The city of Antwerp really has it all! Antwerp offers the tourist a whole range of cultural and recreational experiences. The city along the river Scheldt has splendid art treasures in many historical buildings, theatres, museums and cozy streets. In the 17th century, famous painters and sculptors, instrument builders and printers were born and lived in Antwerp. Rubens, Jacob Jordaens, Van Dyck and Jan Breugel are a few of the most famous painters of that time who painted altarpieces, mythological, allegorical scenes in Antwerp. 

Antwerp is Belgium’s fashion capital and the city is praised as Europe’s most fashionable city. Antwerp has been known as the ‘Diamond Centre of the World’ for centuries. Almost 80 per cent of the world’s polished diamonds pass through the hands of Indian merchants who are based in Antwerp and our Indian people have already captured a large share of natural diamond retail business in Antwerp.

Many of us have a vision of a better life style in abroad. However, it is not easy to start a new life away from our own country if the city is basically a non-English speaking one. In Antwerp, people speak only Dutch/Netherland language; nevertheless people are friendly enough to help you out if they understand and speak a little bit of English. Finding an accommodation is not so tough in Antwerp. There is plenty of accommodation available in the city. An orange sign of ‘Te Huur’ means ‘To Rent’ and such ads are seen in house windows. There are numbers of furnished accommodation for rent up to one month to one year or beyond that. Most of the hotels also provide studio apartment with kitchen for short term stay. Prices vary depending on the neighbourhood and the type of accommodation. There are several supermarket chains like Colruyt, Aldi, GB, Delhaize, etc where groceries shopping can be done.

The climate of Antwerp is so pleasant that you never feel tired of walking up to 2-3 kilometres. It is a pedestrian-friendly city. However, you cannot walk during winter because during that time the temperature reaches 0°C to -3°C. It also rains a lot too. It is said that in Belgium one can experience all seasons in just one day.

Public transportation of Antwerp is superb. Antwerp has a dense public transportation network. Buses and metros are available to take you to many different parts of the city and metro is the speedy mode of transport to go around the city. Bus and metro are run by the same public transport company De Lijn. So the same ticket or pass can be used in bus as well as in metro. Depending on the duration of your stay in Belgium and how often you travel by train, it may be worthwhile buying a monthly or yearly omnipass which costs pretty less. For example, for age group of 25-59 years, a monthly omnipass costs 27 Euros and within one month, one can travel anywhere for unlimited times in such an omnipass. There is no limit to quantity of voyages on public transportation system while the pass remains valid. But for monthly or yearly passes one should have residence address in Antwerp. There is also a pass called Lijnkaart for 10 times use and it can be bought from any newspaper shop, supermarket, automatic ticket dispensing machine in advance for a cost of 8 Euros. Each trip with this pass is charged 0.8 Euro. A single ticket costs 1 Euro which can be purchased on buses or metros, directly from drivers but it’s quite expensive than pre-sold ticket at other locations. The Lijnkaart pass and single ticket can be used for transfers, made within one hour of first use to another metro or bus but it should be machine-validated every time on boarding any metro or bus. For tourists it is best to buy one-day-ticket, three-day ticket or five-day ticket for unlimited use of public transportation. Rooseveltplaats is the main bus station of Antwerp located in the heart of the city from where most of the buses go in every direction to the surroundings of Antwerp. Public transportation of Antwerp is very convenient and well connected but taxi is quite expensive in Antwerp.

Antwerp is easy to reach by train. The European high-speed trains like Thalys, the Eurostar link Brussels and Antwerp to several other major European cities in France, the Netherlands and Germany. Antwerp can be reached from the UK by Eurostar via Brussels quickly and comfortably. A ‘weekend ticket’ valid from Friday night 7:01 pm until Sunday night gives you the opportunity to travel (outward and return) cheaply during weekends (up to 50 per cent discount). Not only Antwerp, travelling by train in Belgium is never expensive with a wide range of such special offers. Antwerp is one of Europe’s most spectacular and romantic cities. It’s a place to be that will thrill you.

Lipi Baruah