How to Take a Day Trip from Brussels to Ghent

A trio of mighty towers.

A historic castle with a dark past.

A world-famous altarpiece that’s survived theft, world wars, and plenty more turmoil.

The city of Ghent, Belgium has all of this and much more. During my visit to Brussels, I loved taking day trips to other, smaller cities in Belgium — and Ghent was one of my favorites.

Here’s everything you need to know about taking a day trip from Brussels to Ghent — including how to get there, what to do, and where to eat.

How to Travel from Brussels to Ghent

The best way to get to Ghent from Brussels is the train.

Trains in Belgium are reliable, clean, and relatively inexpensive. I exclusively used trains to get around Belgium and enjoyed it quite a lot.

Basic Info

Buying Train Tickets

The easiest way to buy train tickets in Brussels is to arrive at the station in advance of the train you want to take (I recommend arriving 30 minutes early, but that’s way more time than you need) and purchasing a ticket on one of the automated ticket machines. You will be able to select English as the language for the machine to use.

If you have a difficult time navigating these machines, just look for a person-operated sales booth. The person manning this booth will speak at least some English as well.

If you’d rather buy your tickets in advance, I recommend using the official SNCB website (this is the website of the Belgian train system). This is also where you can check train times and schedules in advance of your journey.

Large boards in the train station will tell you which track to use to board your train. If you don’t know what to look for, ask a station attendant.

Arriving in Ghent

The Gent-Sint-Pieters station is about a 30-minute walk from the historic center of Ghent.

This walk gets a bad rap (it’s not that scenic), but I actually enjoyed it quite a lot, discovering some cute shops along the way. But if you’d rather not walk that distance, you can take a bus or tram from right outside the train station. Just follow the crowd!

Things to Do During a Day Trip to Ghent

Here are the top things to do during your day trip from Brussels to Ghent.

Visit Gravensteen

Gravensteen is a castle that dates all the way back to the 12th century. While it originally served as the home of the Counts of Flanders, it later became a court and prison.

Today, you can tour Gravensteen and learn about its varied history, including torture and executions that took place in the castle and on its grounds.

A standard ticket to Gravensteen costs €13.00, with discounts for children, teachers, Ghentians, and others. If you’d like to reserve your ticket in advance, you can do so here.

Your Gravensteen ticket includes an audio tour. I strongly recommend taking advantage of this, as there is little to no signage throughout the site and the audio tour is essentially the only way to get information about the spaces you will see.

See St. Bavo’s Cathedral & the Ghent Altarpiece

Did you know that Ghent is the home of one of the world’s great artistic masterpieces?

It’s called the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, though it’s often just referred to as the Ghent Altarpiece. That’s because, as you might have guessed, the work is a large altarpiece — a multi-panel work of art made to decorate a church altar.

The Ghent Altarpiece was designed in the 15th century to sit in St. Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent. While it’s endured centuries of turmoil since then — including theft, two world wars, iconoclasm, and more, resulting in various moves out of Ghent and times of near destruction — the Ghent Altarpiece has (mostly) returned to St. Bavo’s (one panel is still missing, but a reconstruction has replaced it).

And, following an extensive restoration process that concluded in 2021, the Altarpiece is looking better than ever.

If you’d like to see the Ghent Altarpiece, it takes more than just walking into St. Bavo’s. You’ll need to buy a ticket, but you have options. including one ticket that just gives you access to the Altarpiece and a broader restricted area within the cathedral, and a slightly more expensive ticket that also lets you view an augmented reality exhibit about the creation, symbolism, and history of the Altarpiece.

For much more on the various ticket options, and what I recommend you choose, read this post.

Journey to the Top of the Belfry of Ghent

The Belfry of Ghent is one of three medieval towers forming a line in the center of Ghent’s old town. The other two towers are attached to churches — St. Bavo’s and St. Nicholas’s — but the belfry, which stands in the middle, is a secular bell tower.

Of Ghent’s famous three towers, the Belfry is the only one you can visit during most of the year. A standard ticket to the top of the tower costs €11.00, with discounts for students, children, Ghentians, and others. You can buy a timed ticket in advance here. (If they have not sold out, you can also buy a ticket on arrival.)

Though the Belfry is quite tall (91 meters, or about 300 feet), you actually don’t need to climb up many stairs in order to visit it — because there’s an elevator!

In fact, you are explicitly instructed to take the elevator up and walk down. Do not disregard this instruction and try to walk the whole way up: in some places, the stairs are too narrow for two people to pass at once, and you will inevitably create a very problematic impasse for people who are walking down.

When you get off the elevator at the top, you can walk around a narrow viewing platform that lines the outside of the tower. (If you zoom in under the clock in the photo of the tower above, you might be able to make out a few of the tower’s visitors.) It offers wonderful, 360-degree views of Ghent, including the city’s other two towers.

While you cannot walk up the stairs, you CAN take the elevator down most of the way without causing a problem — just veer off into the watchman’s room (it will be your first opportunity to leave the staircase as you are walking down).

I opted for this because I hate those kinds of narrow stone staircases under the best of circumstances, and I was wearing shoes with awful traction.

People-Watch at Graslei & Korenlei

Graslei and Korenlei are two quays on either side of the Leie River in Ghent’s historic area. Medieval buildings line them both, while people sit at the river’s edge — or at one of many cafes — to eat, relax, study, socialize, and much more.

On a nice day, this is a wonderful place to grab lunch or a snack and eat outside while people-watching. Some boat tours of Ghent’s rivers and canals also depart from this area.

Puzzle at the “Jonas” Statue

Escape the hordes of tourists and head toward Prinsenhof 71. There you’ll find a strange statue of a young boy hanging from the facade of an unassuming building.

The statue is called “Jonas,” and it’s the work of Ghent artist Sofie Müller (whose studio is in the building in question).

Where to Eat in Ghent

On my way from the train station to the main part of town, I stopped at Bodega for a really lovely brunch. Try the eggs benedict!

Later in the day, I enjoyed a meal at a now-defunct restaurant called Toost. If I were traveling to Ghent today, I’d instead check out Passion or Karbon.

Day Trip to Ghent: Interactive Map

Below is a map with the locations included in this post. To use this map during your own trip to Ghent, click the star next to the map’s name (which saves the map to your account). You can then find and use the map from your Google Maps app by going to “Saved,” then “Maps.”

Final Thoughts

If you’re visiting Belgium, don’t skip Ghent — it’s a lovely, lively city that’s well worth a trip.

I hope this post helps you have an easy and enjoyable day trip from Brussels to Ghent!

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