Antwerp has more than its fair share of cultural institutions such as art galleries and museums. What’s more, the city is fairly compact so it’s easy to get around them all by walking, which allows visitors to explore various parts of the city that they would never see by bus or car.

The city is a wonderful mixture of historic and modern, and has a youthful and cosmopolitan atmosphere thanks to its status as an important world fashion centre. Evidence of this can be seen not just in the myriad independent shops and boutiques, but also in the trendy pubs, bistros and restaurants. Fashion lovers should take a trip to the excellent fashion museum, known as ModeMuseum or MoMu for short. It has sections on vintage clothing in addition to contemporary designs.

Flanders is well known for its artistic past, dating back as far as the Renaissance. Some of the best examples of Flemish paintings and art throughout the centuries can be found in the Royal Museum of Fine Art (Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten).

Diamonds are Antwerp’s other most famous product. Wherever you wander in the city centre, you’ll be reminded of this. There are jewellers shops and diamond factories everywhere. Diamondland is probably the most interesting as it provides demonstrations of stone cutting and polishing so you can see how the diamond gets from its rough state to the dazzling end product. There’s also a museum of diamonds – the Provincial Diamond Museum – which provides fascinating information on the diamond industry throughout the ages. It’s next to the Zoological Park.