Kinepolis Antwerpen opened in 1993 as Metropolis, with 24 screens on the Groenendaallaan in Merksem. Its best feature may be the tram stop named after it.
Category: 🎡 Things to do
From must-see sights to off-the-beaten-path experiences, we highlight the best things to do in Antwerp. Get inspired and start planning your next adventure.
deSingel: Léon Stynen’s concrete arts campus in Antwerp
Léon Stynen began deSingel in 1958 and it opened in full in 1980. Stéphane Beel’s wooden extension followed in 2010, and the Blue Hall has had a €4 million refit.
Sint-Andries, from the parish of misery to the fashion quarter
Antwerp’s Sint-Andries parish was founded in 1523, after its friars were tried for heresy. Its church has a pulpit of fishermen in a boat, a memorial to Mary Stuart’s ladies-in-waiting and a Virgin dressed by Ann Demeulemeester.
Antwerp diamonds: three streets, four bourses and an honest price
1,470 companies and more than 3,300 people trade diamonds in three streets beside Central Station. What the district is, how the trade is doing, and whether the stones are cheaper here.
Hilton Antwerp Old Town, a department store of 1885 that wants four more floors
The Hilton Antwerp Old Town has occupied Adolphe Kileman’s 1885 department store on the Groenplaats since 1993. A permit granted in January 2026 lets it add four floors and 137 rooms.
The Eilandje, where Antwerp’s docks began, has new tenants
Napoleon ordered Antwerp’s first dock here in 1811. The old dock district now holds the MAS, the Red Star Line sheds, the city archive and a two-star restaurant in a warehouse of 1895.
Zomerfabriek: Antwerp’s summer festival in a gasworks
Every summer Zomer van Antwerpen opens a disused gasworks on the Minkelersstraat to anyone who walks in. The Zomerfabriek is free, open until one in the morning, and has a skate zone.
Vrijdagmarkt, the Antwerp square that has auctioned furniture since 1549
Every Friday morning a bailiff and an auctioneer sell household goods from bankruptcies and estates on the Vrijdagmarkt, as the square has done since 1549. Under it, the district uncovered two Cold War bunkers.
Harmoniepark, the Antwerp music society’s garden that went public
The Société Royale d’Harmonie opened its concert hall and garden on the Mechelsesteenweg in 1846. The city bought both in 1923, and since 2021 the ballroom has been the district’s town hall.
Amsterdam to Antwerp by train, and on to Brussels and Paris
Since December 2024 twice as many trains run between the Netherlands and Belgium. The Eurocity Direct reaches Antwerp from Amsterdam in 1 hour 20 minutes, and Paris is two hours away by Eurostar.