Where to Stay in Gent, Flanders

What is Gent known for?

That standing came in the Middle Ages, and the architecture of its churches and merchant houses still carries the evidence, restored across a centre closed to cars. Ghent is the English form. The city is the capital of East Flanders and its largest, third in Belgium behind Brussels and Antwerp, and it works as both a port and a university city.

The Belfry of Ghent rises above it.

What are the main landmarks in Gent?

The Belfry of Ghent and St Bavo's Cathedral head the list. Saint Nicholas' Church, Saint Michael's Church, Sint-Jacobskerk, Sint-Annakerk, Sint-Coletakerk, Sint-Jan-Baptistkerk and Saint Martin's Church carry the rest of the church record, with Saint Peter's Abbey, Abdij Ter Hage and the Caermers monastery for the monastic side. Museums are the modern half.

The Museum of Fine Arts Ghent, the Design Museum Gent, the STAM Ghent City Museum, Huis van Alijn and the Ghent University Museum all appear, alongside the Tolhuisje and the Toreken.

What is the history of Gent?

Gent was powerful in the Middle Ages. The city ranked among the richest and most powerful in Europe then, and the churches and merchant houses that survive in its centre were built by that money rather than by later fashion. The Belfry of Ghent belongs to that age.

So do St Bavo's Cathedral, Saint Nicholas' Church and Saint Peter's Abbey, which together fix the shape of the old city more firmly than any street plan. Industry came later. The Museum of Industry keeps that chapter, while the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent, the Design Museum Gent and the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst hold what the city gathered afterwards.

Gent is also a university city. The Ghent University Museum sits among its landmarks, and the STAM Ghent City Museum and Huis van Alijn tell the municipal and domestic sides of the same long story. Older fragments hold on.

Abdij Ter Hage, the Caermers monastery, the Tolhuisje, the Toreken and Our-Lady Ter Hooyen survive from a city that was rebuilt around them rather than over them. East Flanders made Gent its capital. The province sits inside the Flemish Region of Belgium, and only Brussels and Antwerp are larger than the port city at its head.

Where is Gent?

Gent covers more than one hundred and fifty square kilometres. The municipality is the largest city of East Flanders and the third largest in Belgium, behind Brussels and Antwerp, with a port at work inside it. The old core sits at the middle.

Cars are kept out of it, so the walk from the Belfry of Ghent to Saint Peter's Abbey is a different experience from anything in the outer municipality.

What is the climate of Gent?

Gent shares the damp temperate weather of East Flanders. Rain is distributed across the year rather than concentrated, and neither the summer heat nor the winter cold reaches the extremes that a more continental position would bring. Overcast skies come with the territory.

The car-free centre is easier in that weather than most, since the walk from St Bavo's Cathedral to Huis van Alijn is short and the museums are indoors.

How do you get to Gent?

Brussels and Antwerp are the reference points. Gent is the third largest city in Belgium after them, and arrivals from either direction reach a municipality that spreads over more than one hundred and fifty square kilometres before the old centre begins. The port is part of the city, and the university with it.

Once inside, the last stage is on foot: the core is closed to cars, so the Belfry of Ghent, St Bavo's Cathedral and Saint Nicholas' Church are reached the same way whatever brought anyone to Gent. Antwerp is the larger neighbour.