Checking-In To: Botanic Sanctuary, Antwerp

CHECKING-IN TO | CABANA TRAVEL | WORLD OF CABANA

Antwerp has long been one of Europe’s quieter cultural heavyweights, a walkable city where Gothic landmarks, cutting-edge fashion and serious culinary ambition sit comfortably side by side. A stay at Botanic Sanctuary Antwerp, a former monastery turned refined hideaway, puts it all within easy reach, from Michelin-starred dining at Hertog Jan and Fine Fleur to the city's historic streets and revered institutions.

BY SOPHIE GOODWIN | CABANA TRAVEL | 13 MAY 2026

Botanic Sanctuary Antwerp: a 13th-century monastery transformed into one of the city's finest hotels.

Antwerp has always felt like Europe’s best-kept secret, a city that rewards the curious traveller with cobblestoned streets, world-class diamonds, 17 Michelin-starred restaurants and, as it turns out, a particularly compelling reason to book a long weekend.

Tucked behind ancient walls within the city’s Botanical Gardens, Botanic Sanctuary Antwerp is a former 13th-century monastery that has been transformed into one of the best reasons to stay in the city. History is palpable in the best way here: centuries-old brickwork and original wooden beams and centuries-old brickwork sit in harmony with contemporary glass conservatories and modern art; a visual conversation between past and present that the design team has handled with impressive restraint. Where monks once lived, 108 individually designed rooms now offer warm colors, carefully chosen antiques and artworks by local artists.

All individually designed rooms and suites feature warm colors © Botanic Sanctuary.

The Diamond Suite, an homage to the city’s history in the gem trade, unfurls over 94 sqm on the second floor and is accessible by private elevator. It looks out over the hotel domain: the gardens, the greenhouse, the ancient rooflines. The design follows the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi: roughly plastered walls, poured-concrete floors, beamed ceilings combined with natural linens from De Witte Lietaer. Fresh flowers from the in-house florist and a wine climate cabinet complete the picture.

Breakfast is served in the Catalpa, which the hotel, aptly, calls the Botanic Breakfast Experience. You take your seat among the plants and antique botanical illustrations, and the morning begins with a smoothie shot made to a secret recipe by Fine Fleur’s chef Jacob Jan Boerma. What follows is generous and beautifully curated, paying close attention to local producers: delicate fish and seafood; Belgian cheeses; the most delicious breads and artisanal charcuterie, alongside eggs (I adored them scrambled); homemade pastries; a smorgasbord crowned with every single type of pancake, best enjoyed with lashings of Greek yoghurt.

The design follows the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi: roughly plastered walls, poured-concrete floors, beamed ceilings and natural linens © Botanic Sanctuary.

The spa, occupying a sprawling 1000sqm across three floors, attracts guests from far and wide. A glass conservatory houses an 18-meter pool that shimmers with an almost ecclesiastical calm, while the treatment menu ranges from acupuncture to blood analysis. I opted for a massage: the kind that irons out years of accumulated tension in a single, blissful hour. The monks, fittingly, once grew herbs in these very gardens for remedial purposes, and their 19th-century pharmacy has been revived as a modern apothecary stocked with Saint Charles spa products.

Antwerp is extremely manageable on foot, which is another of its pleasures. From the hotel, a short walk through the little gate behind the Botanical Gardens deposits you on Mechelseplein, from where the Cathedral of Our Lady – a Gothic behemoth whose construction stretched across 169 years and which houses two Rubens altarpieces — is just a 15 minutes' walk. The Grote Markt, the medieval heart of the old town, is anchored by a Renaissance-style town hall and guildhalls with flamboyant facades, and offers the perfect excuse to stop for a Bolleke at Den Engel and watch the city go by.

A monastic 19th-century pharmacy revived as a modern apothecary © Botanic Sanctuary.

Nationalestraat and Lombardenvest are where the serious fashion shopping happens, lined with Belgian labels and international names, and the nearby Museum Mayer van den Bergh has the recently restored Dulle Griet by Pieter Bruegel: arguably the most important Antwerp masterpiece outside the Royal Museum of Fine Arts.

Dinner at Hertog Jan, the two Michelin-star restaurant tucked into the former cloister, is worth building the whole trip around. Head chef Gert De Mangeleer delivers a three-hour omakase experience that showcases produce grown in the hotel’s own greenhouse: delicate, precise and full of flavour. The interiors are honest and muted, designed by Benoit Viaene, which only serves to put the food front and centre.

Henry's Bar © Botanic Sanctuary.

Fine Fleur, the hotel’s other starred restaurant, takes a more playful approach. Jacob Jan Boerma and Thomas Diepersloot’s modern, exotic twists on fine dining are just the right side of adventurous. For a nightcap, Henry’s Bar draws Antwerp's fashionable crowds and, somewhere beneath it all in the ancient vaulted cellars, lies The Unprecedented, an invitation-only whisky investment club where rare single malts are found.

MoMu, Antwerp’s Fashion Museum, is marking 40 years since the Antwerp Six reshaped global fashion with a major exhibition running until January. Guests of the Botanic Sanctuary can arrange exclusive behind-the-scenes access to the fashion school and MoMu’s archives. Antwerp, for me, was an undiscovered cultural gem hiding in plain sight; and the sublime Botanic Sanctuary lies at the very heart of it.