2 Days Using Antwerp as Your Belgium Base
Two days isn’t enough to see Antwerp properly, so don’t try. Spend day one on the essentials, then leave the city entirely on day two: Ghent is under an hour away, gets a fraction of Bruges’ crowds, and is the pick the dossier keeps circling back to for travelers based in Antwerp specifically. This is the shortest entry in the Antwerp-as-a-base family ; the 3-day version adds Mechelen if you get a third day later.
Book these before you go
- A Ghent canal and altarpiece walking tour, useful context for a short visit: Viator
- A bed near Antwerpen-Centraal or the Grote Markt: Booking.com
| Day | Focus | Distance / train time from Antwerp |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Antwerp itself | Home base |
| 2 | Ghent | 56 to 61 min direct |
Day 1: Antwerp, Compressed
Start at the Grote Markt and the Brabo Fountain, then give the Cathedral of Our Lady twenty minutes for Rubens’ Descent from the Cross, still hanging where he painted it. Walk five minutes to the MAS museum in Eilandje and ride the spiraling rooftop ramp for free; it beats any paid viewpoint in the city and costs nothing. Skip trying to visit the Rubenshuis itself, it’s been closed for renovation since January 2023 and won’t fully reopen until roughly 2030.
In the afternoon, walk the Diamond District near Centraal Station, respectfully rather than gawking, and stop at DIVA if the trading-hub story interests you. For dinner, head into Het Zuid rather than the tourist-priced spots ringing the Grote Markt, and close the night with a Bolleke of De Koninck at a real cafe. The full Antwerp city guide covers the rest in depth.
Day 2: Ghent
Direct train from Antwerpen-Centraal, 56 to 61 minutes, departures roughly every 20 minutes, no need to plan around a specific slot. Ghent gets a fraction of Bruges’ tourist traffic for nearly the same canal-and-guildhouse charm, and Saint Bavo’s Cathedral holds the real reason to go: the Van Eyck brothers’ Ghent Altarpiece, the Mystic Lamb, one of the most consequential paintings in Western art history. Wander the Graslei waterfront without a fixed plan, climb Gravensteen castle if the queue is short, and eat dinner near Vrijdagmarkt, where students and locals actually go, before the last train back.
Is Two Days Enough to Add a Belgium Day Trip?
Yes, comfortably. One day covers Antwerp’s essentials, the Grote Markt, the cathedral, the free MAS rooftop, and dinner in Het Zuid; the second day disappears entirely into Ghent by a direct train under an hour. Belgium’s short distances make this workable in a way a similar two-day trip almost nowhere else in Europe would allow.
Should You Book the Ghent Train in Advance?
Not really. SNCB’s domestic same-day fares are rarely worse than advance ones since the October 2025 fare overhaul, so there’s little financial reason to lock in a date. The Ghent Altarpiece viewing inside Saint Bavo’s Cathedral is the one thing worth checking online first, since it runs on a separate paid, timed exhibit around the restored panels.
Where to Stay
Base near Antwerpen-Centraal or the Grote Markt for both nights. Both are walkable to the old town’s core sights, and it barely matters which you pick for two nights; what matters is being close enough to a platform that day two doesn’t eat into your Ghent time.
Getting Around
De Lijn covers Antwerp’s trams, buses and premetro tunnels; a single ticket runs about EUR 3 with an hour of transfers, and note the Scheldt premetro tunnel is closed for renovation from May 2026 until roughly March 2027, so don’t route a river crossing through it this year. For the day trip, SNCB’s October 2025 fare overhaul means under-26 and 65-plus riders get 40% off any time and everyone gets 30% off on weekends. Check exact fares at belgiantrain.be the morning you travel.
One concrete tip: buy the Ghent train ticket the morning of, not days ahead. Domestic SNCB fares don’t reward advance booking the way international trains do, so there’s no cost to deciding over breakfast whether today’s the day you leave the city.