Lost

I just spent last week in Ghent and I would recommend staying there for the balance of the trip (we spent 6 days/5 nights and to me it wasn't enough). Brussels was nice, but it had the same big city feel that every big city has. We spent our last day there due to an early flight. I think 2-3 days in Brussels would be enough for me. This was my second trip to Ghent and first to Brussels (other than just using the airport).

Ghent is centrally located in Flanders, so it's only about a 30-40 min train to either Bruges or Antwerpen. We didn't go out there, but I think it would be easier to get to Ypres as well.

We took one day trip to Bruges and Ostend. I think after going I would would split those into two separate days as I would have liked to spend some more time in both cities.

We also did a day trip to Amsterdam just as a say-we've-been-there type thing. I would probably skip this and do a dedicated trip instead. 3.5 hrs each way.

If you drive be aware that Belgium has national speed limits, so they aren't posted unless it's a special case.

thalmuswatson

Would love to hear more about your time in Ghent. My wife and I are spending two days there in June. Any insight/suggestions would be wonderful!

Lost

Both times I stayed at the NH Belfort hotel. Recommended.

Most of our time in town was spent around the Korenmarkt, which is where many of the tourist activities are located.

We took a canal boat tour which we enjoyed. The guide was very knowledgeable. Did the self guided tour of the Gravensteen (castle: built in 1180). Climbed the stairs to the top of the belfry. The view is amazing from the top. The STAM museum is also interesting.

We also spent a day just wandering around shopping. In addition to chocolate and beer, try and find some cuberdons. They're a raspberry flavored cone shaped candy. There was a guy selling them off a cart in front of Sint Pietersstation, and I also saw them sold in small boxes in a few shops.

Make sure you wander around the Korenmarkt and Grazlei (area along the canal just west of Korenmarkt) after dark. Gent has installed lighting all over the neighborhood and it's absolutely stunning!

Be aware that a lot of the shops are only open until 18:00.

There are too many good restaurants in every price range to mention; every meal we had was great.

There was a food festival going on while we were there which was fun with lots of good food (but a bit pricey). Look to see if there's any events happening; it seems like there's always something going on.

The Korenmarkt is a couple miles from Sint Pieters (the main train station), so plan on using the tram (De Lijn). Multi day passes are sold from the vending machines on the tram stop using cash, but I think the largest denomination the machine takes is €20. A cash machine is located inside the train station, down the hall past the ticket office, next to the lockers. Beware that it will give you €50 notes, so get an amount like €40, €90, €140, etc so you get some smaller notes.

Even if you select English on the ticket machine, it will still be partly in Dutch (dagenpas = day pass). Still pretty easy to figure out. Take either line 1 towards Evergem or Wondelgem (the stop is over by the bus stops on the northwest side of the train station) or line 22 to get to Korenmarkt. Line 1 usually has larger trams if you have luggage.

Tourism website: www.visitgent.be

De Lijn: https://www.delijn.be/en/

farbster

I want to thank everyone for the excellent information on this thread. I don't think we're going to not stay in Brussels, but we'll use it as a place to take our day trips from. I hope people will continue to post recommendations here as to things they did or ate in the cities of Bruges, Antwerp and Ghent.

GetawaysRus

(deleted)