How to spend a day in Gent

Looking to spend a day in Gent? Brunch, a walking tour, lunch, a castle visit, plenty of churches … and much more!

How is it possible to spend just a day in Gent when it needs a week to do it justice? Especially when it’s one of the most beautiful and interesting cities in Belgium.

1. ARRIVE BY TRAIN

Yes, leave your car keys at home and let the train take the strain. OK, if you have young children it makes sense to take the car (if you have one) and drive into one of the many car parks in the city. But if you are travelling by yourself or as a couple, why not take the train?

I enjoy travelling by train as it is so relaxing. I arrive at my destination feeling refreshed and ready for some sightseeing. On the contrary, after a long drive in the car, I often arrive at my destination feeling tired. If I’ve been driving at 120 km/h along a busy Belgian motorway, it always takes me an hour or so before my mind has slowed down. But in the train I can read, drink a coffee, plan my trip … and it’s more environmentally friendly than the car too.

Gent St. Pieters’ railway station is within easy reach of anywhere on the Belgian rail network.

2. Hop on the tram

Just before you arrive at Gent St.Pieters’ railway station, send a text message with the two letters ‘DL’ in it to 4884. You’ll immediately get a return text from the De Lijn bus company. This is your ticket for the next hour. Upon leaving the station, directly opposite are various tram stops. You need to catch the no. 1 tram to Evergem. If you can’t find it, ask someone who looks like they use trams every day. Gent people (Gentenaars) are very friendly! Once you’re on the right tram, enjoy the sights and get off at Gravensteen. How do you know you’re there? Just look out for the Castle of the Counts. I don’t think you’ll miss it:

3. HEAD TO THE TOURIST OFFICE

The first place you need to go is the tourist information office. It’s very close to the Gravensteen tram stop. It’s the building in the far corner of this square when you get off the tram:

The building is the Oude Vismijn, which now is an event centre as well as the tourist office, but in its heyday was a thriving (and the oldest) fish, meat and vegetable market in the city center of Gent:

It dates back to 1689. Check out its beautiful gateway, with King Neptune and his golden trident. Below him are representations of the two rivers upon which Gent was founded: Mr Scheldt and Mrs Leie.

At the tourist office I asked for, and received, a folder called “Gent City Walk”. I also got a free city map, a magazine called “Gent, Tips from Locals”, and a nice pocket-sized city guide. I asked for the city walk because I always think this is a great way to discover a city. A city walk gives you a clear goal, so you’re not left wondering “now where shall I go now?” It ensures you see all the top sights. And it will help you realize what you want to see in more detail in the afternoon, or the next time you visit Gent.

4. GO SLOW IN GENT!

As I’ve said, there is a lot to see in Gent. But there’s always another day to see anything you’ve missed! So slow down, take it easy; there’s no rush. You have all your information about Ghent; so before you set off, why don’t you familiarize yourself with it first? And of course you need to make sure you have sufficient energy for your city walk. So you need to …

5. HAVE A COFFEE AND A CUPCAKE

Leave the tourist office, and to the right of the castle is a small street called Kraanlei. At no. 13 is Julie’s House, where you can get an excellent cup of coffee, and something tasty from a huge range of cinnamon rolls, scones, pancakes, muffins, cupcakes …

You are now ready to start exploring Gent! The city walk is excellent for a day in Gent. It takes you to 24 sights. You can go at your own pace and take the whole day on the walk, stopping off at the major sights and spending time looking around them in more detail. Or you can use it as an overview, and bookmark those sights that you want to return to in the afternoon.

Here are some of the highlights.

St. Michael’s Bridge

St. Michael’s Church

The big three towers of Gent

St. Nicholas’s Church

The Belfry

St. Bavo’s Cathedral

St Bavo’s Cathedral has the added attraction of being home to arguably the most important work in Flemish art history: the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb by the Van Eyck brothers, which you can see.

City Pavilion

Not everything in Gent is centuries old. The City Pavilion was built in 2012:

I spent all morning on the walk. I had arrived in Gent pretty early (9 a.m.), and by the time I’d been to the tourist office and Julie’s it was 10 a.m. I then spent three hours getting up to no. 21 on the city walk, and then it was time for lunch.

6. TRY OUT “SIMON SAYS”

Just after sight no. 21 — Mad Meg, the cannon — the leaflet invites you to cross the bridge over the Leie and turn left into Kraanlei. I would suggest that you don’t turn left but turn right into Oudburg and walk up to the next square which is called Sluizeken.

Here you will find Simon Says, which describes itself as a coffee bar offering a “small yet refined menu that reflects our commitment to locally sourced quality products. We are low on food miles and high on taste.” I like the sound of that, and indeed my light lunch of a club sandwich and carrot cake was very tasty. The ambience was relaxed, and the service exceptionally friendly.

7. CASTLE OF THE COUNTS

After lunch I completed the city tour. I was then faced with the question of what to do next, considering that there were so many places I could revisit in more detail. The plan I decided on was to visit the Castle of the Counts. This is worth a separate blog post, but here are some appetizers.

8. TAKE A BOAT TRIP

By this time my legs were feeling a bit tired and I was in need of a sit down, but I was still enthused to see more of Gent. I spied a sign that would meet both needs:

The next 40 minutes were most enjoyable. Sitting in the sunshine watching the beautiful buildings sail on by. This is worth a separate blog post too, but again, here are some appetizers:

You can catch the tram back to the station (e.g. no 1, heading for Gent St. Pieter’s). But you might also like to walk back to the station along the river, which is what I did. The route passes by another highlight of Gent that looks fascinating: STAM, the Gent City Museum. But that will have to wait for another visit.

A HIGHLY ENJOYABLE DAY IN GENT!

So that’s my day in Gent in eight steps. It was a fascinating day, and I will definitely be returning another time as there is so much that I haven’t seen yet, and it’s just such a pleasant city to walk around.

This is clearly just a taster to all that you can see during a day in Gent. And if you’re wondering what to do on your next free day, how about checking out my post How to Spend a Day in Bruges?

Thanks for reading this post. If you want to add any of your own suggestions of favourite places to visit in Gent, just add a comment below or contact me using this form or via WhatsApp:

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