Antwerp

Antwerp has been one of Europe's great mercantile cities since the fifteenth century, when it replaced Bruges as the commercial capital of the Low Countries and became the richest city in the world. The Antwerp Bourse, established in 1531, was the world's first purpose-built commodity exchange, and the city's diamond trade — which continues to this day, with 84% of the world's rough diamonds passing through the Antwerp Diamond District — has been a cornerstone of its economy for over five centuries. Peter Paul Rubens made Antwerp the artistic capital of the Baroque world in the seventeenth century, and his magnificent home and studio, the Rubenshuis, remains one of the city's most visited treasures.

Modern Antwerp is a city of striking contrasts. The medieval cathedral of Our Lady, whose soaring spire rises 123 metres above the Grote Markt, houses four monumental Rubens altarpieces. Yet just blocks away, the MAS (Museum aan de Stroom), a striking contemporary tower of red sandstone and curved glass, surveys the city from the rejuvenated harbour district. The fashion district around the ModeMuseum (MoMu) has earned Antwerp its reputation as a global fashion capital, thanks to the legendary "Antwerp Six" designers — Dries Van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester, and their contemporaries — who revolutionised fashion in the 1980s.

Antwerp's culinary scene is confidently Flemish with cosmopolitan flourishes. Stoofvlees, a rich beef stew braised in dark Belgian beer with a touch of mustard, is the quintessential Flemish comfort dish. Frites, twice-fried in beef tallow and served in paper cones with mayonnaise, are elevated to an art form at the city's legendary frituren. The city's chocolate shops — from established houses like Burie and Del Rey to artisan ateliers — produce pralines of extraordinary refinement. Belgian beer culture finds its fullest expression in atmospheric brown cafés like De Kat and Kulminator, where hundreds of varieties are served with appropriate glassware and ceremony.

The city's museums are world-class. The Royal Museum of Fine Arts, recently reopened after an eleven-year renovation, houses masterpieces by Van Eyck, Rubens, and James Ensor. The Plantin-Moretus Museum, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, preserves the world's oldest printing presses in the former workshop of the sixteenth-century publisher Christophe Plantin. Day trips to Bruges (ninety minutes), Ghent (one hour), and Brussels (forty-five minutes) place Antwerp at the heart of Flemish cultural exploration.

Antwerp welcomes an exceptional range of cruise lines: A-ROSA, AmaWaterways, Ambassador Cruise Line, APT Cruising, Avalon Waterways, Azamara, Celebrity Cruises, CroisiEurope, Emerald Cruises, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, Holland America Line, Oceania Cruises, Ponant, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Riviera Travel, Scenic River Cruises, Seabourn, Silversea, Tauck, Uniworld River Cruises, Viking, VIVA Cruises, and Windstar Cruises. It connects with Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and ports along the Rhine and Moselle. Year-round interest, with spring and autumn offering the most pleasant temperatures and fewer crowds.