Walking Antwerp's Fashion District from MoMu to the river

The first large show devoted to the Antwerp Six opens at MoMu on 31 March 2026 and runs to 17 January 2027. The museum fills ModeNatie, a cream-rendered 1890s corner block on Nationalestraat, and Het Modepaleis trades further along the same street, at number 16.

MoMu and the ModeNatie block

Start at MoMu – Fashion Museum Antwerp (Nationalestraat, in the ModeNatie block). It is the reason to time a trip for 2026, and the rest of the quarter arranges itself around it. The museum closes Mondays and sells its last tickets at 17:00. Adult entry is €13 and €9 from age 18 to 25, under 18s go free, and the first Tuesday of the month is free for everyone.

Inside, the galleries are kept dim, garments standing on headless mannequins under spotlights, with a glass-roofed hall at the centre of the building. "The Antwerp Six" runs alongside a second show, "LOOKS, LOOKS, LOOKS".

You book guided visits through [email protected], and they are priced per guide rather than per head. The one-hour Expo Visit costs €100 per guide and the 1.5-hour Highlights costs €130. One guide takes 15 people at most, and parties above 12 paying visitors pay a reduced rate. MoMu also walks the district itself, a 1.5-hour Fashion Walk at €165 per guide for up to 20 people.

Copyright Art & Architecture Bookshop (Nationalestraat 28A) occupies the same building, white-walled and concrete-floored, with oversized art and fashion books laid flat on long plywood tables. The fashion school crowd buys its reference books here, and nothing else in the quarter makes a better souvenir if you are not buying clothes (€€). The aisles are narrow. It closes Mondays and opens on Sunday afternoons.

Shopping on Nationalestraat

Het Modepaleis (Nationalestraat 16) is an 1881 wedge-shaped corner fashion palace, with a curved glass shopfront and stone balustrades above it. Inside, sun crosses parquet floors and racks of printed silks. It is the most photographed building on the street, and the Antwerp Six story has its address here. Dries Van Noten stepped back from the label in 2024 and the shop runs on, Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 18:30, closed Sundays. Walk in without an appointment (€€€€).

Labels Inc. (Nationalestraat 95) has traded since 2002 and moved here from Aalmoezenierstraat. Behind a double shopfront the rails run dense with Dries Van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester and Raf Simons, at €€ to €€€, which is the realistic way to own Antwerp Six pieces. The window carries a rotating installation by an Antwerp Academy graduate, free to anyone passing. Hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 11:00 to 18:00.

Sint-Andrieskerk and the glove shop

The quarter takes its name from Sint-Andrieskerk, a late-Gothic brick church wedged into tight streets and the one old thing still standing among the flagship stores. Van Gogh admired its stained glass. The nave holds baroque black-and-gold altars, a pulpit carved in 1821 and a wall monument to Mary Stuart with her portrait medallion.

Anyone can walk in free, and the treasury costs €1. Hours are seasonal, 09:00 to 12:00 and 14:00 to 17:00 from April to October, so a winter visit can find the door locked. The parish arranges guided visits and opens with timed tours on Open Monumentendag.

Ganterie Boon has sold gloves since 1884 and is the last glove maker in Antwerp, which puts the local trade a century ahead of the Six. The room is protected art deco from 1929, fitted with wooden drawers to the ceiling and brass fittings, and the gloves come out onto a marble counter beside a wooden glove stretcher. A pair runs €80 to €300. Two or three customers fill the floor, so a larger group waits on the pavement and goes in by turns. Hours are shorter from February to August, Tuesday to Saturday.

Vrijdagmarkt and the printing house

Museum Plantin-Moretus (Vrijdagmarkt) is shut for renovation and reopens on 5 December 2026. It stands two minutes from Nationalestraat, a 16th-century printing house built around a box-hedged courtyard garden. A dark oak room hung with Rubens portraits holds the world's two oldest surviving printing presses, and it is the only UNESCO World Heritage museum of its kind.

Adult entry is €12 and €8 from age 18 to 25, with under 18s free. School groups go free with their teacher. The museum runs guided activities of its own once the doors open again.

Kammenstraat, Steenhouwersvest and Lombardenvest

Billie's Bier Kafétaria (Kammenstraat) keeps 180 bottles plus rotating taps and a bottle shop, the beer names chalked up one wall, fridges glowing along the other side, mismatched café tables under low light. Beers run €4 to €9. Kulminator closed for good in April 2026, which leaves Billie's as the serious beer address in this part of town. The room is small, so a party of more than six books ahead at [email protected]. Closed Tuesdays.

Günther Watté chocoladeCafé (Steenhouwersvest) is a Belgian chocolatier with chairs. Espresso arrives in a tiny cup on a wooden board with a chocolate beside it, the pralines under glass at the counter, the walls dark-panelled. Take it as the shopping break between Nationalestraat and Kammenstraat. A handful of tables only (€€). Closed Mondays and Thursdays.

Lombardia (Lombardenvest) has been family-run since 1972, a green-fronted shop-café cluttered with jars and bulk bins along the walls. The kitchen cooks vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free, and the house ginger drink, the Lombardia special, comes in a tall glass that locals queue for. You order at the counter and sit at one of the few tables (€ to €€). It trades Monday to Saturday from 08:00 to 18:00, whatever some listing sites claim.

Eating on Muntstraat, Kleine Markt and Kloosterstraat

Native (Muntstraat) is the vegetable kitchen Sint-Andries talks about, a pale, plant-filled corner room with an open kitchen and bowls of grains and roast vegetables landing on raw wooden tables. The cooking is organic and mostly vegetarian, with fish or meat as an add-on (€€). The room is small and takes bookings. It serves daytime only on Tuesday and Wednesday, dinner Thursday to Saturday, and closes Sunday and Monday.

Berlin (Kleine Markt) is the district's all-day room, a big corner brasserie with tall windows, dark wood and brass, and pavement tables on the little square. Brunch, burgers, a dish of the day and cocktails run from morning on, with mains at €16 to €25. The room is built for walk-ins and bigger tables go by email. It sits five minutes off Groenplaats and closes Sundays.

Dansing Chocola (Kloosterstraat) stands at the antiques end of the street, where the Fashion District runs into Het Zuid, behind an ivy-covered front. The courtyard beyond is strung with lanterns and set with velvet umbrellas and mismatched chairs, and no better hidden terrace sits within walking distance of the museum. The kitchen puts Belgian croquettes and grilled camembert next to falafel pita (€€). Reserve a large table. Closed Sundays.

Under the river at Sint-Jansvliet

The west end of the district runs straight into Sint-Annatunnel at Sint-Jansvliet, art deco lettering above the entrance hall. The 1933 wooden-slat escalators drop you into a white-tiled tube 572 m long under the Scheldt, and you climb out on Linkeroever with the skyline and the cathedral behind you across the water. It is free and open 24 hours, with no door policy. The escalators are single file.

Sleeping inside the district

Hotel National Antwerp (Nationalestraat 40) holds 39 renovated rooms in muted greys behind a plain townhouse front, with a small street-level bar and breakfast room, a restaurant and a snack deli. Check-in is 15:00 and a night costs €100 to €160. It stands a few doors from MoMu, halfway between Groenplaats and Kammenstraat. BANKS on Steenhouwersvest, the usual design-hotel pick in this quarter, shuts for renovation from 1 November 2026 until early 2027.

Aplace Antwerp spreads across several addresses in the old centre, one of them on the antiques street beside MoMu and Het Modepaleis. The apartments sit in old Antwerp townhouses, exposed beams and vintage furniture under large windows over the street, and they sleep one to six (€€ to €€€). A booking form takes up to 10 guests across units in one house.

Closed days and booking

Mondays close MoMu, Copyright and Günther Watté, which also shuts Thursdays; Sundays close Het Modepaleis, Berlin and Dansing Chocola; Billie's closes Tuesdays and Native closes Sunday and Monday. Book MoMu's guided visits through [email protected], reserve a large table at Billie's or Dansing Chocola, and check the church's seasonal hours before walking over in winter.

See the Antwerp guide and the Antwerp hotel search.