[BELGIUM] My Stopover in Antwerp

11:41 Travel Bunny 0 Comments

Antwerp is the second largest city of Belgium. It is located at 40 km north of Brussels, about 40 minutes train from Brussels. Dubbed as ‘city of diamonds’ and ‘city of fashion’, it is definitely worth a stopover especially if you are taking a train from Brussels to Amsterdam or vice versa.


How to make the stopover?
Except for direct express train such as Thalys and Eurostar, you can actually make a few stopovers along the direct train route with the same train ticket on the same day! This was how I make a stopover in Antwerp and Rotterdam on my way to Amsterdam!

An example of the train stopovers along the route. This was how I know I could stopover at these cities. To be sure, I also asked the NS train operator through FB messenger and received confirmation that I could do so.

But take note that the train ticket is only valid for stop over at the stations which are listed on the train route. For example, you can’t get to Rotterdam Blaak station using the same ticket, you’ll have to top up for that particular journey from Rotterdam Central station.


Why you should stop over in Antwerp?

Antwerpen Central Train Station is claimed to be the most beautiful train station in the world. This reason alone warrants a stopover. See the photographs I took of the train station below and you will see that I’m not exaggerating.



Antwerpen Central Train Station is a unique station combining the old and new.


About the train station:

The original station building was constructed between 1895 and 1905 as a replacement for the original terminus of the Brussels-Mechelen-Antwerp Railway.



Station atrium showing the four levels. The station has four levels (Level +1, Level 0, Level -1 & Level -2) and 14 tracks.



Level −2 is used by high-speed trains and fast domestic InterCity services.





The most beautiful part of train station retaining the original stone building and facade.





Exterior of the central station.


How much time to allocate for the stopover?

I would say it’s about 2 hours. It was enough time for me to walk around the Central train station and the old town area. Of course, you can spend more time in the city if you so prefer.

How I spent my stopover in Antwerp?

After I’m done marveling at the architecture of the beautiful train station, I took the metro to the old town area (Groenplaats), which is 2 stops away from the main station.



Cathedral of Our Lady as seen in the background.





Cathedral of Our Lady is one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Northern Europe. It took 169 years (1352-1521) of labor to finish and it is listed as one of the World’s Heritage Sites. I didn’t get in to the cathedral. There’s a painting of Rubens inside. The entrance fee is EUR 5 per adult.



There’s a cute sculpture outside the cathedral depicting a sleeping child and his dog, Nello and Patrasche. Nello, a poor orphan and his draught dog Patrasche are the protagonists of the English novel, a Dog of Flanders, from 1872. The story tells how Nello and his frient travel to the city every day, where they visit the cathedral so Nello can admire the painting of Rubens.



The story ended with Nello and his dog die together in the cathedral from deprivation.



This sculpture is made by Batist Vermeulen with the support of Chow Tai Seng.





It’s just my luck that the City Hall was under renovation and it was covered by scaffolds.



This is the historical centre of town. The market square is surrounded by the typical medieval guild houses.



Another church in the neighborhood area.



There are plenty of chic boutiques and shops with interesting facade like this one.



Time to head back to the central station.



Afterwards, I walked around the diamond district for a bit which is right outside the Central train station but most of the jewelry shops were either closed or not opened yet (most shops open from 10am-6pm). Many of them are tourist trap and I didn’t plan to buy any diamonds anyway, so I wasn’t too disappointed.


What else to see in Antwerp?

Antwerp Zoo – It is one of the oldest zoos in the world, with over 4000 animals and lots of 19th century design and architecture. It is located just beside the Antwerpen Central Train Station.

Meirs – Antwerp’s main shopping district. Afterall, Antwerp is also called the city of fashion.

Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp - the city’s best museum because it houses a huge collection of world-class paintings, sculptures and drawings from the 14th to the 20th centuries.

ModeMuseum (MoMu) - Antwerp’s Fashion Museum is located in the fashion district of the city.

There are plenty other places of interest in Antwerp. I won’t list it all here as you can easily found out by ‘Googling’ it.



Although I didn’t see much of Antwerp, it was definitely worthwhile to make the stopover and I’m glad that I did.