St. Bavo's Cathedral (Sint-Baafskathedraal), Ghent

Advantages: beautiful architecture,friendly people,good ale
Disadvantages: smell,traffic

...Ghent to us, Gand in French and Gent for the Flemish: bear this in mind, as I nearly ended up in Genk....in the South when in the station in Brussels.This was my first short visit to Belgium and I have decided I love the place. Brussels itself just seemed scary as all we saw was the train station and airport, think london underground rush hour....eek, however Ghent itself is a compact and beautiful city, with most of the sights centre around the main square Baafsplein, which has a magnificent cathedral (st. BAVOS) at one end and the tourist information at the other, with many little taverns and restaurants,and not a long walk from the Stadhuis and St. Niklaskerk, both of which are worth seeing. The people are very friendly, most speaking perfect English, which was useful when I found out the hard way that it is a Flemish speaking area... Read review

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Advantages: clean, tidy, good service and price
Disadvantages: need a taxi to get into town

...there are plenty of buses. We paid around £8 for a taxi for 4 of us to get into Gent. ATTRACTIONS NEARBY +++++++++++++++++++ I did not visit any of these attractions, but they are reasonably near to the hotel: Medieval City Centre Saint Bavo's Cathedral Ice Skating Castle of the Counts Golf course Sint-Martens-Latem (18 holes) Brussels City Centre Bruges Old city centre MY OPINION +++++++++++ I would recommend this hotel for a short stay in Belgium as it is central and the town of Gent is very nice. Bruges is not too far away either and is a lovely historic town. It is out of town, so be prepared to travel to get to town. As a base to stay whilst visting various Christmas markets around the area it is great, friendly and reasonably cheap... Read review

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Advantages: Wonderful buildings, great bars and lots to do.
Disadvantages: Not quite as pretty as Bruges.

...a snack from a Frites stand ~ the bratwursts and frites and mayo are a real speciality of the area and can make a lower budget option for lunch. ~~~BUILDINGS & SIGHTS. Ghent is essentially a Medieval city and is packed full of lovely old buildings, including a magnificent castle and a lovely cathedral. The Castle, Gravensteen (the Castle of the Counts), is my favourite building and has turrets, a moat and the works! It is easy to find because it dominates the skyline and is very close to Ghent’s famous three towers ~ St. Bravo’s Cathedral (an impressive structure that combines Gothic, Romanesque and Baroque architecture), Saint Nicholas’ Church (which I actually found to be prettier than the neighbouring Cathedral) and the Belfort (a bell tower that has wonderful views of the city via a glass lift). Buildings wise, you mustn’t miss... Read review

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