Anyone been to Ghent Belgium? Thinking of a short break there.

[MissyB1]

As title really. Dh,me, and 16 year old ds would like a 3 night break in Belgium, thinking about Ghent. We would go on Eurostar and then train from Brussels. Would love to hear recommendations of things to do, hotels, and places to eat please.

Yes! I did - it’s gorgeous. The best bit is the walking around (free) and the chocolate puddings in all the restaurants. And the medieval art of course, hem.

Food amazing - get the DK Eyewitness guide or a cheapie book or just follow your nose.

Visit Dulle Griet, a famous beer bar. The glasses are bonkers, plus on occasion you have to give the barman one shoe as security, which gets hoisted to the ceiling in a cage, returned to you when you return the glass….. Super fun

It’s a great city, can highly recommend

Time wise, I hopped on the Eurostar at 8am and had a huge lunch there. Just as well as Eurostar snacks no good.

Hotels - hmmm, I didn’t spend much on mine cos was out all the time. Get one as central as you can. Bring trainers and a Mac - it’s rainy.

Yes and it's beautiful. And hardly any tourists. Highly recommended

Yes it's fab..Also you can easily get a train to Antwerp for the day which is also a great city.

You can't beat the Marriott on Korenlei in Ghent - it's a fab location right on the riverside.

https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/gnemc-ghent-marriott-hotel/overview/

We stayed there once and it was lovely :-)

We went to Ghent and Bruges.
I would go back to Bruges as it was fabulous.
Ghent was interesting but I preferred Bruges.

Beautiful city. Less touristy than Bruges. Canals, churches, castle (Het Gravensteen), Citadel Park & Botanic Gardens about a mile south of the centre. Plus as PP said you could have a day trip to Antwerp where there's so much to see and do.

We preferred Ghent - Bruges is the prettier of the two, I agree, but so commercialised. Ghent has plenty of what you need, without the relentless tourism focus.

It's so nice. I much prefer to to Bruges.
We did a day in Lille en route to Ghent for an art exhibition at the Tripostal art gallery. Got to Lille on the eurostar.

Then train from Lille direct to Ghent. We went to the castle which has the best audio tour of any castle I've been to. Very interesting and funny. We went to a cathedral, went up the big tower (there is a lift) and then walked down. Walked round the shops.

We had a day trip to Bruges on the train, think it was about 30 mins away. Then back to Ghent that evening. Bruges was nice enough but there's not as much to see/do as in Ghent and it feels a bit like a theme park.

Got a train to Brussels and then the eurostar back to London.

Same here. Ghent was nice but Bruges was better.

In My opinion lots more to see and do and more beautiful. We were 5 days in total, 3 in Bruges, 1 in Ghent and one visiting WWI museums and trenches.

As I thought there will be lots to do. I was thinking a riverside hotel would be nice, will need to book two rooms I suspect at 16 year old won't want to share with us. Castle and botanical gardens sound great. We are planning on going in August so I'm sure it will be busy but we will try and book things ahead as much as possible. A day in Antwerp is great idea

We loved Ghent! DC were 19 and 17 when we went. We visited Bruges and Antwerp (so easy and quick by train) but were based in Ghent and both the girls preferred it - perfect combination of buzzy young culture and traditional art and architecture. Very pretty and interesting with good clothes and vintage shops for the teens. Favourites were the medieval castle audio tour, boat trip and complex of art galleries on the other side of the university. Worked really well for us via Eurostar.

Make sure you see the incredible altarpiece 'Adoration of the Mystic Lamb' there, I think it might be my favourite painting ever.

The whole place is lovely as well.

I love Ghent. I live in Belgium and we do days out quite often. Maybe not as pretty as Bruges but less touristy as mentioned by pps. A day out to Antwerp is a great idea - it's my favourite Belgian city and has lots of nice shops, which your teen might like. The Red Star Line museum is amazing, as is the Rubenshuis. https://elfdegebod.com/nl/ and totally whacky restaurant.

I was very pleasantly surprised by Ghent. We also went to Bruges but I much preferred Ghent. It was quieter and very pretty. I only did 24 hours en route to somewhere else. Enjoyed the VR art exhibition in Ghent cathedral and a boat trip along the canal. I'd go back again.

We went last August for three days and loved it, we went through the tunnel and drove, stayed in an AirBNB right in the city centre, having pre-booked car parking in a secure car park about 10 mins walk away, we were two adults two teens and this was much cheaper than Eurostar. If you drive it has a ULEZ which you need to register/pay for which might wipe out the cost saving if your car isn't compliant, ours was free IIRC. This also allowed us to visit Ypres and some WW1 trench sites on the way from Calais. We went to a bakery and took pastries and croissants to the canalside or used cafes with outdoor seating for breakfast and lunch for breakfast and lunch, and then just wandered around and found bistros for evening meals. The castle was fabulous, it does get booked up as they limit numbers, we also enjoyed the cathedral and canoeing around the canals. It was busy but not unpleasantly so, just bustling, not so many tourists as Brugges.

My DC's really don't like being dragged around castles. They loved the one in Gent because of the brilliant audio tour, very funny and quite rude!

Busy looking at all of these ideas thanks! Seems Antwerp is a must, more research to do!

Ghent was one of my favourite city breaks. We soent three nights there and had a lovely time.
Mochabon coffee shop is worth a visit

Yes, the castle audio tour made us laugh a lot. 'Who the hell is this bastard?' 😂

I found it absolutely annoying. Tastes can be so different

I wasn't a fan of Ghent. The buildings near the river seemed quite blackened, dirty looking, and it gave the whole city an unkempt look compared to Bruges. Found it a little dull too. The weather was pretty awful when I was there so perhaps that has clouded my judgement. Friendly people in cafes and restaurants though.

Weather was lovely when we went, the buildings didn't look blackened to me, sunshine makes a big difference though.

Another bug thumbs up for Ghent, we loved it. And YY to the castle audio tour, it was genuinely very funny.