Belgium's second city and the capital of Flanders, Antwerp is a city with as much outstanding architecture as Bruges without the "pickled in aspic and over-run with tourists" feel of the better-known Flemish city. Antwerp's only a 40-minute train ride from the Brussels Eurostar station (and it's rumoured that Eurostar trains will stop there from 2007 en route to Amsterdam). As a bonus, your Eurostar ticket is valid for onward travel to Antwerp (and indeed any other Belgian station) so you don't need to queue up when you arrive.

Stroll around the cobbled streets of the medieval city and you'll find marvellous old buildings everywhere. The city's architectural highlights have to include the Steen, an imposing castle on the bank of the River Schelde, the Vleeshuis which is the 16th-century butchers' guildhouse and Onze Lieve Vrouwe Cathedral, the largest Gothic cathedral in the Low Countries.

For those with an interest in art, the essential place to visit is the house of Antwerp's most famous son, Rubens, several of whose works can be seen in the cathedral and also in the city's Royal Fine Arts Museum. Antwerp is, of course, famous for the diamond trade, which is mainly concentrated in the area around the Centraal station, near where you can find the Diamond Museum. I've been told that many of the diamond shops offer very poor value for money, so if you're buying diamonds (which I never have) don't assume you'll get a bargain everywhere.

If you've done enough walking, there are several good sight-seeing tours to be had. Trips along the river depart from the jetty alongside the Steen, where you can also buy a ticket for a boat trip around the huge dock complex (departs from a quay half a kilometre away at the south end of the dock complex).

On land you can take a round-trip on the Diamond Bus, which runs roughly every hour and can be caught at several places around the city. There's also a small road-train which does a more limited tour (but going where the bus doesn't) which departs from the Groenplats. For refreshment, there are several excellent specialist beer bars in the city, but to drink like a local, just say "een bolleke, alstublieft" in virtually any bar and you'll be served a glass of de Koninck, Antwerp's own world-famous beer.

Visit Antwerp once, and like me, you'll want to go back time and time again.