What is the Antwerp outdoor escape game?
The Antwerp outdoor escape game is an escape room with the city as its set: a puzzle waits at each of the 10 stops, you play them on your phone, and the answers come from observing the building or square you are standing in and reasoning it out. Plan on about 2 hours, of which 44 minutes are walking across 3.5 km.
The puzzles use the domed Central Station, Saint James' Church where Rubens is buried, the 123-metre tower of the Cathedral of Our Lady, the Plantin-Moretus printing house, Het Steen on the Scheldt and the guild houses of the Grote Markt. They are not tied together by a story, so each one is its own task, and three levels of hints are on hand. Antwerp keeps all this within a walk of the river, which is why the route stays compact.
- Durationabout 2 hours
- Walkingabout 44 min · 3.5 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch
What you do on the escape game
Solve the puzzle
One task per stop, cracked by observation and logic. No prior knowledge of Antwerp or of Rubens is needed.
Examine the façades
Gables, guild signs, statues, dates and brickwork hold the clues, so look at the detail before you answer.
Walk to the river
Google Maps leads you from puzzle to puzzle: 44 minutes of walking in total over 3.5 km.
No clock against you
There is no countdown. Take hints when you want, break for a drink on a square and continue afterwards or another day.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of players. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Play when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who it suits
Friends
Ten puzzles and plenty of room for contrary theories, with everyone following the game on their own phone.
Couples
A shared puzzle hunt from the station quarter to the Scheldt, at your own speed and with nothing booked.
Team building
Teams of up to 5 are the practical size, so a company group plays the same route as several teams.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- Best started in daylight, so you can see the details the puzzles ask about.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Teams of up to 5 work best; bigger groups split into several teams, one ticket per player.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
The puzzle route: Central Station to the Grote Markt
10 stops · about 44 min walking · start: Antwerp Central Station (Antwerpen-Centraal) · finish: Grote Markt and Brabo Fountain
The first puzzle is at Antwerp Central Station, then the route heads west to Saint James' Church and Saint Charles Borromeo Church. It carries on to the Cathedral of Our Lady and the Groenplaats, passes the Plantin-Moretus Museum on the Vrijdagmarkt, reaches the Scheldt at Het Steen, turns to the Vleeshuis and the City Hall, and the last puzzle is on the Grote Markt at the Brabo Fountain. Daylight makes the solving easier, since everything is outdoors; the app lets you change the order, and no entry tickets come into it.
Open the route map ↗
1Antwerp Central Station (Antwerpen-Centraal)Start
Antwerp's main station was built between 1895 and 1905 to designs by Louis Delacenserie, and the great dome over its waiting hall earned it the nickname railway cathedral. Behind it, Clément Van Bogaert's iron and glass train hall is 185 metres long, and since 2007 trains also run on two levels below the street.
Read the full story →
2Saint James' Church (Sint-Jacobskerk)
Built in Brabantine Gothic style between 1491 and 1656, Saint James' Church was meant to have a tower of about 150 metres, but work stopped at around a third of that height. Peter Paul Rubens married Helena Fourment here in 1630, and he is buried in his own memorial chapel beneath one of his paintings.
3Saint Charles Borromeo Church
The Jesuits built this Baroque church on the Hendrik Conscienceplein in 1615–1621, inspired by the Gesù in Rome, and it has carried the name of Charles Borromeo since 1779. Lightning set it on fire on 18 July 1718, and 39 ceiling paintings by Rubens were lost, but the richly carved façade still faces the square.
4Cathedral of Our Lady
Built from 1352 to 1521, the Cathedral of Our Lady has a 123-metre tower, the tallest church tower in the Benelux, and its belfry is on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Inside hang Rubens' Raising of the Cross and Descent from the Cross, both taken to France under Napoleon and later returned.
5Groenplaats
For centuries the Groenplaats south of the cathedral was a churchyard, and the square was laid out from 1803, first under the name Place Bonaparte. In its centre stands Willem Geefs' statue of Peter Paul Rubens, designed in 1840 and put up in 1843.
6Plantin-Moretus Museum
Christophe Plantin founded his printing house in 1555 and moved it to the Vrijdagmarkt in 1576, where the family of his son-in-law Jan Moretus carried it on. The house and its preserved workshops are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with historic printing presses still in their original place.
7Het Steen
Het Steen on the bank of the Scheldt is Antwerp's oldest building: its surviving part was built around 1200–1225 as the gateway of a larger castle of the Dukes of Brabant. It served as a prison from 1303 to 1827, and at its entrance stands a statue of Lange Wapper, a giant from local legend.
Read the full story →
8Museum Vleeshuis (Butchers' Hall)
The Vleeshuis was built in 1501–1504, probably to designs by Herman and Domien de Waghemakere, as the hall of the butchers' guild, the oldest trade guild in Antwerp. Its walls of red brick and white stone form stripes often compared to layers of bacon, and the building is home to a museum of music and sound in the city.
9Antwerp City Hall
Antwerp City Hall on the west side of the Grote Markt was built from 1561 to designs by Cornelis Floris de Vriendt, blending Flemish and Italian Renaissance styles. It was burned out in the Spanish Fury of 1576 and restored, and it is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Belfries of Belgium and France.
Read the full story →
10Grote Markt and Brabo FountainFinish
The Grote Markt is lined with guild houses and the City Hall, and in its centre stands the Brabo Fountain by Jef Lambeaux, inaugurated in 1887. According to legend, the Roman soldier Silvius Brabo cut off the hand of the giant Druon Antigoon and threw it into the Scheldt, and the city's name is said to come from hand werpen, throwing the hand.
Read the full story →
Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.
Wilco B. (verified owner) –
Was een leuke ervaring. Goede info en deze was ook gericht op Antwerpen. Wel veel kerken bezocht, misschien een idee om een versie te maken die meer dan 10 vragen bevat en wat meer weetjes heeft? Toevoeging van het eten her en der is echt top!
Netherlands –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Ik vond het idee van een escape game heel leuk maar helaas viel het tegen. Sommige vragen waren veel te makkelijk, andere juist weer veel te moeilijk. En ik vond het sowieso het geld niet waard.
Gea – Netherlands –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Informatief en een leuke, speelse manier om door te stad te wandelen.