5 Days Using Antwerp as Your Belgium Base
Five days lets you add the most photogenic canal town without rushing it, the whole appeal of treating Antwerp as a base rather than a single stop. One day in the city, four days radiating out to Ghent, Mechelen, Brussels and Bruges, home for dinner most nights. Want a sixth day instead of ending on Bruges? The 6-day version swaps in the Belgian coast as well.
Book these before you go
- A Ghent canal and altarpiece walking tour: Viator
- A Bruges canal and Belfry walk, useful if you’d rather not queue for the tower alone: GetYourGuide
- A guided Brussels day walk: GetYourGuide
- 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 |
| 3 | Mechelen | 17 to 19 min direct |
| 4 | Brussels | 45 to 48 min direct |
| 5 | Bruges | 85 to 91 min direct |
Day 1: Antwerp, Compressed
Start at the Grote Markt and the Brabo Fountain, then the Cathedral of Our Lady for Rubens’ Descent from the Cross. The MAS rooftop is free and beats any paid viewpoint in the city; skip the Rubenshuis itself, closed until roughly 2030. Walk the Diamond District near Centraal Station, stop at DIVA, and have dinner in Het Zuid with a Bolleke of De Koninck to close. The full Antwerp city guide covers the rest.
Day 2: Ghent
Direct train, 56 to 61 minutes. Ghent gets a fraction of Bruges’ crowds for nearly the same canal charm, and Saint Bavo’s Cathedral holds the Van Eyck brothers’ Ghent Altarpiece. Wander the Graslei waterfront, climb Gravensteen if the line is short, and eat near Vrijdagmarkt before the last train back.
Day 3: Mechelen
At 17 to 19 minutes, the cheapest, quickest hop of the set. Climb St Rumbold’s Tower, then spend an hour at the Kazerne Dossin, a genuinely sobering deportation-camp memorial. Half a day covers it comfortably. More at visitmechelen.be .
Day 4: Brussels
About 45 to 48 minutes direct. Grand-Place, the Magritte Museum, and a proper Sainte-Catherine dinner cover the day well; skip the tourist-priced spots ringing Grand-Place itself. Details at visit.brussels .
Day 5: Bruges
Direct trains run 85 to 91 minutes, the longest near-in trip on this list and genuinely farther than the same trip from Brussels, so treat it as a full-day commitment rather than a quick add. Go early: the Markt and canals are calm before the coach tours land, usually by mid morning, and the Belfry Tower’s 366-step climb (no lift) rewards whoever gets there first. Eat lunch a few streets back from the Markt, where prices actually make sense, and take an evening train back rather than the last one, so a delay doesn’t cost you sleep. More at visitbruges.be .
Is Bruges Worth the Longer Train From Antwerp?
Yes, once, but budget the whole day for it rather than treating it like Ghent or Mechelen. At 85 to 91 minutes each way, Bruges eats more transit time from Antwerp than from Brussels, and it’s the single most tourist-saturated stop on this itinerary, so an early or late arrival matters more here than anywhere else on the list.
Should the Fifth Day Be Bruges or a Second Look at Ghent?
Bruges, if you haven’t seen it, purely because the canals-and-medieval-core photography is genuinely a different register from Ghent’s quieter charm. But if crowds bother you more than photographs, a second look at Ghent’s Patershol quarter is the calmer version of a fifth day.
Where to Stay
Base near Antwerpen-Centraal or the Grote Markt for all five nights. Both put you a few minutes from the platforms you’ll use four separate times before you’re done.
Getting Around
De Lijn covers Antwerp’s trams, buses and premetro; a single ticket runs about EUR 3, and the Scheldt premetro tunnel is closed for renovation from May 2026 to roughly March 2027. For the day trips, SNCB’s October 2025 fare overhaul caps standard fares at EUR 20.90 and gives under-26 and 65-plus riders 40% off any time, everyone 30% off weekends. Check exact fares at belgiantrain.be the morning you travel.
One concrete tip: buy each day’s SNCB ticket the morning you travel, except Bruges, where an early departure matters more than fare flexibility; set an alarm instead of sleeping in.