Editorial
Antwerp fits a complete drinking education into one walkable evening. The old city holds jenever cellars and cocktail rooms within sight of the cathedral, Sint Andries hides Belgium's most famous beer cellar, and the route south ends among the galleries of Zuid.
This crawl runs six stops in order, drawn from our best bars in Antwerp ranking and the full Antwerp bar guide. For the thinking behind the route, see our guide to the best bar crawl cities in the world.
Start at 6pm in the old city, drink your way south on foot, then take one short taxi north to the docks for the final rounds. Six stops, five to six hours, and pours that run stronger than they look.
Start with the national spirit. De Vagant stocks a jenever list that runs past 200 bottles, served neat in tulip glasses by staff happy to build you a flight. One round here explains Belgian drinking better than any museum. Order a young and an old jenever side by side and taste the century between them.
Two minutes away, Cocktails at Nine upgrades the evening with properly stirred classics in a townhouse room near the cathedral. The drinks come executed rather than reinvented, which is exactly what stop two needs. Keep it to one; the cellar ahead deserves a clear head.
Kulminator is the pilgrimage: a cellar bar pouring vintage aged Belgian beers going back decades, run with library rules and zero interest in hurry. Beer raters have ranked it among the best beer bars on earth for years. Bring cash, speak softly, and ask for an aged Trappist; the list rewards trust.
The walk south to Zuid earns a polished room. Bar Burbure pours the neighborhood's most serious cocktails for the gallery crowd, with service that treats a classic spec as a promise rather than a suggestion. Settle in; this is the long stop of the night.
A short taxi north lands you at the docks. Dogma works a tighter, darker room where the menu bends to the bartenders' instincts, and it carries conversation comfortably past midnight. If the night has a second wind, it starts here.
Finish big on the water. Bocadero runs one of the city's largest terraces by the old docks, built for a final round as the night cools over the Scheldt. In summer it becomes an open air party; in winter, skip it and double down at Dogma instead.
Eat before stop three; Antwerp's kitchens close earlier than its bars, and the beer ahead punishes empty stomachs. Order a bolleke of De Koninck somewhere along the way, because the city's own amber ale costs little and earns respect.
Keep Thursday to Saturday for this route. Midweek hours thin out at the smaller rooms, and Kulminator in particular keeps its own schedule.
Jenever at De Vagant, one stirred classic at Cocktails at Nine, an aged Trappist in the Kulminator cellar, then south for Bar Burbure's polish before the docklands finish at Dogma and Bocadero.
Five to six hours covers all six stops at a sane pace. Start at 6pm with jenever in the old city and you reach the docklands rooms a little after midnight.
Jenever to start, Belgian beer in the middle, cocktails late. The bolleke of De Koninck is the city's own amber ale, and Kulminator's cellar holds aged Trappists you will find nowhere else.
Mostly. The old city, Sint Andries, and Zuid connect on foot within 20 minutes, with one short taxi north if you finish at the Eilandje docks.
Sofia covers the European bar beat for barsforKings from a base in London, with regular stops in Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and Paris. She has filed guides from 21 cities across the continent.
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