Getaways from Ghent: day trips and destinations close by.

Bruges, less than half an hour from Gent-Sint-Pieters

Ghent is a good base for getting to know Flanders without changing hotel. From the Gent-Sint-Pieters station direct trains leave for Bruges all day: the SNCB gives an average of 28 minutes and more than ninety trains a day between the two cities. Until the end of 2027 Infrabel is building a third and a fourth track between Ghent and Bruges, and some intercity trains make a detour that adds between 15 and 20 minutes, so check the day's timetable on the SNCB website or app before you set out. In Bruges, buses 1 and 2 take you to the centre in a few minutes from the station.

By road it is about 47 kilometres along the E40, about 40 minutes, but the car doesn't pay off: the centre of Bruges has closed streets and a 30 limit. If you go by car, leave it in the station car park, whose ticket includes the bus to the centre.

Four ways to spend the day in Bruges

For a first time, the day with belfry, boat and brewery climbs the belfry with the first-thing slot, takes the boat on the canals before the groups and eats at De Halve Maan. With children, the day of chips, a boat and swans goes more slowly and returns mid-afternoon. If your thing is eating and drinking, the beer and chocolate day combines Choco-Story, the pralines of The Chocolate Line and the Bourgogne des Flandres brewery on the canal; its bar is closed on Mondays.

These plans are written with departure from Brussels; from Ghent, you set out about half an hour later and arrive in Bruges at the same time.

Beyond Bruges, by bike to Damme

The fourth plan leaves the city: by bike from Bruges to Damme, seven flat kilometres along the Damse Vaart between poplars, lunch at Tante Marie and back past the rampart windmills. Damme, Bruges' old port, has a Gothic town hall, the Church of Our Lady tower, open from April to September in the afternoons, and a book market on the second Sunday of every month. From April to October, the Lamme Goedzak boat makes the same journey in 35 minutes, with no bikes on board.

Brussels and Antwerp, on the same line

To the east, SNCB trains reach Brussels in about 36 minutes on average and Antwerp in a little under an hour, with direct trains. Brussels is also the gateway from Spain: Ghent has no airport, and the practical thing is to fly to Brussels and continue by train. If you arrive via Charleroi, Flibco has a direct bus to Ghent.

What to see in the city itself, the Mystic Lamb altarpiece, the Castle of the Counts and the Graslei, is on the Ghent page.