Who doesn’t love a Christmas market? Well, quite a lot of people, actually. Some find them too intrusive, too expensive, just too much. Some markets make you feel as if you’re constantly being swept along a tide of people, but in Antwerp it’s a different story. Here in the central Grote Markt square, whose tall, crenellated guildhouses and Renaissance Town Hall have been draped in fairy lights, I’ve walked into a large, convivial, just-the-right-side-of lively street festival scented by all sorts of delicious things to eat and drink. My idea of a Christmas market.
In this attractive city that’s already decked out in Christmas lights and glittering decorations, the various markets in Antwerp’s squares are bringing an extra glow to the general festive spirit during Winter in Antwerp until 4 January. Grote Markt has the biggest selection of wooden chalets, most selling food and drink. To make it even more pleasurable, they’ve built a fairy-light-festooned covered wooden eating area with tables, benches and stools so you can comfortably chow down on your bratwurst baguette, pizza-like flammkuchen, cheesy and potatoey tartiflette, raclette, croquettes, truffle pasta, burgers or, if you’re at the Peruvian stall, empanada and pulled-pork taco. Maybe followed by a Belgian waffle dusted in sugar or smothered in chocolate or Nutella, or perhaps some oliebollen (doughnuts), or, if you’re in an Austrian mood, the wonderfully messy pancake dish of kaiserschmarrn. This being 2025, they’re also offering Dubai chocolate waffles and churros, because few people can resist jumping on that particular pistachio and chocolate bandwagon.
