Internationally overshadowed by its more bureaucratic sibling Brussels, Belgium’s second city used to be an important mercantile center in the Low Countries and has left behind a rich city to lose yourself in.

Today it takes a more discerning traveler to explore this picturesque medieval city. If that’s you, we are sure you will appreciate these tips by Spotted by Locals.

Related: A budget guide to visiting Antwerp, Belgium

5 cheap eats in Antwerp

Here are five spots to enjoy great food without breaking the bank or limiting yourself to the obligatory Belgian (don’t call them French here!) fries and chocolate.

Filling up on the buffet at Aahaar Indian Cuisine. Photo: Regina Jansen of Spotted By Locals

Aahaar Indian Cuisine

Lange Herentalsestraat 23

Let’s start off with the best deal in town. Aahaar Indian Cuisine pretty much does what it says on the tin: delicious Indian food, which in this case means spiciness turned up to eleven. But what’s great about this cozy restaurant is the daily buffet: for just €10 you can mix and match every dish that meets the eye and leave completely satisfied to continue your exploration.

Don’t forget to combine your pile of delicious food with a sweet mango lassi to wash off any extra spiciness.

Waiting for chips at Chips. Photo: Andy Helinx of Spotted By Locals

Chips

Sint-Antoniusstraat 35

OK, we lied about not mentioning fries — how could we ignore the ones they make at Chips? To be perfectly honest, it’s difficult to get bad fries in Antwerp, even in the city center, but this spot takes them to another level. They’ve also hit the sweet spot budget-wise (€2.40 for a small order), and they even serve burgers with meat from the best butcher in Antwerp.

If you’re feeling adventurous, you can also opt for the homemade tartare sauce instead of the tried-and-true mayonnaise.

Billie’s Beer Kafetaria

Kammenstraat 12

You know what else Belgium is famous for? Beer. You can always look for a true brown bar to enjoy local brews but what if you want to combine some beer tasting with Belgian comfort food? Billie’s Beer Kafetaria in the shadow of the cathedral is a perfect choice. Here they have 11 beers on tap and 110 served from the bottle. You can combine your drink with a pub game.

Get some stew (€14) or meatballs paired with the brew of your choice (don’t be shy to ask the bartender for help!), grab a chair upstairs and settle in for the real wintertime Antwerp vibe. It’s Sunday every day here.

Dinner is served at Estrela do Mar. Photo: Petra Bartholomeeussen of Spotted By Locals

Estrela do Mar

Ellermanstraat 96

Another excellent place to have a quality dinner for cheap is this family restaurant in the north of the city, right in the middle of the Portuguese quarter. This neighborhood favorite is heaving with charm: even if there are no free tables at first glance, just ask the waiters and they will take you to the back where you’ll see why they call it the Estrela do Mar — the ‘starfish’.

There’s no menu here, but you’ll always have a handful of fresh, daily Portuguese dishes to choose from, including sardines, gambas, and steak. Pick your color of wine and dine like a king for one of the city’s best deals (€17 for a huge steak). Don’t forget dessert!

A few of the fabulous creations at MoMade Cupcakes. Photo: Regina Janzen of Spotted By Locals

MoMade Cupcakes

Reyndersstraat 37

Speaking of dessert, you can do much worse than having an artisanal cupcake made by a pastry chef in the beating heart (and stomach) of the city. MoMade Cupcakes is run by Mo Lamokoref, and here you can find flavors like classic vanilla, red velvet, and chocolate-raspberry. It’s basically edible eye candy, and each one costs just €2.90.

No excuses — you’re in Europe’s hidden gem, remember?

Do you have a favorite local spot in Antwerp? Let us know in the comments.

The post 5 local tips for cheap eats in Antwerp appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

There are loads of reasons to visit Antwerp, though an innovative museum, design, the legacy of Paul Rubens and good old jenever (gin) lead the pack.

MAS: Visiting a cutting-edge museum

Erudition first. In 2011, MAS (Museum Aan de Stroom) opened in Antwerp’s rejuvenating port district of Eilandje. MAS is a model for future museums. The museum is ordered into grand themes: Metropolis, Power, Port and Life and Death, and feels more like an archive than a museum, with most of its treasures in storage, including flat objects housed in display drawers. With QR codes affixed to objects, MAS is also fun to experience.

Designed by Rotterdam-based Neutelings Riedijk Architects, the building makes use of curved glass panels throughout, offering striking panoramas on dramatic platforms and from the building’s roof over the city below. For adults, admission to the permanent collection is €5; temporary exhibitions run €10 (seniors and kids €3 and €8, respectively.) Entrance to the rooftop and the Visible Storage section on the second floor are free, and admission to the entire museum is free on the last Wednesday of the month. Another budget-saving tip: on the last Thursday of the month, the entrance fee drops to €1.

As an aside for museum lovers, Antwerp’s excellent Royal Museum of Fine Arts is currently closed and scheduled to reopen at the end of 2017. Until it reopens, selections from the collection are on display around Antwerp.

Exploring the neighborhoods

Eiljandje itself has become a social district, and is fun to wander. That said, it hasn’t really yet picked up its own internal cohesion. Older neighborhoods of Antwerp feel more organically linked. Particularly charming is the world-class antique and design district along Kloosterstraat with its many comfortable cafes. Weekends along Kloosterstraat and elsewhere see the proliferation of antique and flea markets, which are good for scooping up rare retro finds but sadly not ideal for snapping up true steals.

Priceless paintings on display

Anyone after a less contemporary version of Antwerp will be comforted to discover that the city remains the territory of Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens. Four Rubens paintings (Elevation of the Cross, The Resurrection of Christ, The Descent from the Cross, and The Assumption of the Virgin) can be seen at the city’s Cathedral, which is the largest Gothic church in the Low Countries. Admission is €6.

Raise a glass of Jenever

Spirit-minded (as opposed to spiritually-minded) traditionalists can visit the city’s old-time jenever bars for extended sampling sessions of various types of the juniper-flavored spirit. De Vagant is an especially grand place for such an activity, with over 200 kinds of jenever on offer, all of which come from Belgium or northern France. Even better, a shot of the good stuff will usually only set you back about €2.25, so it’s an easy and affordable way to sample a few flavors.

Affordable eats

Frituur De Smulpaep (Varkensmarkt 2/A) is cheap and delicious for frites and croquettes. You can get a plate of filling fried things plus a drink for under €10, easy. To stock up on provisions, try local branches of Lidl or Albert Heijn.

Cheap sleep

If you’re looking for an affordable place to spend the night, the Middelheim Guesthouse (Prins Boudewijnlaan 139) gets great reviews. Prices start at €60 for a single, €70 for a double and €85 for a triple.

Antwerp’s proximity to various other big tourist cities makes it easy to reach as a side trip, though it really deserves a few nights on its own.

The post Antwerp: Visiting this Belgian gem on a budget appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Change trains in Cologne and, even with just a dozen minutes between trains, you have a strong sense of having experienced something of Cologne. The German city’s landmark cathedral towers over the station platforms. And the chances are that, whether upon arriving or leaving Cologne, you’ll cross the River Rhine which flows just east of the station. The trains edge slowly over the Hohenzollern Bridge, a place where a thousand couples have sealed their love by fastening padlocks to the railings. Below is the Rhine, and there are views of Cologne’s handsome Old Town on the west bank.

Changing trains in Cologne thus makes for a perfect interlude in a long journey. And that cathedral is so close to the station that, even with just 20 minutes between trains, you’ll still have time to pack in a quick visit and gaze up into the Gothic recesses of this magnificent building.

Related:

• 11 best cheap hotels in Cologne, Germany

Rational, not Renaissance, dominates Florence’s SMN station. Photo © EuroCheapo

Venetian variety

While changing trains in Cologne can be a happy occasion, the opposite is true for Venezia Mestre station. It is a natural point to change trains on many European itineraries. Believe us, it can be a dispiriting experience and you’ll not have any sense of having been anywhere near Venice.

Far better, if time allows, to change instead at Venezia Santa Lucia station. That way you’ll cross the Ponte della Libertà (not just once, but twice) and while at Santa Lucia you can pop out to the front of the station and see Venice’s famous Grand Canal.

Architectural surprises

Other cities have perfectly fine stations, but they somehow fail to capture the spirit of the city they serve. We happen to be great fans of Santa Maria Novella (SMN) station in Florence. It is a first-class piece of Italian Rationalist architecture, but if you arrive in Florence with your mind full of heady images from the Florentine Renaissance, then SMN comes as a mighty shock.

Heidelberg packs a similar surprise. New arrivals are on the lookout for castles and all the insignia of Romanticism. But what do they get? Heidelberg Hauptbahnhof is an assertive piece of 1950s architecture — very graceful, and very fit-for-purpose. It is a lovely space, and boasts some very fine details — like the modern sgraffito in the Haupthalle. But it’s not what new arrivals expect of Heidelberg. And it’s inconvenient for the city centre, so anyone changing trains there will hardly catch the spirit of Heidelberg.

The good, the bad and the ugly

There are however other railway stations in the Cologne league. Antwerp Centraal, Madrid Atocha, Limoges and Valencía Nord all boast wonderful architecture (with nothing whatsoever in common), and the location of each is such that you can get a sense of the surrounding city.

As to the worst places in Europe to change trains, well there the choice is endless. Calais-Fréthun and Warsaw Wschodnia compete for a prime place on “the bad list.” And we have not even mentioned Birmingham New Street. It is just plain ugly.

Your favorite stations?

Have a beloved (or not not-so-loved) train station to add to our list? Tell us about it in the comments section below.

The post Train Connections: Europe’s Best and Europe’s Worst appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.