Belgium · Flanders · Antwerp
Wilrijk, Antwerp — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Wilrijk is a district of Antwerp, a former municipality south of the city centre with its own parish churches and the Middelheim Museum.
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Where to stay in Wilrijk
Where visitors usually base themselves, and why.
Wilrijk keeps few beds of its own. Most visitors book in Antwerp and come out to the parish quarters around Sint-Bernarduskerk and the Heilig Hartkerk, treating the district as a quiet base with the city a short ride north. The Middelheim Museum side suits anyone who wants open-air sculpture and lawns within walking distance.
Everything else here is residential.
Find hotels in Wilrijk
Direct booking searches for these neighbourhoods.
Middelheim Museum side
The Middelheim Museum's outdoor collection anchors this end of Wilrijk, with parkland in place of through-traffic. Beds are limited here, so book early.Find hotels in Middelheim Museum sidea quiet parish base outside Antwerp's centreSint-Bernarduskerk quarter
Streets around Sint-Bernarduskerk keep the low-rise parish pattern Wilrijk carried into the city. Rooms are few around here — worth securing early.Find hotels in Sint-Bernarduskerk quarterlonger stays with room to spread outNeerlandhof
Neerlandhof sits at the outer reach of Wilrijk, away from the roads running north into Antwerp. Lodging is scarce in this area; reserve in advance.Find hotels in NeerlandhofHotel links are affiliate links: booking through them may earn us a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never affects how places are ranked. How this works
Things to do in and around Antwerp
Ranked by global recognition; descriptions from Wikidata (CC0).
Museums & Galleries
1- Kristus-Koningkerk
Churches & Religious Sites
4- Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van de Rozenkranskerk Heritage
- Sint-Jan Evangelistkerk Heritage
- Oude parochiekerk Sint-Jan Maria Vianney Heritage
- Sint-Jan Maria Vianneykerk Heritage
Stadiums & Sports
2- Vélodrome d'Anvers Zuremborg
- Neerlandhof
worth knowingacross 3 categories in and around Antwerp
About Wilrijk
What are the main landmarks in Wilrijk?
Sculpture first. The Middelheim Museum shows modern work in the open air, its pieces standing among lawns and mature trees rather than inside galleries. Churches carry the rest of the map: Kristus-Koningkerk, Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van de Rozenkranskerk, Sint-Jan Evangelistkerk, and the Heilig Hartkerk each mark a parish of their own.
Neerlandhof closes the list. Two entries share the name Sint-Jan Maria Vianney: the Sint-Jan Maria Vianneykerk and the Oude parochiekerk Sint-Jan Maria Vianney, the parish church and the older one that carries the same dedication.
What is the history of Wilrijk?
Wilrijk governed itself first. The commune stayed separate until the first day of 1983, when it was folded into the enlarged municipality of Antwerp together with the other communes ringing the city. Decentralization followed in 2000.
Wilrijk came back as one of the nine districts, keeping a name and a parish map older than the merger that took it in.
Where is Wilrijk?
Wilrijk spreads over flat ground south of Antwerp's centre, inside the Belgian province of Antwerp, where the built-up city gives way to open ground.
Common questions
What is the best area to stay in Wilrijk?
Middelheim Museum side: open-air sculpture and lawns. Sint-Bernarduskerk quarter: a quiet parish base outside Antwerp's centre. Neerlandhof: longer stays with room to spread out.
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Updated October 2026