Antwerp and Ghent Full-Day Guided Tour from Brussels

The Atomium: a photo stop on the way out of Brussels

The first stop is the Atomium on the Heysel plateau in the north of Brussels, built for the 1958 World Expo and kept as the symbol of the city. Its nine steel spheres, joined by tubes, represent the unit cell of an iron crystal enlarged billions of times, and the whole structure rises to about 102 metres. From the esplanade below you get the classic photograph with the spheres gleaming against the sky, and on clear mornings the Brussels skyline behind.

The Atomium photo stop lasts around 20 minutes, long enough to walk around the base and frame your shots before the coach heads north on the motorway to Antwerp. Entry to the spheres is not part of the tour; the aim is the view from outside, and the guide uses the drive that follows to introduce the history of Flanders and the two cities you are about to see.

Antwerp's Grote Markt and the old centre

Antwerp, on the river Scheldt, was one of the richest ports in Europe in the sixteenth century, and the Grote Markt shows it. The square is lined with tall guild houses topped by gilded statues, and the City Hall of the 1560s is one of the earliest Renaissance buildings in the Low Countries. In the centre stands the Brabo fountain, the legend of the Roman soldier who cut off a giant's hand and threw it into the river, said to have given the city its name.

Your guided walk through the historic centre explains these stories and leads through the narrow lanes between the square, the cathedral and the Vlaeykensgang alley. An Antwerp tour from Brussels is the easiest way to see this centre in a morning, and the free time afterwards gives you lunch on your own terms and a look at the Meir shopping street or the diamond district near Central Station.

Cathedral of Our Lady and the Scheldt waterfront

The Cathedral of Our Lady took almost two centuries to build, from 1352 to 1521, and its single finished tower rises 123 metres, the tallest church tower in the Low Countries and visible from far across the river. The Gothic interior holds important Baroque altarpieces by the city's great painters; the cathedral is seen from outside on the guided walk, and you may go in during your free time at your own expense.

A few minutes' walk away the old centre meets the Scheldt at Het Steen, the small medieval fortress on the quay that is the oldest building in the city, with a long promenade along the river. This is the best place for a photo of the water that made Antwerp rich and for a quiet break before the coach leaves for Ghent in the early afternoon.

Ghent's Graslei and Korenlei quays

Ghent's medieval harbour lay on the river Leie, and the two quays that faced each other, Graslei and Korenlei, are still the most beautiful streets in the city. Each is a row of guild houses and merchants' houses from the twelfth to the seventeenth century, with stepped gables reflected in the water, and the view from St Michael's Bridge takes in the quays and the three towers of the city in a single frame.

This is where the Ghent walking tour begins, and the guide explains how the grain trade on these quays made Ghent one of the largest cities in Europe north of the Alps in the Middle Ages. A Ghent tour from Brussels fits neatly into an afternoon because the main sights lie within a few hundred metres of each other, with cafés and terraces along the water for your free time.

Gravensteen, the Castle of the Counts

A short walk from the quays stands Gravensteen, the stone castle built in 1180 by the Count of Flanders on the site of an earlier wooden fortress, with a moat, a thick curtain wall with turrets and a central keep. Over the centuries it served as a court, a prison and even a cotton mill before it was restored in the early twentieth century, and today it is the most complete medieval castle in Flanders.

On the guided walk you see Gravensteen Castle from the square and the bridge in front of it, which is where the best photos of the walls and the water are taken. Going inside to walk the ramparts takes about an hour and is optional during your free time, with tickets bought on site; many guests prefer to spend the time strolling the Patershol lanes behind the castle instead.

St Bavo's Cathedral and the three towers of Ghent

The Ghent skyline is defined by a line of three towers: St Nicholas' Church, the Belfry and St Bavo's Cathedral. The Belfry, 91 metres high and listed by UNESCO, held the city's charters and still rings its carillon; St Bavo's is the Gothic cathedral that houses the Ghent Altarpiece, the great fifteenth-century painted panels that are among the most celebrated works of early European art. The walk passes all three and explains how they tell the story of the city's wealth and its independence.

Entry to St Bavo's Cathedral and to the Belfry is optional and at your own expense, and the guide shows you where to find the tickets. If you are wondering whether Ghent is worth visiting on the same day as Antwerp, the answer from most of our guests is yes: the two cities feel very different, and this route makes the comparison effortless.