Antwerp 2 Day Itinerary (Belgium Base)
Two days is enough to base yourself in Antwerp and still get one real Belgium day trip in: day 1 covers Antwerp’s own core, day 2 is a 46-minute train to Ghent, the canal town that beats Bruges from here on both time and crowds. Add a third day for Mechelen if you have it, or see the full Antwerp Belgium day-trip guide for the other four options this trip leaves out.
Book these before you go:
- Hotel near Antwerpen-Centraal : book before weekend rates climb
- Ghent day tour on GetYourGuide : worth it if you’d rather skip the walk from Gent-Sint-Pieters station
| Day | Focus | Travel time from Antwerp |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Antwerp: Grote Markt, the Cathedral, De Koninck evening | none, you’re already here |
| 2 | Ghent day trip: Gravensteen, the Van Eyck altarpiece | 46 min-1h each way |
Day 1: Antwerp itself, before the day trips start
Fly into Brussels Airport (BRU) rather than expecting Antwerp to have a hub of its own; the direct train to Antwerpen-Centraal takes 25-40 minutes. Centraal Station is worth ten minutes on its own, the 1905 “spoorwegkathedraal” hall sitting directly above the modern through-tracks beneath it.
Walk up the Meir to Grote Markt, ringed by guild houses and the 1564 Stadhuis. The Cathedral of Our Lady is a few steps away, EUR 12 adult, holding several Rubens altarpieces still in the building he painted them for. Close the day with a Bolleke of De Koninck at a cafe near the square, the amber Spéciale Belge that’s been brewed in Antwerp since 1833.
Day 2: Ghent, the day trip that beats Bruges from here
Direct trains to Gent-Sint-Pieters run at least twice an hour and take 46 minutes to just over an hour, fare roughly EUR 9-14; check current times at belgiantrain.be . Ghent has the same canal-and-guildhouse silhouette as Bruges, plus the Gravensteen castle and the Van Eyck brothers’ Ghent Altarpiece in St Bavo’s Cathedral, with none of Bruges’ midday coach crowds; see visit.gent.be for current opening hours.
Why Ghent over Bruges for a single Antwerp day trip?
Bruges runs 1h25-1h35 each way from Antwerp, longer than the same trip from Brussels, and eats most of a day before you’ve seen anything. Ghent is roughly half that travel time, cheaper, and less crowded, with a comparable medieval core. For a single day trip with only two days total, Ghent is the higher-value pick.
Budget the walk from Gent-Sint-Pieters into the old center, about 20-25 minutes or a short tram ride. Spend the afternoon at Graslei and Korenlei, the guild-house waterfront, then head back to Antwerpen-Centraal by early evening.
Before you go
Keep a few euros in coins on you for station lockers; not every place near Centraal takes cards despite Belgium’s generally card-friendly culture. If two days leaves you wanting more, the 3-day and 4-day versions of this itinerary add Mechelen and Brussels without changing anything you’ve already done.