A Day in Ghent, Belgium: What to Do & Where to Eat

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger.

On our recent trip to Europe, my sister and I decided to take a day trip to Ghent from Brussels, Belgium. Ghent is a small, Belgian city about 30-45 min outside of Brussels by train, so it was perfect for a day trip! The city is very walkable and it has so much character! Even on a rainy day, we were able to see a lot of what the city had to offer. It’s a beautiful, medieval city with tons of hip boutiques, coffee shops, and restaurants. We absolutely loved it! It actually reminded me a little bit of Portland, OR where I currently live. Both cities are very unique! I wanted to share some of the spots we visited and restaurants that we ate at for those who might be interested in visiting Ghent but don’t know where to start.

What To Do

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, architecture.

Some pretty buildings we found while walking from the Dampoort Train Station to the city center!

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, architecture, St. Jacobskerk, church, gothic church.

St. Jacobskerk

We stumbled across St. Jacobskerk (or St. James’s Church in English) when we first arrived at the Gent-Dampoort station. This beautiful, gothic church dates back to the Romanesque period! It’s definitely worth stopping by to admire.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, architecture, Vrijdag Markt, square.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, architecture, Vrijdag Markt, square.

Vridjdag Markt

Vrijdag Markt is a beautiful square in the historic center of the city, very close to the charming neighborhood of Patershol and the Huis van Alijn museum. There’s a gorgeous statue in the middle of the square and the streets that intersect with the square are absolutely stunning. I adored the architecture of the Belgian buildings lining the street!

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, architecture, bikes.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, architecture, bikes.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, architecture, bikes, colorful buildings.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, architecture, bikes.

I saw photos of these two buildings all over Pinterest when I was doing some research about Ghent! I was hoping we would run in to them somehow and luckily we did! If you walk straight ahead towards the Leie River from Vrijdag Markt and cross the bridge, you’ll run right into them.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, architecture, bikes.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, Gravensteen Castle, castle, medieval castle, medieval.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, Gravensteen Castle, castle, medieval castle, medieval.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, Gravensteen Castle, castle, medieval castle, medieval.

Gravensteen Castle

Gravensteen Castle is a medieval castle that dates back to 1180. That’s insane! It’s a beautiful castle that looks like it came right off a movie set. A river runs along the side of the castle with bridges and buildings and canals lining it. It was quite a sight to see! The castle is now a museum that you can pay to go in. We had a limited amount of time and money so we opted out but it’s a big tourist attraction!

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, Patershol neighborhood.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, Patershol neighborhood.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, Patershol neighborhood.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, Patershol neighborhood.

Patershol Neighborhood

The area to the right of the Gravensteen castle is the charming Patershol neighborhood. There are a ton of picturesque alleys and streets there with colorful buildings, beautiful architecture, and pretty flowers. It’s a great neighborhood to explore with tons of photo opps!

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, Patershol neighborhood, Huis van Alijn, museum.

Huis Van Alijn

The Huis Van Alijn, located in the Patershol neighborhood on Kranlei, is a museum about Belgian culture and traditions from past to present. It used to be a children’s hospice before the building became the museum. When we visited, they also had a pop up about the history of smoking (particularly in Belgium) which was actually really interesting! It’s definitely worth visiting if you enjoy learning about history. The tickets were about 6 euros when we visited!

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, Graslei, Korenlei, quay.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, Graslei, Korenlei, quay.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, Graslei, Korenlei, quay.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, Graslei, Korenlei, quay.

Graslei St. + Korenlei St.

Graslei and Korenlei are streets on either side of the Leie river, right next to the St. Michielskerk church. The buildings lining the streets are so pretty! I love the quaint character of the traditional Belgian architecture. This area was actually a quay or a wharf where ships would have docked to load cargo from the warehouses. The buildings are now restaurants and shops so it’s a very popular area in Ghent! I loved the shots we got here with the beautiful buildings, boats, and flowers.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, Graslei, Korenlei, quay, St. Michielskerk, church.

St. Michielskerk

St. Michielskerk is a Roman Catholic Church built in the late Gothic period. It started raining like crazy while we were visiting the church so I didn’t get to take a ton of pictures of it. It’s absolutely massive and very cool! The bridge to the left of the church is where you can see the stunning “Three Towers View”.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, Graslei, Korenlei, quay.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, Graslei, Korenlei, quay.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, Graslei, Korenlei, Three Towers View, Belfort.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, Graslei, Korenlei, Three Towers View, Belfort.

“Three Towers View”

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, Graslei, Korenlei, Three Towers View, Belfort.

Three Towers View

The Three Towers View can be seen from the St. Michael’s Bridge. It’s called the Three Towers View because you can clearly see three medieval towers on the historic buildings lining the street just ahead of the bridge. It’s a super cool view! From here you can walk down the street admiring the buildings. It’s just outside of the St. Michielskerk for reference! The buildings are the Belfort, St. Nicolas’ Church, and St. Bavon’s Cathedral, all of which are stunning.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, Three Towers View, Belfort.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, river, boats, waterfront, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, Three Towers View, Belfort.

Belfort

The Belfort is one of the buildings in the “Three Towers View” that you can see from the St. Michael’s Bridge. The Belfort tower was an important part of the medieval warning system and treasury. Today there are tons of hip stores and restaurants in this area!

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, street art.

Street Art

There are tons of buildings with cool street art scattered all over the city! I’ve always really loved street art (unless it’s distasteful or something). I like the juxtaposition of street art and medieval buildings. They look out of place in the fairytale city of Ghent but in a good way! These are the only murals I got a shot of unfortunately. Portland, OR has tons of cool murals too so this is one of the big things that reminded me of it!

Where To Eat

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, OR Coffee, coffee, pastries.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, OR Coffee, coffee, pastries.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, OR Coffee, coffee, pastries.

OR Coffee

We loved the OR Coffee shop that we visited in Brussels so when I found out they had a location in Ghent I knew we had to stop! It was a very cold and rainy day in Ghent so warming up with coffee and pastries is exactly what we needed! Their coffee is amazing and the coffee shop has great vibes.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, Full Circle, coffee, pastries, wine, food.

Ghent, Belgium, what to do in Ghent, colorful houses, buildings, travel, The Urban Darling, travel blogger, Belgian buildings, Belgian architecture, Full Circle, coffee, pastries, wine, food.

Full Circle

Towards the end of our day in Ghent, we headed to Full Circle, a vegan coffee bar that serves wine and bites too! The owner recommended several wines for us to to try that were from Oregon. I loved that we got to try Oregon wines in Ghent! The bread and dips that we had were delicious too. It was the perfect way to end our day in Ghent.

I hope you enjoyed this Ghent Travel Guide! We loved visiting Ghent and I highly recommend it as a day trip or weekend trip from Brussels.

XOXO

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