Belgium · Flanders · Gent
Zwijnaarde, Gent — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Zwijnaarde is a deelgemeente south of the Gent centre, self-governing until 1977, with Sint-Niklaaskerk at the village core.
About Zwijnaarde
Where to stay in Zwijnaarde
Not every neighbourhood fits every trip — here's what each one is good for.
The parish streets around Sint-Niklaaskerk were laid out for village life rather than for lodging, so a night in Zwijnaarde means a short ride in from the southern edge of Gent rather than a doorstep full of hotels. Sint-Denijs-Westrem lies across the boundary. Travellers drawn by the Museum voor de Geschiedenis van de Wetenschappen, or by the recording studio and dwelling known as Studio Regie, get more out of a base on this side than out of the packed blocks of the old city.
About Zwijnaarde
What are the main landmarks in Zwijnaarde?
Sint-Niklaaskerk is the parish church at the centre of Zwijnaarde, and the rest of the list reaches well past its boundary, with Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk, Christus Koningkerk, Sint-Pietersbandenkerk and the Museum voor de Geschiedenis van de Wetenschappen all belonging to the wider ground of Gent. Only Sint-Niklaaskerk belongs to the village. The architect's house of Leopold Braeckman and the recording studio and dwelling called Studio Regie stand as single buildings, each one named in its own right rather than as part of a parish.
What is the history of Zwijnaarde?
Zwijnaarde answered to its own council long before it answered to Gent's, running as a municipality of the province of East Flanders with the parish of Sint-Niklaaskerk at its heart. The merger of 1977 closed that council, and Gent has held the ground under its own administration through every year since. Sint-Niklaaskerk outlasted it.
Where is Zwijnaarde?
The ground runs south from the Gent centre and stops against Sint-Denijs-Westrem, twelve square kilometres of it carrying the Zwijnaarde name.
Good for
More areas in Gent
Updated September 2026