{"id":10586,"date":"2026-04-08T07:02:45","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T07:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/10586\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T07:02:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T07:02:45","slug":"a-locals-guide-to-antwerp-belgium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/10586\/","title":{"rendered":"A Local\u2019s Guide to Antwerp, Belgium"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rizon Parein is a 3D graphic designer and the founder of Antwerp\u2019s Us by Night<\/a>, which has flipped the format of a classic design conference and turned it into an annual, nocturnal festival. Since being launched five years ago, it has become an internationally acclaimed event on the creative calendar, with nearly 100 speakers and live artists.<\/p>\n

This interview is part of The World Made Local<\/a>, a global collaboration between the seven international editions of Cond\u00e9 Nast Traveler in which 100 people in 100 countries tell us why their home turf should be your next destination.<\/p>\n

Tell us more about Us by Night.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been a 3D designer for more than 20 years and built a network of friends from all over the world. When making travel plans, I immediately dig into the local food scene to find new gems. For a relatively small hub, Antwerp is pretty spoiled when it comes to excellent fine-dining spots, but I hadn\u2019t had an opportunity to invite friends from abroad over here. That is, until the city of Antwerp<\/a> asked me if I would be interested in organizing a design event. I agreed and started reaching out to friends, colleagues, and industry legends. To my surprise, I had an amazing line-up in no time\u2014one that had more potential than just being an excuse to get buddies over to my favorite restaurants. Rather than a sterile conference, I decided to turn it into a three-night festival.<\/p>\n

How would you describe Antwerp?<\/p>\n

This is where I was born and raised, and the quality of life here is really high compared to that of other metropolitan cities. It has a rich cultural heritage and one of Europe\u2019s biggest harbors, yet it is still quite compact. Despite its scale, Antwerp is competitive and dynamic. Among creatives, it is mostly known for its fashion scene and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts<\/a>, which attracts emerging talent from across the globe. Most people in the community know each other pretty well, which makes it easy to connect and collaborate; it doesn\u2019t matter if you are an architect, fashion designer, musician, or fine artist: the chances are that you\u2019ll end up in the same bar or restaurant.<\/p>\n

Where would you take a friend for after-hours hits?<\/p>\n

First, we would order small bites and a glass of natural wine at Camino<\/a>, which I like for its super-tasty and low-key Asian-inspired street food and outdoor terrace. Dinner would be at my all-time favorite, Restaurant Veranda<\/a>. The chef Davy Schellemans is such a talent and I\u2019ve been following him for years. We\u2019d end the evening with drinks at Vitrin<\/a> bar.<\/p>\n

\"Rizon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rizon Parein is a 3D graphic designer and the founder of Antwerp\u2019s Us by Night, which has flipped…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10587,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[6],"tags":[19,7277,7278,7276],"class_list":["post-10586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-antwerp","tag-antwerp","tag-museums-galleries","tag-places-to-eat-drink","tag-the-world-made-local"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116367808606536557","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}