Traveling over the New Year holiday can be a tricky venture. While New Year’s Eve is usually a busy, festive time when cities around the world host impressive parties and dazzling fireworks displays, New Year’s Day is just the opposite. Streets are empty, stores and restaurants stay dark, and a sense of sleepiness takes hold. New Year’s Day may not the best time to get to know a new city, but because we travel on limited vacation time (and often over the holidays at the end of the year), we decided to make the most of the first day of the new year with some light exploration. That’s how Ghent, Belgium ended up on our European itinerary.

Despite the quiet, Ghent proved to be a worthy destination filled with magnificent spots to visit. We spent several hours walking through Ghent as part of a fun city walking tour, and we were amazed by how much there was to learn and discover. If you plan to spend one day in Ghent, build your itinerary by visiting a few of the places we enjoyed seeing during our trip!
St. Michael’s Bridge

Like Bruges, Ghent looks a bit like a fairytale town amidst looming gothic architecture and the kinds of castles and churches that would look at home in a cartoon featuring a Disney princess. While so much of what you can see from the bridge is centuries old, St. Michael’s Bridge itself is comparatively young; it was built in 1910. Standing on the mostly empty bridge made us glad that our one day in Ghent coincided with a major holiday. Turning in a slow circle, we had the chance to take in some of the historic buildings we would pass by as our walking tour of the city continued. If you are looking for some classic photos and a great vantage point from which to see and appreciate the city, St. Michael’s Bridge is unmissable—and with just one day in Ghent, it’s also just the right place to start your journey.
Belfry of Ghent

The belfry had a few key roles in Ghent history, notably to serve as a fortification for the city’s important documents and as a bell tower. The largest of the bells was nicknamed Roland, and while originally the bells were used for religious services, they gradually assumed additional responsibilities by announcing the time every hour and providing a warning if troops were advancing upon the city or if the people of Ghent were victorious in battle. In fact, American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (a favorite of mine in part due to his connections to both Portland, Maine and Boston, Massachusetts) referenced Roland in his poem The Belfry of Bruges.
Although the Belfry of Ghent is regularly open to the public and offers some great city views, it was closed during our New Year’s Day visit, which meant we didn’t have the chance to explore the interior. If your one day in Ghent aligns with a day when the belfry is open, the interior offers several rooms that provide a nice historical perspective of the city and a chance to see how the still-functional clock tower works today.
Graslei

St. Bavo’s Cathedral
To one side of the Belfry of Ghent stands St. Bavo’s Cathedral. While it was built in the late 13th century, the cathedral replaced the former Chapel of St. John the Baptist that previously inhabited the space. The cathedral is perhaps best known for its interior, specifically its altarpiece Adoration of the Mystic Lamb created by Jan van Eyck and widely considered to be his greatest masterpiece. When the cathedral was a focal point for an iconoclast uprising in 1566 and numerous pieces of artwork and stained glass were destroyed, the altarpiece was saved and is preserved today. Dozens of other pieces of artwork can be found within the cathedral, which makes it an outstanding destination for art and art history fans. It is possible to visit the cathedral’s interior on most days, which can also include a climb to the top for more city views: a wonderful item to include if you have one day in Ghent.
Gravensteen

The castle is now a great museum that offers an audio guided tour to visitors looking for a history lesson; you can walk through Gravensteen in just more than an hour, which makes it a perfect addition if you are limited to one day in Ghent. One of the castle’s most interesting features is right outside; if you are particularly lucky, you might see an old-fashioned street light on the corner flicker as you walk by. A local Ghent tradition celebrates the birth of a new baby by allowing the parents to push a button in the hospital’s maternity ward that creates the flicker. For many people passing by it would be an unremarkable occurrence, but if you see the light flicker when passing by Gravensteen you can know that somewhere a brand-new human has just been welcomed in Ghent.
Korenmarkt

If your one day in Ghent, Belgium falls during the winter, Korenmarkt will have plenty of options to keep you entertained, and during warmer months it is a great place to relax with a drink to reflect on your Ghent adventures.
Dulle Griet

St. Nicholas’ Church
To the other side of the Belfry of Ghent, St. Nicholas’ Church is approximately as old as St. Bavo’s Cathedral and completes the trifecta of medieval towers that can be prominently seen from St. Michael’s Bridge. Before the belfry came into existence St. Nicholas’ Church held the responsibility of housing the bell system that provided both religious and secular tones to the people of Ghent. The church is a massive structure that looms large as part of the Ghent skyline, and its interior is just as impressive as its exterior. Inside you’ll find an incredible organ crafted by the famous organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, which has only been available for public viewing for less than a decade after being hidden as part of a preservation and restoration effort that continues today. The organ itself has not been played for almost 60 years. Entrance to the church is free, which means it is easy to add a stop as part of your itinerary with just one day in Ghent.
Werregarenstraat

Swans at the Ghent Marriott Hotel
Swans are an international symbol of love, and we have seen them in corners of the world stretching from Ghent’s neighbor Bruges to Boston to Slovenia’s Lake Bled. Traditionally, two swans looking at each other signify romance. If two swans are looking away from each other, they symbolize just the opposite. In ancient Ghent, when sailors would arrive by sea, many would seek out the building displaying two swans looking away from each other; inside they would find a brothel. Today, the building still exists as the Ghent Marriott Hotel, an amusing rebirth for a building with a colorful past. If your one day in Ghent takes you along the Leie River and across from the Graslei, turn around to the Marriott and look for the golden swans—they appear innocuous, but they tell an interesting story about a different time in Ghent’s history.
More Information: Booking.com/Hotel/be/Ghent-Marriott
Take a Ghent Free Walking Tour

More Information: GentFreeWalkingTours.com
Where to Stay in Ghent
Because we had just one day in Ghent to spend exploring, we opted for a hotel close to the train station to expedite our arrival and an early morning departure to Luxembourg. We enjoyed our stay at NH Gent Sint Pieters, which is a short walk from Ghent Sint Pieters (the train station). Our room was clean and comfortable, as was the bathroom, and the hotel was wonderfully quiet when we returned to rest before continuing our adventures. If you will have more than one day in Ghent you may prefer a hotel closer to the city center, but if you plan to spend just one day in Ghent and will arrive and depart by train you may appreciate the convenience of the NH Gent Sint Pieters as we did.
More Information: Booking.com/Hotel/be/NHgent
We found a great deal on Booking.com, which we use to find the vast majority of our hotels when we travel. If you are planning to visit Ghent, take a look: you may find a great hotel just like we did.
Enjoy Ghent!
Even in the quiet of New Year’s Day—perhaps even because of the quiet—we found Ghent to be spectacular. What started as a day trip to make the most of an empty day in our itinerary became a true highlight of our vacation in Europe, and we’re looking forward to spending much more than just a day in Ghent when we return to Belgium. If you only have one day in Ghent to explore, there are plenty of wonderful ways to get to know the city—and there’s a great chance you’ll enjoy your time there just as much as we did!
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* From time to time, our travels are directly impacted by a service or company. In this case, we visited multiple locations in Ghent on our own and as part of a walking tour, and this post includes our candid review of our experience. We selected these locations based on our own research and travel needs; we were not offered and did not receive compensation of any kind from them or any other party in exchange for our review. Learn more about our travel philosophy here.