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Travel guide
Ghent
4 days · 8 things to do
Best time to go: May to September
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Welcome
Ghent, in a few days
Ghent has kept its medieval guild houses along the Graslei quay and, in St Bavo's Cathedral, the Van Eyck brothers' altarpiece completed in 1432. With some 80,000 students and a largely car-free centre, it stays lively all year.
- Day by day
- D1 Day 1 2 things
- D2 Day 2 2 things
- D3 Day 3 2 things
- D4 Day 4 2 things
- Worth sorting before you go
- Words that help
- The practical page
- Packing checklist
The trip
Day by day
Map of the sights (numbers follow the suggested order). It prints with the base map.
D1
Day 1
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Gravensteen (Castle of the Counts) · about 1 h 30A blue-stone fortress built in 1180 by Philip of Alsace, Count of Flanders, modelled on crusader castles he had seen in Syria.
- Afternoon · The Patershol quarter free · about 45 minCobbled lanes behind the castle on their medieval plan, named after the Carmelite fathers who settled here in the 17th century.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Hotel Harmony ↗ · All places to stay by budget →€150 a night
D2
Day 2
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Graslei and Korenlei free · about 1 hTwo facing quays on the Leie, the city's first port, lined with guild houses and a Romanesque grain store of about 1200.
- Afternoon · Werregarenstraat (Graffiti Street) free · a few minutesA narrow alley where graffiti has been legal since 1995; walls, ground and doors are repainted constantly, so what you photograph will soon be gone.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Hotel Harmony ↗€150 a night
D3
Day 3
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Ghent Belfry · about 1 hA 91-metre tower begun in 1313, symbol of the city's freedoms against count and bishop, which once held the chest of civic charters.
- Afternoon · St Bavo's Cathedral and the Ghent Altarpiece · about 1 hThe Van Eyck brothers' Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, finished in 1432, its detail brought back by a restoration under way since 2012.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Hotel Harmony ↗€150 a night
D4
Day 4
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · STAM, the Ghent City Museum · about 1 h 30In the Bijloke abbey, founded in the 13th century, telling the city's story; the highlight is a 300 m² aerial photo you walk across.
- Afternoon · Small Beguinage of Our Lady ter Hoyen free · about 45 minFounded around 1235 by Joan of Constantinople: some sixty white gabled houses around a church and a meadow, behind an enclosing wall.
Before you go
Worth sorting before you go
📶 eSIM data
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
🛡️ Travel insurance
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
💳 Fee-free card
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
🚐 Airport transfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
Some links are partner links: we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
Good to know
Flavours & local habits
🍽️ Worth tasting
- Moules-frites: a pot of mussels steamed with celery, onion or white wine, with chips on the side.
- Frites: chips fried twice, traditionally in beef fat, bought from a friterie in a paper cone with mayonnaise.
- Carbonnade flamande: beef stewed slowly in dark beer, with onion and a slice of spiced bread to thicken the sauce.
- Waffles: the Brussels kind light and rectangular, the Liège kind dense and studded with caramelised pearl sugar.
- Pralines: filled chocolates, first made in Brussels by Neuhaus in 1912.
- Beer: a brewing culture listed by UNESCO, from Trappist ales made in abbeys to sour Brussels lambics, each poured in its own glass.
⚠️ Best avoided
- Walk past the restaurants touting for trade on the Rue des Bouchers in Brussels. Photo menus and staff on the pavement are the giveaway.
- Belgian beers are strong, often 8 to 10%. Two can do the work of four elsewhere.
- In Flanders (Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp) people speak Dutch. Start in English rather than French.
- Driving? Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent are low emission zones, and foreign cars must be registered online before entering.
Getting by
Words that help
English ↔ Dutch
| English | Dutch |
|---|---|
| Hello | Hallo |
| Thank you | Dank je |
| Please | Alstublieft |
| Yes | Ja |
| No | Nee |
| Excuse me | Pardon |
| Goodbye | Tot ziens |
| Do you speak English? | Spreekt u Engels? |
| I don't understand | Ik begrijp het niet |
| How much is it? | Hoeveel kost het? |
| Where are the toilets? | Waar zijn de toiletten? |
| The bill, please | De rekening, alstublieft |
| Help! | Help! |
| Cheers! | Proost! |
The essentials
The practical page
CurrencyEuro (EUR, €)
BudgetAbout €120 a day, mid-range
Best seasonMay to September
PlugC/E · 230V
Tap waterSafe to drink
TippingIncluded in the bill, round up
Emergency112
EntrySchengen area: an ID card or passport for EU citizens, 90 days visa-free for UK, US, Canadian and Australian passports.
HealthNo specific vaccination needed. Check that tetanus, diphtheria, polio and MMR are up to date.
Scan to open this guide online, always up to date.
https://offwegooo.com/en/guides/ghent
Don't forget
Packing checklist
Have a good trip.
Guide made on offwegooo.com · Photos via Pexels · Details are indicative, check before you leave.