Belgium · Flanders · Antwerp
Eilandje, Antwerp — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Eilandje is Antwerp's old port quarter, ringed by the Schelde, Willemdok and Bonapartedok, the docks that closed it into an island in 1869.
About Eilandje
Where to stay in Eilandje
Where you base yourself shapes the visit — here's the character of each area.
Eilandje puts guests on the water. Hotels and serviced apartments fill former warehouses along Willemdok and Bonapartedok, a short walk from Museum aan de Stroom and a tram ride from Antwerp's old centre. Evenings run quiet.
Guests who want Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal and Museum Plantin-Moretus at the door should look south into the old centre, because this quarter trades that density for brick warehouses, wide quays and dock water.
About Eilandje
What are the main landmarks in Eilandje?
Three museums anchor the quarter. Museum aan de Stroom stands beside the Bonapartedok, the Red Star Line Museum keeps the old shipping buildings near the Schelde, and the Eugeen Van Mieghem Museum sits on the same dock front. Hessenhuis stands on the Nieuwstad ground that Gilbert van Schoonbeke laid out, and Het Steen guards the river where the quays run south toward the old centre.
Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal and Museum Plantin-Moretus lie beyond that, in the centre proper.
What is the history of Eilandje?
The name came late. Gilbert van Schoonbeke, a land speculator and town planner, cut the sea-canal vlieten of Brouwersvliet, Timmervliet and Middelvliet through this ground and built it out under the name Nieuwstad. Only in 1869 did the docks close the ring.
The Schelde, Kattendijksluis, Kattendijkdok, Verbindingsdok, Willemdok, Bonapartedok and Bonapartesluis of the old port enclosed it completely, and the quarter took the name Eilandje, meaning little island.
Where is Eilandje?
Water rings this quarter. Eilandje holds old port ground north of Antwerp's centre, enclosed by the Schelde and by Kattendijkdok, Willemdok and Bonapartedok.
Good for
More areas in Antwerp
Updated September 2026