Antwerp or Frankfurt?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Wins on places to eat with your weighting.
Wins on nature & day trips and good for families with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
The verdict
Choose Antwerp if the trip is built around eating and evenings out: a wider spread of kitchens, somewhat more nightclubs, and museums packed closely enough to walk between, with more UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach.
Choose Frankfurt if you want green space, easy days out and a city that keeps children busy: far more protected land around it, more park space near the centre, and warmer, drier summers.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Antwerp and Frankfurt are level on 0.
| Antwerp | Frankfurt | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 0 | 0 |
| Swim season months | 0 | 0 |
| Beaches 10 km | 1 | 4 |
| Coast distance | 21 km | 327 km |
| Water distance | — | — |
Places to eat. Antwerp leads by 5 points.5
| Antwerp | Frankfurt | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 75 | 70 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 1,164 | 1,160 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 42 | 31 |
Museums & heritage. Antwerp and Frankfurt are level on 69.
| Antwerp | Frankfurt | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 69 | 69 |
| Museums within 10 km | 41 | 79 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 27 | 43 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 66 | 54 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 9 | 4 |
Nightlife. Antwerp and Frankfurt are level on 59.
| Antwerp | Frankfurt | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 59 | 59 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 866 | 931 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 657 | 691 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 76 | 74 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 73 | 56 |
Nature & day trips. Frankfurt leads by 30 points.30
| Antwerp | Frankfurt | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 34 | 64 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 7 | 28 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 0 | 11 |
| Land share of disc % | 80 | 100 |
| Park area within 2 km | 53 hectares | 124 hectares |
Good for families. Frankfurt leads by 22 points.22
| Antwerp | Frankfurt | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 46 | 68 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 14 | 45 |
| Park area within 2 km | 53 hectares | 124 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 3 | 2 |
Sights concentration. Frankfurt leads by 7 points.7
| Antwerp | Frankfurt | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 54 | 61 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 88 | 129 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Antwerp and Frankfurt are level on 60.
| Antwerp | Frankfurt | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 60 | 60 |
| Price level global | 76.2 | 75.9 |
| Daily budget | €180 | €163 |
Year-round weather. Frankfurt leads by 4 points.4
| Antwerp | Frankfurt | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 58 | 62 |
| Monthly daytime high | 6.5 °C to 23.2 °C | 5 °C to 26.2 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 47 mm to 90 mm | 38 mm to 68 mm |
| Dry months | 0 | 1 |
Where they differ
Antwerp offers a wider range of kitchens from a similar number of restaurants near the centre, somewhat more nightclubs among a comparable set of drinking places, and 9 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach against Frankfurt's 4, with its museums clustered tightly around the centre.
Frankfurt is the greener option, with 28% of the surrounding land protected against 7% around Antwerp and about twice the park space near the centre. It also has roughly three times as many tourist attractions close in, and more notable places within walking distance of the centre.
Where they are alike
Both take museums seriously. Frankfurt has about twice as many, while Antwerp's sit more tightly around the centre and lead on to 9 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach against Frankfurt's 4.
Nights out are much alike, with comparable numbers of places to drink, most of them near the centre in both. Neither is a swimming trip: no month of sea at 21°C or more. The national price levels behind the two, €180 and €163 a day, sit close together.
Which traveller are you?
A couple travelling for food and evenings out should pick Antwerp: a similar number of restaurants to Frankfurt but a wider spread of kitchens, and somewhat more nightclubs, most of them near the centre.
Families lean to Frankfurt, with about three times as many tourist attractions near the centre and roughly twice the park space. Antwerp answers with 3 theme parks within reach against Frankfurt's 2.
Anyone planning walks and days out of the city is better served by Frankfurt, where 28% of the surrounding land is protected. Antwerp suits the heritage day-tripper instead, with 9 UNESCO-listed places in reach.
What the numbers don't tell you
The daily budget figures, €180 and €163, are national price levels for restaurants and hotels rather than measurements of either city. A large or heavily visited city can sit well away from its own country average, by more than the gap between these two numbers, so treat them as background rather than as a reason to pick one.
Warm months are not dry ones here. Antwerp's warmest months are also its wettest, and across the year only Frankfurt manages a single month at 40mm or less. The beach counts mislead too: Frankfurt's 4 nearby beaches are inland, and neither city has a warm sea month.
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Antwerp: 1991-2020 normals, Antwerpen / Deurne (5.2 km from centre). Frankfurt: 1991-2020 normals, Frankfurt Westend (2 km from centre).
Antwerp is at its best in July and August, when highs reach 23°C, though those are also its wettest months at 80-90mm. Spring is the drier bet, with 47mm in April.
Frankfurt runs warmer through the same summer and with less rain, 26°C in July with 68mm, and its spring is drier still at 38mm in April. Midwinter separates them little, with highs of 5-7°C.
Getting there
| Flying from | Antwerp | Frankfurt |
|---|---|---|
| MadridMAD | 2 h 15 m €98-170 BRU · 36 km | 2 h 20 m €145-238 1 stop FRA · 13 km |
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 1 h 5 m €98-165 1 stop BRU · 36 km | 1 h 25 m €74-124 FRA · 13 km |
| BarcelonaBCN | 1 h 55 m €47-116 BRU · 36 km | 1 h 55 m €102-123 FRA · 13 km |
| IstanbulIST, SAW | 3 h 10 m €161-193 BRU · 36 km | 2 h 50 m €135-301 FRA · 13 km |
| New YorkJFK, EWR, LGA | 7 h 35 m no fares BRU · 36 km | 7 h 55 m €537-713 FRA · 13 km |
| ViennaVIE | 1 h 45 m €93-156 BRU · 36 km | 1 h 25 m €141-152 FRA · 13 km |
| BerlinBER | 1 h 25 m €115-161 1 stop BRU · 36 km | 1 h 10 m €157-188 FRA · 13 km |
| DubaiDXB, DWC | 6 h 45 m no fares BRU · 36 km | 6 h 20 m €296-339 1 stop FRA · 13 km |
| BeijingPEK, PKX | 10 h 0 m no fares BRU · 36 km | 9 h 50 m €683-756 FRA · 13 km |
| Sao PauloGRU, VCP, CGH, RTE | 12 h 10 m no fares AMS · 123 km | 12 h 10 m no fares FRA · 13 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-08 to 2026-10, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.
Before you go
| Measure | Antwerp | Frankfurt |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | French, German, Dutch | German |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | Euro (EUR) |
| Sockets | CE230 V, 50 Hz | CF230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 | 112 |
| Elevation | 7 m | 101 m |
| Main airport | Brussels Airport (BRU)36 km from centre191 non-stop destinations | Frankfurt Main Airport (FRA)13 km from centre293 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 14 days | 10 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Antwerp | Frankfurt |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 529,247 | 775,790 |
| People per km² | 2,542 | 3,124 |
| Museums within 10 km | 38 | 53 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 9 | 4 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 80 | 71 |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Antwerp or Frankfurt somewhere new.