Antwerp stands out for its creativity and its residents are always looking for ways to improve the city, this is Antwerp’s recipe for success.

The biggest city in Flanders, with 174 nationalities and more than 510,000 inhabitants, Antwerp is a metropolis with a small-town feel. Everyone knows each other and yet, visitors can quickly get a taste of all its styles, colours and flavours.

Antwerp’s harbour annually welcomes more than 60,000 inland-navigation and sea-going vessels. The port is located 80 kilometres inland, which transforms it into a unique door between the sea and the hinterland. The harbour also attracts much knowledge, so that international researches and specialised maritime training are no exception in Antwerp.

Antwerp’s urge for innovation comes from its past and continues in its future throughout many sectors. Home to the development of the art of printing and the international quality marks for diamonds, Antwerp is now renowned for the conservatory, the research centres, the multimedia technology programme, the famous fashion department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts among others. Innovation also comes in the form of businesses settling in the city, like start-ups that then grow into international successes.

An architectural diamond, Antwerp surprises visitors at every turn. From shopping in a building that looks like a museums, the gold leaf decorated Stadsfeestzaal; to the contemporary art Museum aan de Stroom (MAS), the building being a work of art in its own right with a wide view over the whole city.