3 Days in Antwerp: Your Belgium Base
Three days extending the same spine as our 2 day version : Days 1 and 2 keep Mechelen and Ghent, and Day 3 adds Brussels, 45 minutes away and the single most frequent train on this whole board. Three countries’ worth of atmosphere (Flemish, Flemish, and full-on EU capital) without changing hotels once.
Book these before you go
- Hotel near Antwerpen-Centraal: check rates on Booking.com
- A Ghent and Bruges day tour from Antwerp: book on GetYourGuide
- A Brussels day tour from Antwerp: reserve via Viator
| Day | Day trip | Travel time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mechelen | 17-20 min |
| 2 | Ghent | Under an hour |
| 3 | Brussels | 45 min |
Day 1: Mechelen, the 17-minute warmup
Start easy. Mechelen is the shortest ride on this whole itinerary, as little as 17 minutes from Antwerpen-Centraal with trains running as often as every 8 to 15 minutes, so there’s no need to plan around a timetable. It’s the cheapest hop too, and the one nobody else seems to be doing, which is exactly the point.
Mechelen’s compact Gothic old town centers on St Rumbold’s Cathedral and its carillon; climb it if the tower’s open, or just circle the Grote Markt below for guildhouses that get a fraction of Antwerp’s own foot traffic. The whole center is walkable in half a day, so resist the urge to over-plan. Details at visitmechelen.be .
Ride back to Antwerp for the evening. Find a real cafe near the Grote Markt and order “een bolleke,” De Koninck’s amber Spéciale Belge served in its own round glass, with a paper cone of frites (EUR 3-5) from a stand-up frituur. Not a bad way to close a warmup day.
Day 2: Ghent, the calmer canal city
Ghent runs under an hour by direct train, typically 46 to 59 minutes depending on the exact service, and rewards the trip with the Gravensteen castle, the Graslei waterfront, and St Bavo’s Cathedral, home to the Van Eyck brothers’ Ghent Altarpiece, the Mystic Lamb. It’s also a working university city, so the crowds thin out fast once you’re a block off the main canal.
Spend the day on foot: the historic core is small enough to see most of it without a single bus or tram. Ghent draws noticeably fewer coach tours than Bruges, which is the real reason to put it here instead of the longer, busier trip. Current hours and the altarpiece’s viewing setup are at visit.gent.be .
Take the early evening train back to Antwerp rather than the last one; you’ll want energy left for dinner.
Day 3: Brussels, 45 minutes to the capital
Brussels is the easiest connection on the whole board: about 45 minutes from Antwerpen-Centraal, with direct trains roughly every 15 minutes all day. If you flew into BRU to start this trip, you’ll recognize the route; if not, it’s still the fastest way to feel like you’re in a genuinely different city from Antwerp.
Grand Place anchors the day, ringed by guildhalls and the Brussels Town Hall, with the Manneken Pis a short walk off it. Add the Magritte Museum for a couple of hours of Belgian surrealism, and the Atomium if you’ve got energy for one more stop; it’s further out but reachable by metro. Details and event listings at visit.brussels .
Catch an evening train back to Antwerp; the frequency here means you’re never really stuck waiting. Three days in and you’ve covered a Gothic warmup, a canal city, and a capital, all from the same Antwerp hotel bed.
Practical notes
Belgium runs on the euro, and Antwerp’s working language is Dutch (Flemish), not French, worth knowing since Brussels itself flips to French in daily use once you’re off the EU-quarter English. Every train on this itinerary leaves from Antwerpen-Centraal, so there’s no need to touch Antwerp’s own tram network to pull this off. Buy same-day tickets at the station or the SNCB app; none of these three routes needs an advance reservation.
If you’re tight on time, swap the order and do Brussels first; its 15-minute frequency means it’s the easiest day to compress into a half-day if something runs long, which isn’t true of Mechelen or Ghent’s less frequent departures.