How to reach Antwerp?

Despite Antwerp has its own airport, it's not operated by that many public companies: I think it has only flights coming from a few places from the UK, such as Manchester, Liverpool and somewhere else, only operated by ThomasCook, if I'm not wrong... so, unless you're british, this is not an option for you.

In case you are coming from any other country in Europe, or even any other country in the world, you've got two more options:

Brussels International Airport: this airport is located north-east of Brussels and it's a large one. Lots of principal companies operate there and, from the airport, you've got several different options to reach first Brussels (it's mandatory to stop at Brussels before heading to Antwerp, you can't make it directly to the diamonds' city, unless you pay for a cab) and, then, Antwerp.

When landing at the airport, you'll probably have a long way to reach the metro, train or cab's stop. 

International arrivals land at the very end of the airport, so you'll have to cross a large 'corridor' (with all gates at both sides), then turn left, go 3 floors down, pass the security check-in, cross another large corridor (with this kind of flat escalators), then go 2 or 3 floors up, cross another security door and some more stuff to reach the train station inside the airport, which is located at the 'other' very end of the same.

By train: it takes between 15 and 20 minutes to reach Bruxelles-Central (as the name says, central station in Brussels) or Brussel-Noord (north station in Brussels) and, it doesn't matter which one you arrive at, you'll have to go down your train and change. 

Don't be too worried if you miss the first one, because the traffic between Brussels and Antwerp is so frequent that you won't have to wait too much to catch another train leading you to your final destination. Anyhow, you can always look the yellow blackboards containig the daily schedule of trains up in any platfom (they're classified per days and per hours) and pay attention at every stop any train is making as well as the number of stops every single one is having, so not all trains have Antwerp as the final destination (despite they may be passing, and stopping, by) and maybe a train leaving 10 minutes earlier from Brussels is arriving at Antwerp 5 or 10 minutes later (that's is due to the number of stops it may have). The trip from Brussels to Antwerp can last from 25 to 45 minutes, depending on the train you're in.

The single ticket to Brussels costs around 3 €, but you can save some money if you are using your GO PASS. In these trains, ticket inspectors are not coming that often, so you just may write you're going from Brussels to Antwerp (to be honest, you would have to spend two 'lines' of your ticket: Brussels Airport - Brussel Centraal/Noord and Brussel-Centraal/Noord - Antwerp) and, with a bit of luck, no one will notice anything.

In case you find a ticket inspector in your 15-minutes-trip, you can always buy your ticket to them in the same train. It's a bit less than 3 € (2.60 or 2.70) and they'll make you a receipt as well for your 'instant purchase'. In case you don't, you'll have saved this few money.

By bus: buses are caught half way of the train station, more or less. You can only take them until Brussels, so I only recommend them if you have to do something in Brussels. As any bus in the world, they have lots of stops all over the city of Brussels but, if you are directly going to Antwerp, you'll probably have to walk a bit from wherever you leave the bus to the closest train station. It costs around 3 € and it takes 25 to 30 minutes, depending on where in Brussels you are going.

Cabs: I don't really know the price, because I think no one has ever tried to get to/from the airport by taxi, but sure it's not the cheapest way to do it. I would say it will cost you around 50-60 €.

Brussel-Zuid (Brussels South) Airport: this airport is located in Charleroi (according to statistics, Europe's third most dangerous city in terms of criminality). But don't panic yet, this is not the worst part.

In here, low-cost companies are operating, so flights are quite cheaper (maybe not nowadays, but a couple of years ago we bought some flights for 2 cents or 6 €, so the difference was worth it).

The worst part is the amount of time you need to be on time:

By train: it takes a bit more than two hours to reach the city of Charleroi from Antwerp, with change of train in Brussels included. But, this is not all... once you arrive at Charleroi station, the only way you have got to make it into the airport is by bus or by taxi.

This bus costs around 2 € and takes about half-an-hour to leave you at the airport... depending on the day of the week you are travelling in, the number of buses per hour may change (from 4 per hour to 2 per hour).

If you can't wait for the next bus to come, you may take a taxi... you'll have to negotiate the price before (about 20 €, but you can always share your taxi) and, probably, once you arrive at the airport, the taxi driver will ask you for more money rather than the agreed fee.

Cabs: from Antwerp, it's about 250 € to reach this airport by taxi (some italian stallion proved it)... so you better don't lose your train!

*Note: the GO PASS ticket costs 50 € and includes 10 one-way tickets in the same card (it's as big as a 20 € bank note). You can only use it if you are under 26 years old and only inside Belgium. The way it works is easy: you've got 10 lines to fill in (this is your 10 'tickets'), every one of them having some gaps, such as 'dag' (day), 'datum' (date), 'van' (from) and 'naar' (going to), which you are supposed to fill in every time you use a train (as said before, if you have to change your train, you're supposed to fill in two different lines). Despite this, most of the times you can save one ticket if your only change is in Brussels, for instance, doing the journey 'Antwerp - Charleroi' or 'Antwerp - Ghent': most ticket inspectors will allow you to do this. About ticket inspectors, the rate of them checking tickets is very high (around 95% -that is, 19 out of 20 times-), so you better fill in your ticket... in case you don't, you'll be forced to fill in two lines (like a light penalty) or to pay a higher fine. If you're a risky-one, you may take a seat in the middle of any wagon and wait to fill in your ticket until you see the inspectors coming through any of the doors, so always take a pen (not a pencil, because they're not allowed) with you!

As you all have already noticed, with the GO PASS you pay 5 € per each one-way trip you do, which is always less than purchasing a normal ticket (for instance, the normal single ticket price for a journey Antwerp - Brussels is 7.5 €, being 13 € if the journey is Antwerp - Charleroi).

The pity is, as stated before, you can only use it inside Belgium... but also, as you all know, for every law there is a loophole. If you want to go from Antwerp to Lille, in France, you can use your GO PASS until Mouscron (closest belgian town before the french border) and just pay the ticket Mouscron - Lille, which is 3.10 the single one and 6.20 the return ticket. To do this, you better go to the ticket offices in Antwerp before you catch your first train and buy there a ticket 'Mouscron - Lille', explaining you are using your GO PASS until Mouscron.

If you are coming from a closer country, you may reach Antwerp by train or even by car.