What is the Antwerp self-guided walking tour?
The Antwerp self-guided walking tour is a walk you pace yourself, with audio narration on your phone taking over from a guide. Reckon with about 3 hours: 44 minutes of that is walking, the route measures 3.5 km, and there are 10 stops where you stand still and listen. Nothing runs to a schedule and no group leaves without you.
In Saint James' Church the narration stays with Rubens, who married Helena Fourment there in 1630 and lies buried in his own chapel. Under the Cathedral of Our Lady comes the 123-metre tower, the tallest church tower in the Benelux, and the two Rubens panels that Napoleon's officials carried off to France and that later came back. On the Grote Markt it ends with Silvius Brabo, who in the legend threw a giant's severed hand into the Scheldt.
- Durationabout 3 hours
- Walkingabout 44 min · 3.5 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch
What you do on the walking tour
Listen
Every stop brings the history of the building, the legend attached to it and the detail worth a second look. The same text waits on screen for anyone who would rather read.
Stroll
Google Maps handles the navigating: 44 minutes of walking spread over 3.5 km, at whatever speed you prefer.
Break off
Sit down for a coffee or spend an hour in a museum, then rejoin the route where you left it, later today or on another day.
Eat and browse
Places to eat and shops near the route come with the stops. Which stop you open with, and the order of the rest, is a setting in the app.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of people. 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.
- Walk when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who the walking tour is for
A first visit
One walk connects the station, the cathedral, the Scheldt quay and the guild houses and explains how a port city spent its money.
Anyone who avoids groups
Nobody to follow and no roll call: you stay as long as a façade deserves and move on when you decide to.
One day in the city
3 hours covers the old centre, which leaves the afternoon for the fashion district or a long table on the Grote Markt.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- 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.
- Groups of up to 5 work best; larger groups split up, one ticket per person.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
The walk stop by stop: Central Station, Cathedral of Our Lady, Het Steen, Grote Markt
10 stops · about 44 min walking · start: Antwerp Central Station (Antwerpen-Centraal) · finish: Grote Markt and Brabo Fountain
Antwerp Central Station opens the walk, a dome and an iron train hall that earned the building its nickname of railway cathedral. The route then heads west through Saint James' Church and the Jesuit church of Saint Charles Borromeo to the Cathedral of Our Lady and the Groenplaats below it. Past the Plantin-Moretus printing house it meets the Scheldt at Het Steen, follows the quay to the Vleeshuis, and finishes between the City Hall and the Brabo Fountain on the Grote Markt. Another first stop or another order is a setting in the app, and no stop asks for a ticket.
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 →
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Netherlands –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Carina Juliana– Brazil –
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Romania –
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Colombia –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Bien pero no nos abrió el mapa ni el audio
Elaine – United Kingdom –
Collected on GetYourGuide
This was a great activity to show different sights in Antwerp that we might not have seen. It was easy to follow and gave information on each landmark. Would highly recommend.