The 5 best summer festivals in Antwerp

Fire is Gold started out in 2017 as a hip-hop festival held outside Brussels. It moved in 2019 to a site on Antwerp’s left bank where it replaces the Laundry Day techno fest. The new event features international rappers, along with skateboarding, basketball, street art and urban fashion.

A summer jazz festival is held in August among the trees in Den Brandt park, not far from Middelheim sculpture park. Founded back in 1969, Middelheim attracts serious jazz fans from all over Europe. The atmosphere is relaxed, with performers playing under a big tent while fans sit around on the grass drinking chilled white wine.

An inspiring festival that fills the months of July and August, and reaches into the most remote corners of the city. Parties happen in a former gasworks in Zurenborg, now called Zomerfabriek, while Cinema Urbana screens openair films in a disused hangar on the waterfront. But you can also have drinks with friends under the trees at the Zomerbar, or you can find circus acts, street theatre and pop up hotel rooms that cost next to nothing.

Antwerp’s Arenberg theatre stages magical open-air concerts in the summer months under the trees of the Rivierenhof estate. Hop on a tram or bike to join the relaxed crowd listening to rock, blues, punk, folk and world performers. The programme runs from June to September.

This relaxed, family-friendly festival is held over two days in August on a riverside location on Antwerp’s left bank. You can listen to upcoming Belgian bands, graze on street food and admire the city skyline on the other side of the water.