Belgium · Flanders · Antwerp
Antwerp diamond district, Antwerp — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Antwerp's Diamond Quarter, the Diamantkwartier, is a Square Mile of trading blocks in Belgium handling most of the world's rough diamonds.
About Antwerp diamond district
Where to stay in Antwerp diamond district
The right area depends on your trip — here's what each neighbourhood is best for.
Beds here sit among the bourses. The Antwerp diamond district packs dealers, cutting rooms and hotels into a handful of square blocks, so a room on one street leaves the whole trade within a few minutes on foot. Evenings run quieter than the daytime traffic suggests.
Walk west and the streets fall away toward Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal, the Rubenshuis and the older core of Antwerp.
About Antwerp diamond district
What are the main landmarks in Antwerp diamond district?
Windows here hold cut stones. Sealed doors, camera housings and the daily walk of couriers between the bourses give the Antwerp diamond district a texture that no museum quarter in Belgium matches, and the trade itself is the thing to watch. The Black Falcon, the world's largest cut diamond, belongs to the story these blocks tell.
Antwerp's museum core begins a short walk west. Rubenshuis, Museum Plantin-Moretus and the tower of Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal stand inside twenty minutes on foot, with Het Steen further on at the water.
What is the history of Antwerp diamond district?
Cutting built these blocks. Generations of polishers worked stones inside the Diamantkwartier, and the streets took their shape from workshops and dealing rooms rather than from any grand plan of the city around them. Much of that bench work has since moved to cheaper centres abroad.
Trading stayed put, and the Antwerp diamond district holds its place as the largest of its kind. Roughly half the rough stones come back for finishing.
Where is Antwerp diamond district?
The Antwerp diamond district covers several square blocks east of Antwerp's old core, a grid tight enough that the whole Square Mile is crossed on foot in minutes.
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Updated September 2026