This glittering European city has the only Christmas market you need to visit in 2025

With the magical Grote Markt and a flourishing cultural scene, Mary Novakovich believes this Flemish city is the perfect place to get in the festive spirit

Mary Novakovich at Grote Markt, the largest Christmas market in Antwerp (Adam Batterbee)

Who doesn’t love a Christmas market? Well, quite a lot of people, actually. Some find them too intrusive, too expensive, just too much. Some markets make you feel as if you’re constantly being swept along a tide of people, but in Antwerp it’s a different story. Here in the central Grote Markt square, whose tall, crenellated guildhouses and Renaissance Town Hall have been draped in fairy lights, I’ve walked into a large, convivial, just-the-right-side-of lively street festival scented by all sorts of delicious things to eat and drink. My idea of a Christmas market.

In this attractive city that’s already decked out in Christmas lights and glittering decorations, the various markets in Antwerp’s squares are bringing an extra glow to the general festive spirit during Winter in Antwerp until 4 January. Grote Markt has the biggest selection of wooden chalets, most selling food and drink. To make it even more pleasurable, they’ve built a fairy-light-festooned covered wooden eating area with tables, benches and stools so you can comfortably chow down on your bratwurst baguette, pizza-like flammkuchen, cheesy and potatoey tartiflette, raclette, croquettes, truffle pasta, burgers or, if you’re at the Peruvian stall, empanada and pulled-pork taco. Maybe followed by a Belgian waffle dusted in sugar or smothered in chocolate or Nutella, or perhaps some oliebollen (doughnuts), or, if you’re in an Austrian mood, the wonderfully messy pancake dish of kaiserschmarrn. This being 2025, they’re also offering Dubai chocolate waffles and churros, because few people can resist jumping on that particular pistachio and chocolate bandwagon.

Grote Markt is one of several in Antwerp and has the biggest selection of wooden chalets (Adam Batterbee)

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Along with the obligatory mulled wine (reuse your sturdy plastic cup to save €2 a pop), there’s the equally obligatory Belgian beer, gin-like jenever and the herbal liqueur elixir d’Anvers – an especially good digestif after all that food. I try to tear myself away from these treats, only to find myself transfixed by the charcuterie chalet from France’s Ardèche region and its near neighbour overflowing with huge rounds of cheese. Not everyone is here for the food, of course, so there are stalls selling cosy alpaca wool socks, scarves, hats and blankets along with handmade jewellery, handbags and trinkets. All the while I’m being serenaded – at a decent volume – by pop songs, mainly British, coming from the giant glass pop-up DJ booth called Joe Christmas House. And all of this is only a minute’s walk from the elegant and friendly Hotel Rubens Grote Markt.

I follow the rows of light-encrusted archways towards the River Scheldt, where the vivid pink Ferris wheel sets the tone for the flashy amusement arcade along Steenplein. It’s quiet on this Monday evening, but I know that when the weekend comes, it’ll be thronging. I wander back to Grote Markt and along Oude Koornmarkt, a culinary snapshot of cosmopolitan Antwerp – a Ukrainian restaurant here, an Albanian one there, oh look, there’s a Balkan grill run by Hercegovinans, plus a Peruvian among the usual Italian, Thai and Vietnamese places.

A saucisson stand at Grote Markt – just one of the places where you can buy gifts or snacks (Mary Novakovich)

Just beyond is Groenplatz, whose wide expanse is dominated by a large dome sheltering an ice-skating rink and the bustling Den Après bar. Its feels like Christmas Top of the Pops as East 17 and Shakin’ Stevens provide the soundtrack to people gliding around the ice in various states of gracefulness. Things take a sophisticated turn at Hendrik Conscienceplein, where the really quite beautiful baroque St Charles Borromeo Church provides a stately backdrop to Your Divine Xmas bar and food stalls – a sparkly place for fine wines and live jazz.

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Antwerp’s cultural scene is even more nourishing – indeed, it’s what makes this Flemish city such an appealing place for a jaunt across the Channel (or under, in my case, on Le Shuttle). I have the superb timing to be here during the Magritte exhibition at the KMSKA Royal Museum of Fine Arts, which runs until 22 February and is a scintillating collection of the Belgian surrealist’s works. The permanent collection is curated in a way that ignores chronology, cheerfully mixing works by Brueghel and other Dutch Masters with Dalí and Basquiat.

The Brabo fountain at Grote Markt (Adam Batterbee)

When I visit the MoMu (Fashion Museum Antwerp), I’m reminded why surrealism had such a toehold in this country. The permanent display shows the ingenuity, creativity and sheer bonkersness that makes Antwerp Belgium’s fashion capital. I’m also transfixed by its current exhibition Girls – On Boredom, Rebellion and Being In-Between, which runs until 1 February and is a poignant and thought-provoking take on girlhood and adolescence through art and fashion.

The spirit of Peter Paul Rubens, one of Antwerp’s most heralded sons, isn’t hard to spot in the city. His statue graces Groenplatz, and the magnificent Cathedral of Our Lady features two of his altarpieces, The Raising of the Cross and The Descent from the Cross. I head to Rubenshuis Museum in the 17th-century house and studio he had designed, unaware that the house itself is being renovated and not expected to reopen till about 2030. In the meantime, there’s a modern extension with multimedia displays of his life and paintings, and you can still visit the elaborate Italian-style gardens. Remembering the house’s compelling interiors from a previous visit, I’m left a bit deflated by what’s been set up in the interim, and make a mental note to come back in a few years’ time.

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What makes up for it, however, is the always fascinating Museum Plantin-Moretus, which regularly pops up in lists of favourite museums most people have never heard of. The Plantin-Moretus family revolutionised printing back in the 17th century – sounds dry but bear with me – and within this exquisite townhouse you can see not just the original printing presses and typefaces (catnip for font nerds), but also the early books and maps that shaped the world’s thinking. It never fails to enthral me.

Belgian design at MoMu (Fashion Museum Antwerp) (Adam Batterbee)

It’s too short a visit to go back to the Red Star Line Museum and hear again the stories of the millions who emigrated to America in the early 20th century. Nor could I squeeze in a tour of Chocolate Nation, the world’s largest Belgian chocolate museum. But between the Christmas markets and cultural gems, I’ve found Antwerp’s sweet spot.

How to get there

Antwerp is 2 hours, 20 minutes from Le Shuttle’s terminal at Coquelles. Eurostar has rail services from London to Antwerp via Brussels, or you can fly to Brussels with British Airways, Brussels Airlines, easyJet and Ryanair.

Where to stay

Hotel Rubens Grote Markt has a central location and chic, pared back decor. it’s ideal for a good value city break. Doubles start at £123.

Book now

Mary Novakovich travelled as a guest of Visit Antwerp, Visit Flanders and Le Shuttle, which has Channel crossings from £59 each way. The Antwerp City Pass gives free admission to the above museums among other attractions.