Why Antwerp, Not Bruges, Is Belgium's Most Rewarding City

Bruges is Belgium's most photographed city, and for good reason: its canals and medieval core survived largely intact and were never bombed through two world wars. But that preservation came at a cost, since Bruges today runs substantially on tourism, its old town emptying of residents as short-term lets and gift shops take over the ground floor. Antwerp, ninety minutes up the road, kept its port, its diamond trade and its working population, and the result is a city that rewards a visitor with something closer to real life alongside its own considerable historic core.

A working port city, not a preserved one

Antwerp is Europe's second-largest port after Rotterdam, and that industrial base has kept the city economically independent of tourism in a way Bruges no longer is. The Grote Markt, ringed by guild houses and the 16th-century town hall, sits a short walk from the Cathedral of Our Lady, whose spire has dominated the skyline since the 15th century and which holds four major Rubens altarpieces, the artist having lived and worked in Antwerp for most of his career.

Fashion and diamonds, not just history

Antwerp built a genuine contemporary reputation through the Antwerp Six, a group of designers who emerged from the city's Royal Academy of Fine Arts in the 1980s and put Belgian fashion on the international map, and the city's design and fashion scene has stayed active since, centred on the MoMu fashion museum and the boutiques around Nationalestraat. The Diamond District near Antwerp Centraal station, meanwhile, still handles a substantial share of the world's rough diamond trade, a working industry rather than a historical footnote.

A better base than a better museum piece

None of this is an argument against visiting Bruges, which remains genuinely beautiful and worth a day. It is an argument for treating Antwerp as more than a stopover between Brussels and Amsterdam: a city with a functioning centre, serious museums including the reopened Royal Museum of Fine Arts, and a scale that rewards a few unhurried days rather than a single afternoon of photographs.

Traveller tips

• Antwerp Centraal, often ranked among Europe's most striking railway stations, is a sight in itself and sits close to the Diamond District.
• The Cathedral of Our Lady charges a modest entry fee and is best visited on a weekday morning to avoid tour groups.
• MoMu, the city's fashion museum, is a useful counterpoint to the historic core for anyone interested in Antwerp's design reputation.
• Antwerp is a 45-minute train ride from Brussels and under two hours from Amsterdam, making it easy to combine with either city.