Antwerp is about to get a lot easier to reach from London. From 14 December, Eurostar will run direct services from St Pancras to Antwerp-Centraal, cutting roughly 30 minutes off a journey that currently requires a change at Brussels. The trip takes around two hours and 45 minutes, and one-way fares start from £51.
The trains are the same ones already running the London-Amsterdam route, so they'll pick up Antwerp as an extra stop alongside Lille-Europe, Brussels-Midi, Rotterdam-Centraal and Amsterdam-Centraal. Departures are spread across the day, with the first train leaving St Pancras at 6.16am plus morning and evening options.
There's one quirk worth planning around: the direct service only works in one direction. Coming home, you'll need to take a Belgian SNCB train back to Brussels-Midi, clear UK border and security checks there, then board the Eurostar to London. Eurostar says a direct return would need dedicated UK border facilities at Antwerp-Centraal, which aren't currently planned. The return journey takes about three hours and 50 minutes including the change, and both legs can be booked together on Eurostar's website.
Timing is ideal for a festive trip. Antwerp's Christmas market runs from 4 December 2026 to 3 January 2027, filling the historic centre with stalls, an ice rink and plenty of shopping. Even outside the festive season, the city rewards a long weekend: it has a strong restaurant and bar scene, independent boutiques and some serious art galleries.
For anyone who likes the idea of a Christmas market trip without the crowds of Brussels or Cologne, this is a genuinely convenient new option — city centre to city centre in under three hours, no airport hassle. It's also a sign of Eurostar slowly expanding beyond its classic routes; bigger promises like direct trains to Cologne, Frankfurt and Switzerland are pencilled in for the early 2030s, but Antwerp is the one you can actually book now.
