8 of the best hotels in Antwerp
As the home of edgy fashion set the Antwerp Six in the 1980s, and Prada’s Raf Simons today – not forgetting interiors maestro Axel Vervoort – Belgium’s second city has long had first-class style. While such design credentials shine in the port’s many independent boutiques, its newly buzzing hotel scene offers another masterclass in Antwerp cool. It hasn’t always been this way. For years, any overnight guest was best served by booking into one of its characterful, antique-strewn B&Bs, but there’s no ignoring the new wave of attention-grabbing hotels in Antwerp: flamboyant boutique properties with hand-painted frescoes, or (as is the case with two separate new arrivals) spa- and Michelin-star-fuelled former monasteries. Indeed, the north Belgian region of Flanders counts more Michelin stars per head than France – and it’s this new fusion of food and fine style that’s particularly thrilling, with these hotels in Antwerp offering gastro-happy stays allowing guests to dine out without, well, dining out.
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Hugo ThomassenBotanic Sanctuary Antwerp
From the supercars looping the leafy courtyard to the four-Michelin-star-strong armada of restaurants, Antwerp’s newest arrival truly means business. Conference types do love the super-luxe ex-monastery (replete with a 15th-century chapel) but it’s R&R that rules at the city’s only five-star, befitting its location by the local Botanic Garden. Few spas are so serene: think greenhouse-like pool, panoramic Finnish sauna and rigorous treatment menu spanning top-to-toe massages and TCM treatment plans; you’ll also find the holistic Saint Charles spa products in the beautiful ex-apothecary-turned-boutique. Wabi-sabi fans will meanwhile adore the cosseting rooms and apartment-sized suites – some showcasing historical painting techniques, and all offering jungle-hot rainforest showers. The revival of Asian-inspired two-star Hertog Jan is the red-hot dinner ticket (they also run the classic brasserie Bar Bulot), but one-stars Fine Fleur (casual fine dining) and Het Gebaar (world-class afternoon teas) are more than mere understudies. Add in the epic, champagne-lashed breakfast buffet and Flanders’ medieval splendour is reborn.
Hotel address: Botanic Sanctuary Antwerp, Leopoldstraat 26, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Price: Doubles from £313
Marcel LennartzHotel Flora
Hidden beyond a Rococo gatehouse, but with medieval roots, Antwerp’s most idiosyncratic new boutique hotel was once home to local printing merchants the Moretus family. These days, courtesy of interiors guru Gert Voorjans, there’s nothing old-school about the decor, from the super-saturated lounge, where gracious host Pieter dispenses the signature gin-and-calamansi welcome cocktail, to seven sui generis bedrooms eschewing generic prints for local artist Niels Verkaeren’s hand-painted golden rain frescoes. “Agate” has a leopard-print carpet (not for nothing is Mick Jagger a Voorjans client), canary-yellow walls and a toilet set in a pagoda-style turret. Another quirk: split-tension mattresses – though after complimentary Madeira from a vintage decanter you may just sprawl horizontally. Give the chef carte blanche at breakfast. On one visit that meant a sublime three-tiered array of small plates (omelette, pata negra, fine fruit) plus two types of bread made on-site. For added decadence, privatise the whole house.
Hotel address: Hotel Flora, Korte Nieuwstraat 12, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Price: Doubles from £245
Robert RiegerAugust
Fêted Belgian architect Vincent Van Duysen is behind the locally esteemed Hotel Julien’s spin-off in a former Augustinian convent in the upcoming Green Quarter. His purist, detail-oriented aesthetic reigns supreme throughout the five-building property, with 44 woody, neutrally toned bedrooms and suites juggling handwoven carpets and hand-glazed bathroom tiles alongside assured modernist touches. The centrepiece here is the stunning, high-ceilinged ex-nun’s chapel – now a clubby lounge-bar – but further lures are the well-curated in-house shop, and Bamford-fuelled Zen spa, with its outdoor swimming pond. While Nick Bril’s two-star gastro-temple The Jane is a minute away, he also oversees August’s ambitious bar menu (featuring cheese by Van Tricht, Belgium’s choice cheesemonger) and brasserie, turning out creative seasonal cuisine. You’ll need to tram or bike into town, but between the buzzing ex-industrial site PAKT on the hotel’s doorstep, and the architectural Disneyland that is the nearby Zurenborg quarter, there’s plenty to keep you locally.
Hotel address: August, Jules Bordetstraat 5, 2018 Antwerp, Belgium
Price: Doubles from £173
De Witte Lelie
Ring the doorbell to gain entry to rock stars’ favourite Antwerp getaway, in a trio of noble 17th-century gabled houses minutes from town and moments from the Old Masters of the Snijders&Rockox House. The name may mean “The White Lily” but this is no blushing flower: 10 gloriously unalike rooms and suites err towards the flamboyant, from whimsical number nine(Adèle’s favourite), with its Marilyn Monroe wallpaper, flying plastic fish and enamelled tin tub, to the Presidential Suite, where you shower beneath a chandelier and dry off in a Louis XIV-style living room. Style meets substance too, with fine linens, Hermès toiletries and complimentary mini-bars upstairs and (NB Tesla owners) an underground car park with electric charging. Beyond the lobby’s handsome black-and-white chequered tiles lies the glimmering Bronze Bar, two velvet-heavy sitting rooms (one with open fire) and a candlelit breakfast room, with eggs cooked to order in the vintage open kitchen – or feast in the floral courtyard in season.
Hotel address: De Witte Lelie, Keizerstraat 16, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Price: Doubles from £285
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Liesbet GoetschalckxFranq
It may occupy a former bank, but this grand Relais & Châteaux boutique hotel makes a priceless first impression: step into the light-filled lobby and you’re struck by the superb Neoclassical columns, soaring ceiling and clove-rich in-house scent. Linger for a glass of welcome Champagne before heading up the marble staircase to the rooms and suites; albeit more understated than the public spaces, they’re just as classy, with mattresses by the supplier to the British Royals no less. Antwerp is a village and Franq lies at its heart, barely five minutes over the cobbles to the city’s medieval square, or Grand Place. After a pintje (pint) or two in a charismatic local brown bar, bank on dinner at Franq’s eponymous one-star restaurant: here Tim Meulenaire turns out note-perfect French-Mediterranean food against Rousseau-esque jungle backdrops. The prodigal chef also steers the hotel’s more accessible gastrobar and sporadic speakeasy.
Hotel address: Franq, Kipdorp 10–12, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Price: Doubles from £175
Philippe CorthoutHotel Pilar
Borrowing Hemingway’s nickname for both his wife and fishing boat, this 17-room corner hotel had to wait five years to capitalise on its prime location—right opposite the Rubens-lined Royal Museum of Fine Arts, which reopened in Autumn 2022—in upscale ’t Zuid. Together interior architect Sam Peeters and hospitality pro-Christophe Ysewyn have created a template of the hip, multi-tasking destination hotel: downstairs is the hit all-day Foodbar, whose plates pick and mix influences with Ottolenghi-esque flair (mussels with dashi, coconut and chili, say, or fried eggs with labneh for breakfast); while it has recently expanded into the space that once housed their homewares shop, the art on the hotel’s walls is still for sale. Upstairs, rooms and suites abound in design objects and vibrant textiles, with the coveted terrace suites perfect for kicking back with a drink post-art, and two “eco” rooms featuring note- and soak-worthy wooden tubs.
Hotel address: Leopold de Waelplaats 34, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Price: Doubles from £114
U Eat & Sleep
The first of the new wave of gastro-hotels to set up locally, this 15-room boutique hideaway cements the growing appeal of the northern dockside neighbourhood ’t Eilandje. Overlooking the bobbing yachts of the city’s marina (not least from the rangy terrace), it was launched by Viki Geunes, chef of the three-star ’t Zilte restaurant in the showpiece MAS museum, just opposite, and TV personality Hans Otten. The idea was to create a place that’s more of a restaurant with a hotel attached than vice-versa; rooms are accordingly less splashy than the common spaces, but successfully mine the minimal-chic look, with quality minibars and beds. But it’s the food that sings: an embarrassment of riches, with refined, globe-trotting dishes (super-charged surf and turf such as wagyu beef and North Sea crab) and multi-course menus to be taken wherever “u” like – be it in the formal restaurant, lively open-kitchen bar, or cocktail lounge. \
Hotel address: U Eat & Sleep, Nassaustraat 42, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Price: Doubles from £152
Hotel ’t Sandt
This stately 16th-century building has quite an exotic history, having served as a warehouse where the first bananas were imported into Europe (the river Scheldt then flowed directly to its doors). The revamped riverfront promenade is now a block away, but the building’s heritage lives on—most dramatically in the “Mandarin Oriental” room (all rooms unusually namecheck other hotels) and Cathedral Penthouse suite, graced with the original wheels used to haul in the cargo. A hotel since the 1990s, current co-owner Sandy has continued its unusually informal, home-from-home vibe (no uniforms in sight) while revamping the gorgeous pink-and-red-hued living room, and the 29 individually styled rooms and suites. Many have exposed beams, while duplexes add cast-iron staircases and the Cathedral Suite a phenomenal view of Gothic masterpiece the Cathedral of Our Lady, just minutes away. The ample breakfast buffet should satisfy but, in keeping with their approach, they’ll cater to other whims.
Hotel address: Sand 17–19, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Price: Doubles from £178