Antwerp Navigator: an unfussy guide to ‘the diamond capital of the world’

With a population of barely half a million, Antwerp teems with artists, designers and authorities on avant-garde style. A visit to ‘the diamond capital of the world’ will stimulate and inspire your senses, in the best way. Here’s what we recommend.

What to do in Antwerp

Where to stay

De Witte Lelie

Artistic polymath Axel Vervoordt outdid himself by revitalising De Witte Lelie, an 11-room boutique hotel tucked away in a heritage villa. Even more noticeable than the mammoth one-off sofas and gem-like mosaic tiles he sourced are the dazzling wallpapers appliquéd with sequins, faux fur and hand-painted motifs, most from Brooklyn’s Flavor Paper. Outsiders, once forbidden, can now come for a peep by booking into the new restaurant Lilium, located in the old stable.

De Witte Lelie is located at Keizerstraat 16/18, dewittelelie.be

Botanic Sanctuary Spa

Antwerp’s most talked-about development is the rambling, new Botanic Sanctuary, a top-tier hotel occupying an ancient refuge on the edge of the city’s bijou botanical garden. The most striking aspect of the scheme, by the city’s own AID Architecten, is the multistorey spa and rooftop pool, kept indulgently warm under a peaked glasshouse structure that overlooks the 16th-century rooftops and eponymous gardens. It provides the flourishing neighbourhood with another sort of sanctuary.

Botanic Sanctuary’s spa is located at Lange Gasthuisstraat 45, botanicantwerp.be

Where to eat and drink

Osaka Antwerp

Osaka’s take on the Japanese izakaya delivers superlative bites of quintessentially Belgian ingredients: sardines on brioche, pickled-salmon sashimi and North Sea oysters served with natural wines. But the deft tone-on-tone interiors by Petillon Ceuppens risk overshadowing it all. Starting with a Brutalist concrete foundation, the architects added wall panelling, countertops and a pair of three-metre double entrance doors in sheet-thin stainless steel. Neon-tube lighting brings a brief pop of colour.

Osaka is located at Bollandusstraat 17, osaka-camino-tapout.com

De Plek

A neo-Gothic tribute to the city’s towering Our Lady cathedral, De Plek, or ‘the place’, is a welcome corrective to the generic café genre, with a striking blue-painted serving pod constructed by the interior architects Van Staeyen. Not only has it transformed the church’s former sacristy, but it also brews its own dark and blonde Trappist beers, and hosts a regular Sunday sing-song after the organ concerts next door.

De Plek is located at Groenplaats 21, dekathedraal.be

De Nor

De Nor is Flemish slang for ‘prison’ – think ‘clink’, ‘slammer’, ‘joint’ – and thus an appropriate name for this interactive installation on the grounds of the Middelheim Museum, styled like an Eastern European bunker. Designed by local artist Dennis Tyfus and built from raw concrete with help from FVWW Architects, it acts as a standalone exhibition space, with a performance stage, bar and bleachers for loitering, all open during scheduled events.

De Nor is located at Middelheimlaan 61, denor.be

What to do

The Middelheim Museum

A wild, rolling green outside the city centre is strewn with Tolix chairs – a charming addition for visitors here to view the Rodins, Weiweis and other outdoor sculptures of the Middelheim Museum. Last summer it incorporated a new installation into the idyll, by Andrés Jaque of the Spanish architecture practice Office for Political Innovation. Created from slabs of off-cut marble, The Transspecies Kitchen silently decries industrialisation and waste-making in first-world food production and design.

The Middelheim Museum is located at Middelheimlaan 61, middelheimmuseum.be

MoMu

Belgium’s – nay the world’s – greatest fashion city has a lot to say about the art form, which is why the fashion museum, MoMu, is so important to this neighbourhood, surrounded by boutiques of the eminent Antwerp Six. The elegant domed flatiron building, recently overhauled by B Architecten, is like the Met crossed with the V&A, with its own outré flavour. Recent honourees include Belgian darlings Olivier Theyskens and Walter van Beirendonck, who elevate fashion to performance art.

MoMu is located at Nationalestraat 28, momu.be

Where to shop

Ann Demeulemeester Store

The building is a honeyed-stone classic. But just like the MO of resident designer Ann Demeulemeester, it defies tradition with crisp, monochrome minimalism conceived by her husband, Patrick Robyn. With low geometric pedestals and a long fringed banquette, echoing Demeulemeester’s deconstructed chunky knitwear, he resists the temptation to build into the vaulted space. His only intervention is a white steel staircase leading to a loft showcasing hefty leather boots and accessories – and a discreet window facing a tropical garden, open in summer. The label’s delicate ceramics collection, black stain bleeding into white, is a highlight.

Ann Demeulemeester is located at Leopold de Waelplaats, anndemeulemeester.com