Day Trip: Brussels to Ghent, Belgium

Hallo/bonjour from Belgium! Matt and I have just set out on our biggest trip of 2026 — a nearly three-week-long train journey through Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein! We’re only a few days in, but Brussels was our starting point after flying in from Alicante, Spain, where we live. 

It’s only my second time ever in Belgium, and the first time since 2018 when I visited for a long weekend shortly after I moved to Madrid. During that trip, I spent a day in Brussels and then took a day trip to the famous fairytale city of Bruges. This time, we based ourselves in the Brussels area for four days, allowing time for another day trip to Bruges — as well as a day trip to Ghent, which is even closer to Brussels!

Here’s what you need to know if you’re considering the second-most popular day trip from Brussels: the city of Ghent.

Ghent, Belgium

Distance from Brussels: 55 km/34 miles

On my first visit to Belgium, I vaguely knew of Bruges because some of my friends had visited previously. The first time I learned about the existence of Ghent was when my train passed through on the way to Bruges from Brussels — it’s about halfway between the two cities. As I looked out the window, I was surprised to see how big it looked.

And it turns out… it is big! Ghent is the second-most populous municipality in Belgium. (You might think Brussels is first… but it’s not! It’s actually Antwerp.) Ghent is also the capital of the East Flanders province, which is part of the Flanders region. Belgium has three regions: Brussels-Capital, Flanders, and Wallonia. And then Flanders and Wallonia are each broken down into five provinces. 

You may know that, in Belgium, both French and Dutch are considered to be the official languages (as well as German, though most German speakers are concentrated on the east side of the country). For the most part, Flanders speaks Dutch and Wallonia speaks French. Brussels uses both — though I think most Belgians probably know both languages.

With Ghent being in Flanders, most of the signs and street names and place names are in Dutch. 

Why Visit Ghent?

A city being the second-most-populous municipality in a country — especially a fairly small country like Belgium — does not automatically warrant a visit. Having a full four days in the Brussels area on this trip, though, I decided to give it a chance. And I’m so glad I did! 

First of all, if you want a day trip from Brussels, I can almost guarantee that it’s going to be less crowded than Bruges. Our trip to Ghent was on Sunday, and we’d gone to Bruges on Saturday — and the crowd difference was insane! I don’t think it’s just because Ghent is a bigger city so the tourists were more spread out, either. I felt like we had more room to breathe and explore the city at our own pace without being jostled along by the crowds.

And something about exploring Ghent just feels fantastically old. The architecture is so grand, so medieval feeling, that you almost feel like you’ve stepped back in time 1,000 years. Add together the wide canals, the old stone bridges, and the cobblestone streets… and it amounts to a pretty big city with small-town charm.

Things To Do and See in Ghent

Like I said, I’ve been to Belgium twice now — once in October, and now once in May. It’s been extremely rainy on both visits, and our day trip to Ghent was no exception. But we were determined to make the most of it!

After arriving at Gent-Sint-Pieters train station, we decided we’d walk into the city. But first, we were distracted by some little food truck situation that was going on at the Koningin Maria Hendrikaplein just outside the station’s entrance/exit. It’s a little circular plaza almost entirely surrounded by trees, with an unsettling abstract statue in the middle. Anyway, this is a great spot to take pictures of the train station’s iconic clocktower!

From here, make your way into the city center. If you walk, you might follow the canals, and you may even see what seems to be a parade of luxury boats. They were probably waiting in line at one of the city’s drawbridges or turn bridges so they could pass through — and then the floodgates (semi-literally) opened. 😉

When you make it to the heart of Ghent, try not to strain your neck as you find yourself surrounded by that fantastic medieval architecture I mentioned! Within the space of just a few blocks, you’ll find:

• Sint-Niklaaskerk (St. Nicholas’ Church): One of the two most important churches in the center of Ghent, built in the 13th century.
• Sint-Baafskathedraal (St. Bavo’s Cathedral): The other major church in central Ghent, famous for the The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb painting, which is also known as the Ghent Altarpiece. Apparently it’s considered one of the most important paintings in the world.
• Het Belfort van Gent (Belfry of Ghent): A UNESCO World Heritage Site that has been the city’s symbol of prosperity and independence since medieval times.
• Oud Postgebouw (Old Post Office Building): In keeping with the European tradition of randomly having super grand post offices, this Neo-Gothic building is now a luxury hotel. 

The most iconic view of Ghent is from St. Michael’s Bridge. We were able to see all of the above buildings at once (except for St. Bavo’s Cathedral — I think there are other shots you can find that include all of them.) But the views were so spectacular from the bridge. We probably could have spent an hour there, admiring the spires and flying buttresses, as well as the view of the Leie River and the waterfront promenade below. But then it started absolutely pouring rain.

Luckily, a cafe below allowed us and several other waterlogged pedestrians to take shelter under one of their umbrellas until the worst of it passed, and we made a plan to grab coffee and waffles while we investigated indoor activities for the rest of the day. (Yes, even I as a celiac was finally able to have a gluten-free Belgian waffle! Keep an eye out for my upcoming gluten-free Belgium post.)

So we decided to do something that we might not have otherwise done if it weren’t raining: A visit to the Gravensteen, also known as the Castle of the Counts. Who doesn’t love a castle? (We certainly do — we got married at one in Spain in 2024, lol.) And all the reviews I was reading of the Gravensteen specifically lauded the audioguide for being amazing. This was a unique enough proposition that I was interested to find out for myself whether it was true.

Tickets to the Gravensteen cost €15 for adults, and the audioguide is included. We didn’t have any trouble walking right up to the counter and buying our tickets. From there, we went into the museum shop to pick up our audioguide, which was offered in English, Dutch, French, German, and Spanish. However, when you get your audioguide, you also get to choose whether you want the “Big Five” audio tour, which lasts about 30 minutes, or if you want the “Comedy Tour,” which lasts 60 minutes. Of course, all the positive reviews were talking about the Comedy Tour, so we chose that one!

It was certainly unlike any audioguide I’d ever had before. In the Comedy Tour, famous Flanders comedian Wouter Deprez narrates stories, scandals, and gossip as you make your way through the Gravensteen. One segment of the audioguide was dedicated to positing that Philip, Count of Flanders, was always seen wearing leggings and skirts in historical images because he spent so much time walking up and down the castle’s many staircases that his “fat thighs” couldn’t fit in traditional pants.

We found the audioguide and the castle itself really enjoyable — I also liked how there was a custom illustration in each room that matched the topic of the audioguide. (Ok, so maybe there wasn’t one about Philip’s fat thighs.)

A couple more notes of things to see and do in Ghent: there’s the Graffiti Street (Werregarenstraat) which is a long alley completely covered in — you guessed it — graffiti. Nearby is Serpentstraat, a narrow, cobblestone pedestrian street full of cute boutiques and cafes. Then, another few minutes’ walk away, you’ll find Vrijdagmarkt, one of the city’s oldest squares that hosts a market every Friday, and has since the year 1199. Makes sense, since Vrijdagmarkt literally means Friday Market!

We wrapped up our day here, but we were looking for one last pint of Belgian beer before we made our way back to Brussels. And fortunately, we spotted the De Dulle Griet beer cafe. I was excited to see that they had several gluten-free beers on the menu, but this wasn’t even the best thing about De Dulle Griet. 

The best thing was the fact that you could order a massive beer in a large Pauwel Kwak glass — and apparently, the glass is so expensive that they want to make sure you don’t steal it. So if you order a beer in this glass, you have to give the waiter one of your shoes. The waiter takes your shoe and puts it in a basket hanging from the ceiling via a pulley system and rings the bell. When we first sat down in De Dulle Griet, there were no shoes in the basket; when we left, there were three!

It was the perfect place to end our day in Ghent, even though we just ordered regular-sized beers and kept both shoes on at all times. (And just so anyone who reads this doesn’t think I’m no fun, we would have 100% done the big beer if I weren’t celiac. 😛)

How To Get to Ghent from Brussels

Traveling from Brussels to Ghent by train super quick and easy! To find trains from Brussels to Ghent, you can either buy your ticket in person at the train station, or buy them online. 

Brussels has three train stations, but knowing which is which can be a bit confusing because of the whole French-and-Dutch-are-both-the-official-languages-of-Brussels thing. I had to help a Spanish family on the train who were trying to figure out which station they needed to get off at — their ticket had the French name, but all the screens inside the train were in Dutch.

• Brussels North: Brussel-Noord (Dutch) or Bruxelles-Nord (French)
• Brussels Central: Brussel-Centraal (Dutch) or Bruxelles-Central (French)
• Brussels South: Brussel-Zuid (Dutch) or Bruxelles-Midi (French)

Brussels South is the confusing one — “Midi” seems like it should mean something like middle, or central. But it’s apparently a fancy way of saying South. So keep that in mind!

When you go from Brussels to Ghent, you can depart from any of the three stations, depending on where you’re staying. We left from Brussels Centraal, and our tickets cost about €8 each way. When you buy your tickets, they are open-ended — so you can take any train to Ghent and any train back to Brussels at the end of the day. You can go ahead and buy your round-trip tickets so you don’t have to worry about buying them later. Just don’t lose them!

After boarding the train, the trip to Ghent is very quick. From Brussels Central, it takes about 35 minutes; from Brussels South, it’s only about 30 minutes. The station you’ll arrive at is called Gent-Sint-Pietersstation. From there, it will take about 40 minutes to walk to the city center, or you can grab the T1, T3, or T4 tram for €3 to take you into the city (you then may want to transfer to the T2). You can pay with your credit card or Apple/Google pay on board!

At the end of your day in Ghent, you can come back to the station and then grab the next available fast train back to Brussels. 

Keep in mind: in Belgium and many other European countries, it’s likely that your ticket won’t be scanned until after the train has departed. (On our way back to Brussels from Ghent, and on our way to Bruges the day before, no one checked our ticket at all.) Make sure you always have it ready for when the staff come through the train.

Plan Your Belgium Trip

 
Now you’ve got everything you need to plan your own day trip from Brussels to Ghent — but if you still have any questions, let me know in the comments!

-Cathy