Autumn 2025. We – Sam and Danny, Michel and Wille, and Timothy – are travelling to Japan for a quite classic tour of the Land of the Rising Sun. We are flying separately as we used miles. On the planning: Tokyo, Kanazawa, Shirakawa, Osaka, and Expo 2025, Hiroshima, Himeji, Miyajima, Kyoto, Nara, Nagoya, Hakone, and…
Category: Experience
PROGRAMME | Pinx 2026 LGBTQIA+ film festival in Ghent and Antwerp from 27 January to 1 February
At the end of January 2026, queer cinema once again takes centre stage in Belgium as PinX, the annual LGBTQIA+ film festival, returns to Ghent and Antwerp. From 27 January to 1 February 2026, audiences are invited to discover a bold and carefully curated programme of international films, special events and community gatherings at Sphinx…
ANTWERP | Start of works on public space at the Loodswezensite
At the end of September 2025, the beginning of the first phase of redevelopment of the public space at the Pilotage Site or Loodswezen site, started. Yes, that sounds very tentative.
WINTER IN ANTWERP 2025-2026 | 1.5M visitors, 120K for New Year’s fireworks
The City of Antwerp has brought a highly successful edition of Winter in Antwerp (Winter in Antwerpen) to a close with its traditional New Year’s treat, capping four weeks of winter festivities across the historic city centre. This year’s edition attracted a total of 1.5 million visitors, confirming its status as one of the strongest…
REVIEW | Restaurant Marv & Ben in Copenhagen
I turned 44 in June. I have this tradition – when possible – of not being in Belgium for my birthday. From Sweden in 2013 to the Châteaux of the Loire Valley in 2014, Lake Orta in 2015, Rome in 2016, London in 2018, North Carolina and Virginia in 2019, England in 2022, and Rotterdam…
Antwerp hotels and entrepreneurs want Winter in Antwerp to start two weeks earlier: winter wonderland or urban pressure cooker?
Few urban phenomena capture the contradictions of contemporary city life as clearly as the modern Christmas market. Branded as cosy, convivial and tradition-laden, winter events such as Winter in Antwerp (Winter in Antwerpen) attract hundreds of thousands of visitors, fill hotel rooms and dominate city-centre calendars for weeks on end. Yet behind the fairy lights…
Beyond Darklands 2026 programme highlights
For 2026, Darklands transforms into Beyond Darklands, having to rework the Waagnatie venue in Antwerp. Belgium‘s major kink and fetish festival mostly geared towards men who have sex with men will now work with multiple floors. Beyond Darklands 2026 takes place between Tuesday 3 and Monday 9 March.
REVIEW | Toei Animation Museum in Nerima, Tokyo
Autumn 2025. We – Sam and Danny, Michel and Wille, and Timothy – are travelling to Japan for a quite classic tour of the Land of the Rising Sun. We are flying separately as we used miles. On the planning: Tokyo, Kanazawa, Shirakawa, Osaka, and Expo 2025, Hiroshima, Himeji, Miyajima, Kyoto, Nara, Nagoya, Hakone, and…
FLANDERS | Ban on live animals at weekly markets impacts Vogelenmarkt in Antwerp
Since 1 January 2026, the sale of live animals at weekly markets is banned across Flanders, bringing an end to a long-standing practice that has been part of street life in several towns and cities for generations. The measure is part of the new Flemish Animal Welfare Code introduced by Flemish minister for Animal Welfare…
2026: Invisible?
August 2025. While staying at the Radisson Collection Astorija in Vilnius in Lithuania, we want to order something from the breakfast menu. But the table next to us, populated by a ‘very present’ group of eight or ten people gets priority. They’re treated as being important.
