Belgium's gateway to the world

Visit Antwerp!

A river ferry cruises past the Havenhuis.

Each week, we spotlight a dream vacation recommended by some of the industry's top travel writers. This week's pick is Antwerp, Belgium.

(Image credit: Courtesy image)

Walking alongside the sluggish Scheldt River on my first morning, I can see the Havenhuis, or Port House, long before I reach it. "But it's only close up that you appreciate the scale." The complex, designed by superstar architect Zaha Hadid, plants a massive ship-like, diamond-cut glass structure atop a 1920s municipal building. At the Red Star Line Museum, a humbler brick building nearby, I learn about the 2 million emigrants, among them Irving Berlin, who passed through its doors in the early 20th century. Lunchtime brings me to the new Mercado food hall, where I pair some charcuterie with De Koninck's pale ale, a popular, "delicately bitter" brew.

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Inside Antwerp's towering Gothic cathedral, I'm absolutely floored by a Peter Paul Rubens triptych. That feeling of awe strikes again in Grand Market Square, "the heart of golden-age Antwerp." Strolling that central plaza, "I marvel at the muscular splendor of the 450-year-old City Hall," the gold-trimmed guildhouses that flank it, and the fountain depicting a mythical Roman soldier. Having saved the best for last, I head to the Chocolate Line, one of the best chocolate shops in town. I skip the bacon and onion-infused varieties, and stock up on the classics for friends back home. "Antwerp may be a modern and cosmopolitan city, but anyone coming back from Belgium without chocolate is likely to get a frosty reception."

Read more at The Washington Post, or book a room at the Hotel Julien. Doubles start at $180.