Antwerp rewards the curious walker with a city of remarkable depth: a medieval Grote Markt flanked by guild houses, the global diamond trade conducted in a few quiet streets near the station, Rubens’s own Baroque home-studio, and a rejuvenated old port waterfront that now rivals any in Europe for design and gastronomy. This Antwerp walking tour, filmed in 4K Ultra HD with captions, moves through all of it in a single unhurried circuit of Belgium’s second city — a place that was once the wealthiest metropolis on the continent and has never quite forgotten it.
About This Walking Tour
This video, filmed in 4K Ultra HD at 60 frames per second with helpful on-screen captions identifying landmarks, begins at Antwerp Centraal — widely regarded as one of the world’s most beautiful railway stations, its neo-baroque dome and iron-and-glass shed forming an arrival experience that few cities can match. From the station the walk passes through the Jewish Quarter and the diamond district centred on Hoveniersstraat, where roughly 80 percent of the world’s rough diamonds are processed and traded, mostly through Antwerp’s long-established Hasidic Jewish community. The route continues into the historic core, arriving at the Grote Markt — the magnificent central square dominated by the 16th-century city hall and the surrounding guild houses, each more elaborately decorated than the last. The Cathedral of Our Lady (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal) rises behind the square, its 123-metre Gothic spire housing Rubens’s monumental Descent from the Cross altarpiece. Heading north, the video reaches the Eilandje (Little Island) waterfront district, where the Museum aan de Stroom (MAS) tower — a dramatic stacked-box structure opened in 2011 — rises above the old Hanseatic docks. The MAS rooftop offers a free panoramic view over the old port, the river Scheldt, and the vast modern container terminal beyond. The captions throughout the video make it an especially useful reference tool for planning your own Antwerp walk.
Highlights of Antwerp
The Grote Markt is the historical and visual heart of the city, its guild houses rebuilt after the Spanish Fury of 1576 in a Flemish Renaissance style that became influential across the Low Countries. The Brabo Fountain at the square’s centre depicts the legendary Roman soldier Silvius Brabo hurling the severed hand of a toll-collecting giant into the Scheldt — the origin story of the city’s name (from “hand werpen,” meaning “hand throwing”). The Cathedral of Our Lady is the largest Gothic church in the Low Countries and contains four major paintings by Rubens, including the famous triptych over the high altar. The Rubenshuis — Pieter Paul Rubens’s own home and studio, a few blocks from the cathedral — is now a museum displaying his works and a beautifully restored Baroque garden. The diamond district is a living piece of economic geography: the streets around Hoveniersstraat and Appelmansstraat process more rough diamonds than anywhere else on Earth, a trade rooted in Antwerp since the 15th century. The MAS museum and the Eilandje waterfront complete the picture, representing the city’s successful reinvention of its post-industrial port edge.
A Brief History of Antwerp
In the 16th century, Antwerp was the wealthiest city in Europe. Its port handled roughly 40 percent of world trade at the height of its prosperity, attracting merchants, artists, printers, and bankers from across the continent. The city was a centre of the Renaissance printing trade — Christopher Plantin ran Europe’s most important printing house here — and the home of the Flemish Masters, with Rubens, van Dyck, and Jordaens all working within its walls. The Spanish Fury of 1576 and the subsequent decades of war between the Habsburg Spanish and the Protestant Dutch north brought catastrophic decline: the population halved, the merchants fled north to Amsterdam, and the Scheldt was blockaded. Recovery came slowly, accelerating in the 19th century when King Leopold II invested in transforming Antwerp into a modern deep-water port. The diamond trade, already established since the 15th century, grew into a global industry centred here after Jewish merchants escaping persecution in Spain and Portugal brought their expertise and networks to the city. Today Antwerp is Belgium’s economic engine, home to Europe’s second-largest port by cargo volume, a world-leading fashion design school, and a food scene that has earned it serious culinary recognition.
Practical Tips
Belgium uses the euro. Both Dutch (Flemish) and English are widely spoken; French is understood but less common in everyday contexts in Antwerp. Antwerp Centraal station is a 15-minute walk from the Grote Markt, or a short ride on tram lines 3, 5, or 9. The Eilandje waterfront and MAS museum are a 20-minute walk north of the Grote Markt along the river. Most major museums charge entry fees; the MAS rooftop panorama is free. April through October is the best period for outdoor café culture on the Grote Markt terraces; December brings one of Belgium’s finest Christmas markets to Groenplaats and the surrounding streets.
Watch & Explore More
Antwerp is the starting point for exploring some of Europe’s finest medieval cities — all within easy day-trip distance. On @walkingtoursvideoscom, discover the canal reflections and Belfry of Bruges’s medieval canal quarter, or stay in Belgium to explore the Gravensteen castle and waterways of Ghent’s atmospheric waterfront.