. Even more noticeable than the mammoth one-off sofas and gem-like mosaic tiles he sourced are the dazzling wallpapers appliquéd with sequins, faux fur and hand-painted motifs, most from Brooklyn’s Flavor Paper. Outsiders, once forbidden, can now come for a peep by booking into the new restaurant Lilium, located in the old stable.
De Witte Lelie is located at Keizerstraat 16/18, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Hotel Julien
Hotel Julien
Hotel Julien has recently reopened following a complete makeover led by founder Mouche Van Hool, alongside interior designer Bea Mombaers and architect Peter Ivens. Since opening in 2004, it has remained a constant for those returning to the Belgian city’s particular mix of history and forward-looking design. Occupying two adjoining 16th-century townhouses, the property carries a natural sense of charm, pairing original features – fireplaces, beams and cornicing – with a more restrained, contemporary sensibility.
Hotel Julien is located at Korte Nieuwstraat 24, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Where to eat and drink
De Nor
De Nor
De Nor is Flemish slang for ‘prison’ – think ‘clink’, ‘slammer’, ‘joint’ – and thus an appropriate name for this interactive installation on the grounds of the Middelheim Museum, styled like an Eastern European bunker. Designed by local artist Dennis Tyfus and built from raw concrete with help from FVWW Architects, it acts as a standalone exhibition space, with a performance stage, bar and bleachers for loitering, all open during scheduled events.
De Nor is located at Middelheimlaan 59, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium
De Plek
De Plek
A neo-Gothic tribute to the city’s towering Our Lady cathedral, De Plek, or ‘the place’, is a welcome corrective to the generic café genre, with a striking blue-painted serving pod constructed by the interior architects Van Staeyen. Not only has it transformed the church’s former sacristy, but it also brews its own dark and blonde Trappist beers, and hosts a regular Sunday sing-song after the organ concerts next door.
De Plek is located at Handschoenmarkt, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Eldo
Eldo
Located directly across from the Ann Demeulemeester store (and featuring her Serax range as part of its glassware), Eldo is the city’s latest hot ticket. All furnishings and art found inside are by emerging Dutch and Belgian designers, such as Studio HOO and Middernacht & Alexander. There’s also a grand light installation at the top of the building by Stanislas Lahaut that welcomes patrons. The food and drinks are bistro-style, centred around open-fire cooking. Don’t miss the signature steak frites.
Eldo is located at Graaf van Egmontstraat 57/59, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Osaka Antwerp
Osaka
Osaka’s take on the Japanese izakaya delivers superlative bites of quintessentially Belgian ingredients: sardines on brioche, pickled salmon sashimi and North Sea oysters served with natural wines. But the deft tone-on-tone interiors by Petillon Ceuppens risk overshadowing it all. Starting with a Brutalist concrete foundation, the architects added wall panelling, countertops and a pair of three-metre double entrance doors in sheet-thin stainless steel. Neon-tube lighting brings a brief pop of colour.
Osaka is located at Bollandusstraat 17, Bollandusstraat 17, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
What to do
Axel Vervoordt Gallery
Axel Vervoordt Gallery
Axel Vervoordt Gallery is an unmissable cultural haven just a 30-minute car ride from Antwerp. What started in 1857 as a red-brick malting distillery eventually became Kanaal, an artistic, residential and commercial destination on the banks of the Albert canal. The 55,000 sqm site serves as the headquarters for the foundation of Axel Vervoordt, whose company started buying up the site in 1998. Vervoordt’s youngest son, Dick, masterminded the creation of 98 apartments, 30 offices, an organic food market, public gardens, a fitness centre, an auditorium and all-important 4,000 sqm exhibition space. The latter houses Vervoordt’s personal collection built up over five decades. Anish Kapoor, Tatsuo Miyajima, Marina Abramović and James Turrell have permanent installations there too.
Axel Vervoordt Gallery is located at Stokerijstraat 19, 2110 Wijnegem, Belgium
Cour
Cour
A design-led gallery on Groenplaats, open weekends, set within a residential flat. Exhibitions unfold across domestic spaces, giving objects a different rhythm. Next on view is ‘After Work’ with Julie Kegels.
Cour is located at Groenplaats 42, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
MoMu
MoMu
Belgium’s – nay the world’s – greatest fashion city has a lot to say about the art form, which is why the fashion museum, MoMu, is so important to this neighbourhood, surrounded by boutiques of the eminent Antwerp Six (also the theme of its current exhibition). The elegant domed flatiron building, recently overhauled by B Architecten, is like the Met crossed with the V&A, with its own outré flavour. Recent honourees include Belgian darlings Olivier Theyskens and Walter van Beirendonck, who elevate fashion to performance art.
MoMu is located at Nationalestraat 28, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Where to shop
Ann Demeulemeester
Ann Demeulemeester
The building is a honeyed-stone classic. But just like the MO of resident designer Ann Demeulemeester, it defies tradition with crisp, monochrome minimalism conceived by her husband, Patrick Robyn. With low geometric pedestals and a long fringed banquette, echoing Demeulemeester’s deconstructed chunky knitwear, he resists the temptation to build into the vaulted space. His only intervention is a white steel staircase leading to a loft showcasing hefty leather boots and accessories – and a discreet window facing a tropical garden, open in summer. The label’s delicate ceramics collection, black stain bleeding into white, is a highlight.
Ann Demeulemeester is located at Leopold de Waelplaats, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgium