Antwerp and a Journey to the World Diamond Industry

A trip to Antwerp, Europe's second-largest port city, promises plenty of attractive backpacker locations for recreation, relaxation and learning about the cultural heritage. The heart of the city is the Old Town, with its central Grote Markt square, surrounded by guild halls and the Renaissance Town Hall, where you'll find many restaurants and bars. Exploring the two parts of the city, the old and the new, is linked by the 572-metre-long St. Anna's Walking Tunnel with its characteristic wooden escalators. It was built 31 metres below the surface of the River Scheldt. Little Island or Het Eilandje, Antwerp's oldest harbour neighbourhood in the northern part of the city, has green spaces in Droogdokkenpark where you can relax overlooking the river. The eastern part of Antwerp offers refreshment with the Boekenberg pond, one of the largest ecological swimming ponds in Europe, its high season being from May to September.

The next tourist site of Beguinage is the one that leads travellers along cobbled streets to the former religious community of the Beguines, the pious women who worked in Beguinage from the 13th to the 16th centuries. You can stroll through a green oasis of gardens with ponds and orchards and visit the Church of Saint Catherine. You can also head to the Wilrijk district, home to the Schoonselhof Cemetery - a famous traveller destination with a beautiful park and the graves of fallen soldiers from World War I and World War II. The largest cultural monument in Antwerp is certainly the Cathedral of Our Lady, built in the Romanesque architectural style and 123 metres high. Other cultural sights in the city that you can visit for free are the churches of St. Andrew, St. Paul and St. James. The latter is particularly interesting for its Rubens altarpiece of the Madonna surrounded by saints and its Baroque tomb chapel.

HI accommodation and safe travelling

Hostelling International, a network of youth hostels, operates all over the world and you can also find it in the capital of Flanders. Vlaamse Jeugdherbergen Hostel is located in the very heart of the city, on the west bank of the River Scheldt, by the natural lake Galgeweel. A membership card from Hostelling International gives you a 10% discount on HI hostel bookings and plenty of other discounts to help make your trip a sustainable HI experience. You can choose from a variety of membership cards for individuals, groups, and families. Booking accommodation at Antwerp Central Hostel brings exploring the city closer to green HI values, reducing your carbon footprint. Because it's so close to the city centre, the hostel offers easy access to the old town and all the cultural attractions of central Antwerp, as well as one of the city's most beautiful streets, Cogels Osylei.

Wherever you travel, you can be worry-free with a World Nomads insurance policy, which can be used to cover you for more than 220 travel activities. Safety on your trip to Antwerp comes first, so travel smart and explore the Belgian city without any worries. World Nomads' simple and flexible travel insurance for international travel offers 24-hour emergency assistance in case of accidents and many other benefits to put your trip in the hands of the experienced staff of an insurance organisation that operates on the principle of "Travellers for Travellers". Insure yourself and your family and travel smart and safe with tailor-made travel insurance from World Nomads. Any accident while travelling abroad is arranged by the employees of the multilingual insurance assistance team.

Interesting things Antwerp has to offer

Begin your journey in one of Belgium's more exciting cities with our offer, starting with an interactive self-guided Belgian beer tasting tour. De Koninck Brewery has so much more than the two products included in the offer, so go and explore, to see for yourself. Right after that, reserve your spot for a three-hour private tour of the old city centre, where you will see the most beautiful architecture of the 16th and 17th centuries. You will visit the Grote Markt with the Brabo Fountain, the Renaissance Town Hall, the Cathedral of Our Lady, the house of the Baroque painter Pietro Paul Rubens and the Central Train Station. Continue exploring and make sure you join the next two-hour city tour, which includes other tourist attractions of Stone Castle, the Red Light District, the MAS Museum, the Old Harbour, St. Paul's Church and the district called The Island. The evening tour gives away so much more than meets the eye.

The coolest bike tour will take you through the architecture from the medieval period to the Art Nouveau style, with typical tourist attractions in Antwerp's unique neighbourhoods. A guided cycling tour will introduce you to the historical facts as well as the legends of the area. This experience can only be topped by an electric scooter tour exploring the neighbourhoods of Het Eilandje and Diamantkwartier. You will be able to admire the famous cultural monuments, the opera house, the 60-meter-high building of the MAS Museum and the medieval fortress of Het Steen. And with the Eurail Benelux digital ticket, you can travel outside Antwerp, throughout Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. You can travel unlimited and choose between tickets for up to a month using the Rail Planner App. On your way back to Antwerp, don't forget to visit the zoo, which was founded in 1843 and houses over 5,000 animals in different enclosures.

After all the sightseeing and zoo tours, we suggest relaxing with outdoor games suitable for all ages, especially for families with children. The outdoor game Alchemist will take your group of players back to the year 1555, where you will face the case of the villager Josyne, who was convicted of witchcraft. You will have to decide whether you support the conviction or Josyne. The adventure continues with a zombie invasion game due to the Z-1 virus created in the laboratory of the Kalio Tech Corporation. The rapid spread of the extremely dangerous virus threatens the entire population, so hurry up and try to escape before it's too late. The latest game, Rescue the Marsupilami family from the captivity of hunter Bringo M. Backalive, combines treasure hunting and comic book content. Solve all the puzzles in the game through various challenges to successfully rescue the Marsupilami family.

Sustainable consumption as a way of travelling

All nine districts of the Flemish capital can be reached by bus or tram, as well as by bicycle or on foot. Public passenger transport with 79 bus and 13 tram lines of the city's passenger network can take you to all the city's locations in all the districts, where you can experience Antwerp's life and culture. A sustainable way to travel around the city is certainly to visit the tourist attractions by bike, and on foot to the most characteristic cultural monuments in the centre of Antwerp, which we have already included in our travel list. The plan for choosing a sustainable city with green values therefore includes low greenhouse gas emissions and lower emissions of harmful substances. Become environmentally aware and, on your travels around the world, take part in eco-oriented action to preserve our shared living environment by living an active sustainable lifestyle and consuming sustainably.

Did you know?

• The origin of the name of the city comes from the phrase "aan de werpe", which translates as "at the throw" and refers to the Antwerp myth of the giant Druon Antigonus, who dealt with seafarers before losing his right hand.
• As a world-renowned port city known for its diamond industry, Antwerp is also famous for, among other things, its legacy of Belgian fine art.
• Traditional Antwerp dishes include steak with béarnaise sauce, Flemish beef stew, eel in green sauce and tomatoes stuffed with prawns.
• The area of the city that is now inhabited was first called Antwerp in the 4th century.
• Belgium has three official languages - Flemish, French and German. Flemish is also the official language spoken in Antwerp.