Belgium · Flanders · Antwerp
Schipperskwartier, Antwerp — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Schipperskwartier is Antwerp's old sailors' quarter beside the port, the city's red-light district and the subject of a long rebuilding push.
About Schipperskwartier
Where to stay in Schipperskwartier
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
The quarter is compact and walkable. Most rooms in Schipperskwartier stand within a few streets of Falconrui and Falconplein, which leaves the Scheldt quays, the old warehouses, and Antwerp's centre within a short walk. Sint-Pauluskerk marks the southern edge.
The northern blocks toward Museum aan de Stroom swap late noise for dock-side quiet, while the lanes around Verversrui keep the quarter's older business and the traffic that comes with it.
About Schipperskwartier
What are the main landmarks in Schipperskwartier?
Sint-Pauluskerk rises over the quarter's southern lanes, its Gothic bulk left from the Dominicans who built here by the old port. Het Steen guards the river a short walk upstream. Further north past the old basins, Museum aan de Stroom stacks red sandstone floors above the dock water, and the Red Star Line Museum holds the sheds where emigrants once boarded for America.
Hessenhuis still stands on Falconrui. The Vleeshuis and Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal wait a few minutes south, inside Antwerp's medieval core.
What is the history of Schipperskwartier?
Sailors gave the quarter its name. Ships tied up at the old port, and the streets behind the quays filled with crews, lodging houses, and the trade that follows a working waterfront, prostitution among it for centuries. Antwerp tolerated, policed, and pushed back that business by turns.
Urban renewal reshaped Schipperskwartier in the twenty-first century, confining the window trade to a few designated streets around Verversrui and Schippersstraat while the surrounding blocks were rebuilt.
Where is Schipperskwartier?
Schipperskwartier lies north of Antwerp's historic centre, a flat grid of dock streets set back from the Scheldt and the old port basins.
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More areas in Antwerp
Updated September 2026