The Van der Valk Hotel Antwerpen in Borgerhout has 237 rooms, 18 meeting rooms and 315 free parking spaces. It is a conference hotel at the ring road, and a good one to have in a city that struggles to fill rooms midweek.
Author: Max
Our food and drink expert, Max, is always on the lookout for the best places to eat and drink in Antwerp. With his extensive knowledge of the city’s culinary scene, he’ll guide you to the tastiest spots in town.
Elixir d’Anvers, still distilled on Haantjeslei after 163 years
Elixir d’Anvers has been made in Antwerp since 1863 from a recipe that was never written down. The Nolet family has owned the distillery since 2008, and the copper stills on Haantjeslei are now a protected monument.
Vitrin: a spritz in the shop window on Marnixplaats
Michiel Thys and Kenny Aernouts opened Vitrin on Marnixplaats in 2011. Fifteen years on, the bar in the shop window still sells the square as its view.
Cuperus: the Frisian tea house that gave Antwerp its first coffee bar
Founded in Friesland in 1823 and in Antwerp since 1931, Cuperus opened what it calls the city’s first coffee bar in 1965. Its owners now run three bars and roast their own beans.
Esco*Bar: a Chilean living room by Antwerp Central
Vicky Calderon Escobar named her café on the Quellinstraat after her second surname and filled it with her father’s Chile. Some fifteen years on, it still serves breakfast and lunch six days a week.
Fiskebar keeps its fish European on Marnixplaats
Fiskebar has served fish from a former fishmongers’ shop on Marnixplaats since the company behind it was registered in 2006. Only European fish and shellfish make the menu, and guidebooks keep naming the bouillabaisse.
Dogma, the cocktail pub that keeps its beer for the staff
Didier Van den Broeck calls Dogma “your neighbourhood pub with good cocktails”. It has poured them on the Wijngaardstraat, between the cathedral and the Carolus Borromeus church, for more than a decade.
Hopper, the jazz café opposite the KMSKA, has played since 1991
Hopper opened on 23 October 1991 opposite Antwerp’s Royal Museum of Fine Arts. It is named after Edward Hopper and has had Toots Thielemans on its stage.
De Koninck still pours the Bolleke in Antwerp, but brews it in Breendonk
De Koninck brewed in Antwerp from 1833 until 2025. The Bolleke now comes from Duvel Moortgat’s brewery in Breendonk; the tours, the butcher, the cheese and the chocolate stayed on the Mechelsesteenweg.
Hertog Jan cooks two weeks a month in Antwerp
Gert De Mangeleer and Joachim Boudens closed their three-star Hertog Jan near Bruges in 2018. Since 2021 it has run at Botanic Sanctuary in Antwerp: 22 covers, two stars, half the month.