Should I rent a house in Antwerp or Mechelen?

Hi everyone,

My name is Galip. I am from Turkey and married with 2 kids. In January 2018, we will be moving to Belgium for work. I will be starting to work in Mechelen.

Nowadays, the question in our mind is to whether we should rent and live in Antwerp or Mechelen.

The company i will work for is located in Mechelen. But city life in Antwerp looks more appealing to us than in Mechelen.
Also, the rent prices are not that much lower in Mechelen compared to rent prices in Antwerp.

Antwerp seems to be a good alternative with full of activities and opportunities of passing the time with kids.

On the other hand i am a little concerned with the traffic between work and home if we select to live in Antwerp. It looks like travel time by car would take 20-25 minutes (google maps) on average from Antwerp to the work in case we choose to live in Antwerp.

One other point, my wife would also look for job once we settle in Belgium and MEchelen is in between 2 big cities (Antwerp and Brussels) which is a good reason to choose Mechelen.

I would like to take your opinion and suggestions about these questions.

Which city would you choose to live in if you were in my situation? (with two kids of ages 4 and 2, works in Mechelen, wife looks for job both in Antwerp and Brussels area, with interest in enjoying the city life).

Thank you in advance

Galip