Gent

Introduction

Ghent is a city and municipality in East Flanders, in Belgium's Flemish Region. It is the capital of the province, and it is a port and a university city.

Before you go

Ghent is a university city with a large seasonal student population and a notably young feel, but it isn't a student town alone. Foreign residents, professionals working for major international firms, and artists all share the city, and that mix gives Ghent a tolerant, open-minded atmosphere you'll notice across daily life. It sets the city apart from smaller provincial towns in Flanders and from Antwerp.

Bear that character in mind as you plan: expect a lively, varied city rather than a quiet provincial stop. For practical details before you travel, the Visit Ghent website is the source to check.

Getting there

Ghent sits on the Brussels–Bruges–coast rail line, making it a straightforward stop if you are travelling between those cities. The journey from Brussels takes about half an hour, and there are also direct trains to Brussels Airport, Antwerp and Lille. Most trains arrive at Gent-Sint-Pieters, the main station; from there, tram 1 runs to Korenmarkt in the centre, a trip of roughly ten minutes. Gent-Dampoort is closer to the centre, about a fifteen-minute walk, but only trains coming from the direction of Antwerp stop there. Plan your trip and buy tickets through the SNCB website or app.

By car, Belgium's dense highway network brings you in easily: the E40 and E17 cross at Ghent, putting Brussels and Antwerp around 40 minutes away and Bruges around 30, though rush hour can easily double those times. If you fly in, the nearest major airports are Brussels (Zaventem) and Lille in France, with direct trains running from Brussels Airport to Ghent; Brussels-South in Charleroi is farther but popular for its many flights. River cruise lines also call at Ghent's main and secondary cruise terminals, and a DFDS cargo line connects the city to Gothenburg, Sweden.

Getting around

Ghent's historic centre is small enough to cover on foot, but the main station, Gent Sint-Pieters, sits outside it — roughly half an hour's walk away. For that leg, take the tram instead: it delivers you directly into the centre in ten to fifteen minutes. A second station, Gent-Dampoort, is closer, about a fifteen-minute walk from the centre, though only trains arriving from the direction of Antwerp stop there.

• On foot: Ideal within the centre; less so for the station-to-centre leg.
• By tram: The quickest and most comfortable option, especially from the railway station. Four lines run: 1, 2, 3 and 4.
• By bus: Buses complement the trams, and the same De Lijn tickets and passes cover both.
• By bicycle: The recommended way to get around, and you will not be alone — many inhabitants cycle daily. Watch out for cobblestones, which make for a shaking ride, and stay clear of the tram rails. Many one-way roads are two-way for bikes, and bike stands are plentiful, so lock yours up.

Public transport is run by De Lijn and is generally punctual. A single ticket is valid for an hour's travel on all trams and buses; buy it in the vehicle (contactless only, from the white card reader), from ticket machines near stops, or via the De Lijn app. If you are staying a while, a three-day pass or a ten-trip ticket works out better value, and both are valid within the city and across Flanders, including in Antwerp and Bruges. Validate tickets bought on a card on the reader (not the white one) when boarding; tickets bought on the website or app should be validated before entering the vehicle. The De Lijn app offers journey planning, real-time travel info and ticket purchase in English, and you can pick up a free map of the city and surroundings, showing all bus and tram lines, at the Lijnwinkel kiosk near Sint-Pieters station.

Where to stay

Ghent's budget options cluster in the centre, which makes it easy to stay within walking distance of the main sights. Youth Hostel De Draecke sits on a quiet street in the middle of town and provides free breakfast and bedsheets, with a bar serving Belgian beers on the premises. Hostel Uppelink occupies a handsome building in the most scenic part of the city, and Brooderie offers just three rooms on Jan Breydelstraat opposite the Design Museum, sharing bathrooms with the cafe and bakery below. For something more unusual, Ecohostel Andromeda is a low-energy hostel-on-a-boat about ten minutes' walk from the centre, with a creative modern interior and internet access. Bed in Gent, a roomy guest-house a short walk from Gent Dampoort station, has bright south-facing bathrooms and a shared dining room. Campers can head to Camping Urban Gardens – Blaarmeersen, west of the centre, which has pitches, a shop, a cafe and free Wi-Fi.

In the mid-range bracket, Novotel Gent Centrum and Ibis Budget Gent Centrum Dampoort both put you close to the action, the latter near Dampoort Station. At the top end, several hotels trade on their position in the old centre. The Best Western on Botermarkt describes itself as the oldest hotel in Europe and sits near the towers. NH Gent Belfort is in the historical quarter, while the Marriott on Korenlei looks out over the river Leie, though only a few rooms actually face the water; underground parking is available and worth booking ahead at busy times. Pillows Grand Hotel Reylof, in an 18th-century mansion on Hoogstraat, combines traditional architecture with modern comforts and has a gym, spa and small pool, plus a bar and a Michelin-starred restaurant. The Ghent River Hotel enjoys a lovely spot by the river.

Food & drink

Ghent serves up an affordable sample of Flemish cooking, which locals regard as among Europe's finest for combining French delicacy with northern European sturdiness. Seek out local specialities such as mussels, spare ribs or stoverij, a tender meat stewed for three hours in dark beer with a brown gravy, served with Belgian fries. Another dish tied to the city is Gentse waterzooi, literally "boiled water from Ghent" — originally poor people's food, a stew of cheap fish (usually turbot) and vegetables, now often made with chicken too. Belgian waffles are sold from street stalls around town.

For reasonably priced meals, the restaurants around Korenmarkt and Vrijdagmarkt are a good deal, and the menus and menus of the day at the Brasserie Borluut offer terrific value, Gentse waterzooi included. The upmarket restaurants cluster in the 14th-century quarter of Patershol, near the Castle. Ghent also has a large Turkish community centred on Sleepstraat a little further north, home to numerous Turkish restaurants. Vegetarian and vegan options include De Appelier, Tasty World, Lekker Gec, Greenway Ghent and Le Botaniste; the tourist information office on Veerle Plein stocks paper copies of the Guide to Veggie Ghent map from the campaign group ProVeg.

What to see and do

Ghent rewards walking, and much of what you'll want to see clusters around the centre. Start at the Belfry and Cloth Hall on Emile Braunplein: the municipal tower, begun in 1313 and finished in 1380, was a symbol of the city's autonomy and still holds the great bells that rang out its civic pride. An elevator takes you to the upper gallery for panoramic views over the city, while the Cloth Hall next door, dating from 1425, was where wool and cloth merchants gathered. Nearby on Sint-Baafsplein stands St Bavo's Cathedral, whose exterior mixes Romanesque, Gothic and baroque architecture and gives little away; inside are priceless paintings and sculptures, above all the 24-panel altarpiece The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, completed by Jan van Eyck in 1432 and commissioned by a wealthy city alderman in 1420. Conservation work means the original is partly closed, though you can watch the activities through a glass wall, and an augmented reality tour of the crypt is available in several languages. Other treasures include Rubens's restored The Conversion of St Bavo. A short walk away, the Castle of the Counts was built by Count Philip of Alsace after he returned from the Crusades in 1180, its thick walls, battlements and turrets backed up by a torture chamber whose relics you can view in a small museum; climb the donjon for views of Ghent's rooftops and towers. St Nicholas's Church on Korenmarkt, paid for by medieval merchants and guilds, mixes surviving Romanesque elements with Schelde Gothic and was the first of the city's "three towers" to grace the skyline.

The squares at the heart of the city — Groentenmarkt, Korenmarkt and Vrijdagmarkt — sit close together and are lined with classic buildings, cafes and restaurants. At the medieval harbour of Graslei, historic buildings including the house of the Grain Weighers, the toll house and the Guildhall of the Free Boatmen front onto the river Leie, which runs through the city with walkways along much of its banks; at the south end of Lindenlei you can see an old-fashioned drawbridge. Ghent's socialist tradition left its mark in art nouveau and art deco buildings: the cooperative Vooruit ran shops, bakeries, a newspaper, a cinema and a cultural centre for the labour movement, and its Kunstencentrum Vooruit on Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat is now an arts centre and concert hall, while Ons Huis on Vrijdagsmarkt is still used by the trade union. City Hall shows a Gothic facade on Hoogpoort and a Renaissance one on Botermarkt. You can also seek out the béguinages: the Old Saint Elisabeth Béguinage, founded in 1234, and the later Sint-Amandsberg and Ter Hoye begijnhoven, each with their own quiet streets. Other stops include the Graffiti alley in Werregarenstraat, where local artists are allowed to work, the Groot Vleeshuis with hams hanging from a roof built without nails, the 15th-century Rabot gate over the canal, and the monumental Campo Santo Cemetery in Sint-Amandsberg. Among the museums, STAM tells the story of Ghent in the 14th-century Bijloke Abbey, with pre-Eyckian wall paintings in the refectory and plenty of interactive material; the Museum Dr. Guislain addresses the history of mental health through its collection and changing thematic exhibitions; SMAK in Citadelpark covers modern art, and the Museum of Fine Arts nearby holds classical works by the likes of Magritte, Jeroen Bosch, Rubens, van Dyck and James Ensor.

Festivals & events

Time your visit around July and you can join the Gentse Feesten, the city's big annual festival. It's the one event the source names for Gent, so if you're planning a trip and want the place at its liveliest, this is the moment to aim for.

Three days in Gent

Day one: Base yourself in Ghent and get your bearings in the city centre. Start at the Korenmarkt, the central square that anchors the historic core, and let the streets around it set the tone for your stay. Ghent sits in East Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium, and its centre is compact enough to cover on foot. If you arrive by train, you will likely come into Gent Sint-Pieters, the main station, which connects the city to the rest of Flanders and beyond.

Day two: Use Ghent as your base for a wider look at Flanders. Antwerp, Brussels and Bruges are all within reach, and the rail network makes day trips straightforward. Brussels Airport at Zaventem is the main international gateway, while Charleroi and Lille serve as alternative points of arrival from France and further south. If you prefer to arrive by sea, DFDS links Ghent to Gothenburg in Sweden. Closer in, the Dampoort area and the River give you a different view of the city's edges.

Day three: Slow down and let the city's everyday rhythm carry you. Buses run by De Lijn cover the routes the tram and train do not, so you can reach quieter corners without much planning. Bear in mind that most sights cluster around the centre, so an ideal final day mixes a last walk through the Korenmarkt with time spent simply watching Ghent go about its business. Four days would let you add more of Flanders, but three is enough to see why Ghent rewards a stay rather than a passing visit.