I have been to Gent multiple times and never had a bad service experience. Also, its fantastic city to walk around.

We are in Ghent right now and there is a huge music festival here the people are wonderful and everyone speaks English. This is a very beautiful city and we have enjoyed our visit so far. Thanks Mark for your loves and hates we have been to Paris, Honfleur, done the ww1 memorials Menin Gate , Ghent and soon to Brussels. So much history in these places it has been an amazing trip>

Ghent was where the Americans and British signed the treaty ending the War of 1812. The treaty was signed on 12/24/1814 by John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay and others.

I worked as a waiter for 3 years in the city center. We always took pride in giving an excellent service with respect and a big smile. ;)

I totally agree on your comment that the Saint-Peter's train station is far away from the downtown area of Ghent, though I don't agree on there not being anything worth seeing on the trip from the station to the historical centre of town. If you take the most direct route, there is indeed not much to be seen... If you make somewhat of a detour you can walk by the Citadel Park where you can find two of the city's best museums (SMAK & MSK) and the botanical gardens. You can than continue on towards Saint-Peter's Square, passing the old military fortress up towards the Saint-Peter's church and abbey (the oldest buildings still intact in town). From there on one descends through the student's quarters past the university library tower and the Vooruit theatre towards the South Quarters. In the South Quarters there's some fine more contemporary architecture, as well as the Capitole theatre, the King Albert Park, the Saint-Anne's church and the Unesco heritage site of the small Ghent beguinage. From the South Quarters, the parisien style lane of "Vlaanderenstraat" takes you to the historical centre in less than five minutes... All very much worth while for someone who wishes to pay a thorough visit to Ghent, and not just sail through...

the hell? at ghent sint-pieters station just take tram 1 to the centre. You have one every other 10 minutes.

It's fun to see how tourists experience Belgium! Never saw my country as interessting you know ...

I'll be in Ghent in less than a month! We're using Ghent as our home base while touring around the country.

Gent has a good vibes - I absolutely agree. Once I would visit it again, I spent a lovely few days there.

* Sint Pieters is a better choice because you have all the public transportation there- take a tram to center (1.6€, 10 mins) * Ghent is a student town, so you can eat very cheaply too! For the service; we are used to hold up our hands to get attention * extra tip: during the end of July, there is a 10 day long free festival with gigs and parties all over the town ( Gentse Feesten) * For young people looking to party; thursdays are the busiest for going out - most students go home during the weekend

most friendly peopls in the world are in ghent

I think for the service, you're just experiencing a culture shock. Belgians like to be left alone when eating, so the waiters don't really pay attention to serving you immediately.

I'm from Ghent. If you think Ghent is boring, you missed going to the many amazing cafe's we have. Every July there's also the Ghent festival (10 days of partying) with thousands of visitors each year!

Love watching these videos because you are so informed and inspirational! Thanks for sharing, as always, Mark :)

It's been a while since we had the pleasure of watching your videos! This one is good too, very informative and pleasant to watch.

Why shop at all? Forget about buying buying buying, spending, spending spending. I am pleased the shops close at 5 pm. That means Gent has a good life balance for their citizens. We all consume too much. Want, want, want, greed, greed greed.

As a resident of Ghent I can confirm all of these things! I have lived here all of my life and you have pretty much summed it up, good job! The thing I'm slightly puzzled by is the 'bad service'? Maybe I simply don't notice because I'm used to it, but I wouldn't say we have bad service. It might be because you're not a local or because you went to tourist places? No idea. But honestly, you captured it perfectly! Especially the good vibes Ghent has, I'm very glad to hear that even tourists can pick up on it! :)

We're planning to go there in Dec for a video on my channel. Thanks for the great tips as always.

it is true ghent has a great vibe but that's also do to the fact that we are more open and like layd back then in some of the other city's in our country.

This guy is amazing without even trying. Loved the video 💕

This was an interesting watch since we were in Ghent for 4 nights last fall and used it as a base to visit Brugge and Brussels. Glad we did, as it felt more like a real Belgian city vs tourist driven Brugge and more international Brussels. Also, regarding the service, we generally had a good experience while we were there but one time I needed to go outside and find the server to let her know we needed the check. She was on the front step of the restaurant smoking a cigarette and didn't seem to take offence that I came out to get her. We noticed that in some parts of Europe it's expected that a customer needs to be a bit more proactive than you would be in an American restaurant. We'll be in Berlin next month so of course I checked out your 5 things but not sure you have one just for Copenhagen which we'll also be traveling too. Thanks for posting.

Thanks for your amazing video and a lots of comments below is really helpful for my plan to visit Belgium

Just came back from Gent. Actually during Christmas time, many shops are open till late night. I was strolling around the main squares trying out different food stalls till 10 pm, and stores were also open, taking advantage of the throngs of people present who will of course buy stuff.

I'll be moving to Belgium in about 1 month to study a master degree for 2 years. Having classes around 3 universities and 3 different cities (Gent, Brussel and Antwerp) I need to choose one of them to live in :P this video confirmed me that the safe choice is Gent! Thanx ;)

Hi Mark, I really like your straight-up videos. The reason that Gent is great is because it is a living city. There are real businesses providing services to the locals, tourists and locals and those purely for the tourists. The weekends are happening because of the locals and tourists, but not because of the students. Many students have a train ticket deal where they get to go home and back for a discount rate and they go home each weekend and get their washing done and fill up their Tupperware with home cooking to save money. Thursday night is student night and the town is happening in a different way - traditionally concentrated around Overpoortstraat. I'm not so sure about the service issues entirely - I find the Gentenaars have some personal pride as to providing good service - it may not be American sycophantic service and maybe the heavily touristed places in the centre are slow, but it is definitely okay and way better than some other places. You're unlikely to get a train from Brussels to Gent-Dampoort as that station mostly serves trains heading to and from Antwerp and the north-east regions of East Flanders, but even then most trains head to Gent-Sint-Pieters. Travelling around Gent can be pretty easy because a single ticket can be used for unlimited travel on De Lijn trams and buses within Gent for 1.5 hours - so it's pretty simple when getting from the station into town. Keep up the great work with your videos! You are one of the first ports of call that I make when looking at a new travel destination.

your videos are so helpful. I'm arriving in Brussels tomorrow and heading to Bruges straight away. I will certainly visit Gent.

there is something really special about Belguim which is the eciency and Arcitecture that really takes you back to the Medieval Europe, and I guess Ghent is one of the best medieval cities so im very interested in it , one day I'll be there and Im sure that im gonna be there

I lived and studies in Ghent for more than 5 years. It's funny to see what foreign people think of 'my city' :)!. A tip for people looking for partying. There are 2 major places somewhat separated where u can go if you're looking for a good night out: 1) Sint Jacobs Square (not far from city centre) - some of the more alternative 'clubs' are settled here (Charlatan, Kinky Star, ...). 2) Overpoort - on thursday, all students gather around this street to end the week. Very crowed, but also nice since you can go to over 50 little cafés. Other than that, be sure to sit near the Graslei in summer. It's a street near the waterfront where students gather to 'soak up the sun'. It has a really nice vibe - be sure to bring your own drinks though because the cafés near the waterfront can be more expensive than normal ones.

Fantastic video - I'm going to Gent tomorrow. I personally love Belgium (:

As someone who lives in Gen from Uk Gent Damport is pretty much just as long a walk to the centre. If you know the way. I would suggest Gent Sint Peters and just get the tram or walk. Fallow the tram lines

I havn't been to Ghent but I'll add it to my list of places to see! I can recommend Bruges. I went on a day trip by coach from the UK. It's quite a walk from the coach park to the town centre but you pass by some interesting sights on the way. I found the people and shopkeepers there very friendly and they were happy to give directions. One place I can recommend to visit in Bruges is the Basilica of the Holy Blood. Its a beautiful church which claims to have a relic of Christ. People flock there to touch it.

This guy must be hard to please! Found great service and cheerful attitude from the people of Ghent. Good welcome in the bars and restaurants.

I always loved G(h)ent, lived there for 10 years and I will return, it is a great please to be 'home' - for me.

Been to Belgium twice. Once was treated average and the second, years later, was great and friendly.

3 is just not a rule, the thing is that the culture around restaurants is way different, they get paid a higher base wage, but 1 people here don't like being bothered whilst eating, if you need a drink, or something extra you hail a waiter or go to the bar, they wil gladly bring you what you want, 2 perhaps you have not gone to the right restaurants

Bang on with everything, what a great town!

I feel so honoured living here when I see foreign people posting clips of our city. ^^ Thank you for this post! I hope you had ribs at Gekroonde Hoofden and a Liqueur D'Amour at Rococo in Patershol. :) Hidden gems.

Did you visit the Gentse Feesten? Biggest street festival in Europe. Awesome. And! you have to meet up with a local. tourists usually hang around the center. there are sooooo much more interesting underground places in Ghent! And you say the service is horrible. I agree. But the locals in bars are awesome. And hot :) Check it out.

Stores are open till 20:00 or 21:00 but only the bigger stores a little bit outside the cities. The stores like Colruyt , Carrefour, Delhaize....

Stores are open till 8 o clock in the weekend,some stores till 9. I dont know with what kind of watch you were calculating.

Bang on the money, just came home and every point made in this video is everything we found whilst visiting.

I live in Gent and you are 100% right about this city. People are so not friendly and one shouldn't expect anything when it comes to service here. Another thing is streets become so deserted even on weekends and i hate that but this is a beautiful city anyway

hiya, thanks for this vid of my hometown! i must admit, you are right about the shops, they close around 6pm, but it's been like this for ever. The people working there all have the same contracts as people working in offices from 9 to 5. But really, we don't go shopping at night like you can do in NY for example. It would be nice, but i don't see it happening. Another thing thats annoying is random work being done on streets or buildings. Say for example you'd like to see the Gravensteen (a big MUST btw), there's a fifty fifty chance there'll be scafolding surrounding it. But i suppose maintenance has to be done sometime right? ;) And as a tourist, there's no better time to come then in July! We have a ten days feast in the towncentre called 'De Gentse feesten' There're markets, concerts (for free), random street shops and streetperformers from all over the world. Really enjoyable. I've been to all cities in Belgium (i live here) and like you i'm not a big fan of Brussels neither. Brugge is very beautifull as well, but a third the size of Gent. So anyways, enjoy your visit! (y)

I live in Ghent. For people in their 20's: there are LOTS of amazing parties in the city.

I lived in Europe 2002-2010/2011 (NL and surrounding) and you must love to walk.. 2 kilometers walk is really nothing, I used to walk for fun from North Amsterdam to Southeast. Even I walked in 2009/2010 winter I walked even longer in middle of the night alone in the snow, bored from cars daily, so I wanted to know how to walk the roads I always went through cars. The same in Paris, I did long walk as well for fun, alone, but also one way, went back home with vehicle.

Lol, how is your number 4 of "thing you'll hate" a bad thing? It's one of the things I love the most! That everything is a lot quieter during the evening. This is one of those things I actually hated about going to NY. There's never a moment of peace and quiet. NY is quite literally the city that never sleeps, and that is extremely exhausting in many ways. Not just as a tourist, but a resident as well I reckon. Besides, if you want activity, there's plenty of it in the evening. There are club areas kind of between the center and Sint-Pieter's station. Also, the restaurants are also occupied during the evenings. There's activity if you look for it. I just don't know why you'd want to.

I'm from Ghent and I totally agree with your video. It's nice to see that more and more tourists appreciate my home town :) But what I'd do like to say to your hate #3 is that most Belgians who work in restaurants or cafés or wherever there is this 'Belgian Service', don't speak English very good (but the new generation does because the generation that now works in restaurants, etc. didn't learn English in primary or middle school! They only learned French and German) and because of that they'd become a little insecure about speaking English. And when you, speaking excellent English/American want to discuss about that they ordered chicken instead of beef (using your example) the Belgians are rather lazy to discuss. No offense or anything because I like your video but I just wanted to say this to make you love Ghent and Belgium even more :)

Just visited this city a few days ago. Totally agree that the vibe of the city is so much nicer and more pleasant than Brussels. Was a great pick me up after the disappointment that was Brussels. Also agree that it's a fantastic city for walking around.

At the Saint-Pieters station you have the tram to Korenmarkt. This stops right into the center.

The main problem I've seen with Gent (as someone from Gent) with servers is that a lot of them just aren't proficient enough in English to be of proper service. I've seen a Brittish tourist asking for an English menu, and the restaurant didn't have any. The server then had to translate the food but he didn't know any of the dishes in English. Btw, Brugge is like 1 giant tourist trap, I find that Gent is much more genuine. There are rotten apples everywhere ofc. I share your views on Brussel btw, it has a great historic centre, but outside o that, it's just one big ugly concrete jungle.

A tip for public transport I am from Ghent and I think that de zuid is a better place to go with the bus as it is really close or even in the middle of the tourist side of Ghent

Just came home from Ghent yesterday…yes you have to be pretty picky to come up with 5 negative things about the city…especially your first one, as there is a lovely inexpensive tram from train station to town center. Also lots of bars etc stay open very late.

Amazing, I lived in Evergem for two years which is a suburb of Ghent, I liked Brussels, Antwerp and Brugge better. Crepes were awesome and so were the cherry filled waffles. Yes it can be boring at times

You should do a video about top university towns in Europe. Thanks for the info, thumbs up.

one we reason we (senior me, 43-year-old art historian daughter, and 18-yr-old granddaughter aspiring to become anthropologist/psychiatrist) chose Ghent as our Belgian base is "vegetarian capital of Europe" Make sure we don't need to survive on bread, cheese, and chocolate all week. :D

if you come by train to Ghent, you can just hop on Tram 1. That tram passes the train station every 15 minutes and then it's a 5-10 minute ride to the city centre.

There is nothing I hate about Gent. I stayed there for 5 months. It's my 2nd home. I never felt so connected to any such city as Gent . I love it

You are awesome mate!

Ok, here's a tip for avoiding tourist traps. Just start a conversation with someone local. Flemish people are on average very open to a little chat and nearly always have good language skills. They can tell you about the places they like to go, which is often quite interesting.

Gotta love Ghent, prettiest city in Belgium. Brussels is beautiful too though, you just have to know where to go ;)

1: you can just take the tram to the center of the city, and I think the station itself even is worth a visit. 3: sorry?! You can find really nice people and restaurants if you look for it, maybe not on the Vrijdagsmarkt, but there are nice people 4: I think that's a pro, not a con, because Ghent is also beautiful at night, and after 6 o’clock you don’t have that much people who are just doing shopping, so you have more space.

You are great bro

It might be a good idea to warn tourists about the "Gentse feesten" that take place every year in het middle of july. (No boatrides, music stages everywhere, massive crowds, ... But the festival is free)

Thanks man...did Brugge a while back but didn't have time for Ghent...will do this summer...so thanks for a pleasant note...agree with your 5 dislikes...same with Brugge and Brussels.

i do that walk like every week twice, it is good for your health, and honestly the citadel park is not bad either

Do a video on how to deal with restaurants overseas. Like in Europe they don't have hostesses to seat you like in America which can be daunting to deal with

You do not have to walk to the centre of town from Sint Pieters station. Take the #1 tram which is located outside of the train station and disembark at the Korenmarkt Square stop.

Nice video. Do you have any about Bruges?

We live in Ghent and we love our city quite on weekend and people here are friendly

Love from Ghent

where do you come from?????

i spent 3 hours in brussels this summer and it was enough. in winter me and two of my buddies are visiting belgium for three days and three nights. where should we go? we are coming from amsterdam and we may spend one night in antwerp. i really like your channel btw

As someone who lives near ghent we take the train to sint Pieters and then take a tram.

Ghent Sint-Pieters Station is well worth seeing. You can take the tram from the station and be in the city centre in about 5 minutes. Dampoort station is nothing special.

"het gravesteen" that castle-ish fort is a copy of a castle/fort in Aleppo that's destroyed a couple of years ago during the war in Syria. with a copy i mean build the same way and not a replica for tourists. it has been used from a castle to a prison to a fortress with torture chambers and other purposes. the trainstation in Sint pieters is a great place to see and you can walk the 2km to the city via a beautiful park (citadel) and has a botanic part and museums.

What is wrong with the service in Belgium? I never had any problems, I am Belgian though so it might make a difference or I am just used to it. In my experience the worst service I had in all of Europe was in the south of Spain, very unfriendly, not trying to understand, just bad. What I think is good about Belgium: beer, food, in the summer you will notice music festivals popping up everywhere, museums I think Belgium must have one of the highest concentrations of all kind of museums in the world and lots of interesting architecture. What I think is not good about Belgium: public transport, the trains are ok but for foreigners it can be difficult to navigate I think. In the cities it is not very good and can be very difficult to navigate even for me being from Belgium. Except of Brussels, I find public transport in Brussels very easy to navigate. Belgian cities tend be rather small though so a lot of times you won't really need a lot of transport. If you stay for a longer period somewhere in the Flanders, just get a bicycle.

Bad service ? as someone who lives here that can't be right in my experience. You must have fallen for some really bad tourist trap. But yes, you better have your table booked sometime if you want one for dinner or just anytime in a weekend or vacation period with good weather. And yes, Brussels has some great musea, but that is about it.

Yes u need to visit south(zuid) rodelicht lichtstraat xD

Almost all of the shop are closed on Sunday as well. It's the oddest damn thing.

Shops ( supermarkets excepted they generally stay open until 8 or 9 pm) close at six because shop workers have the right to a personal life too.

Hate#1 is easily solved. Get off at gent sint pieters and take TRAM NR.1!!! Going straight to the center and only takes 10 minutes!!! Very easy, all tourists take it!

what software do you use?

Do the restaurants and cafes close early too?

So the shops close early...I assume the bars and restaurants are still open past that?

Go to Hawaii, You will feel better!!!!! BTW im Irish

1:00 Nono, don't go to Dampoort. You really should take the tram to the center! It only takes 10 - 15 minutes.

Do you have a favorite city in Belgium between Antwerp, Bruges and Gent?

Born and raised in Ghent ✌️

7 realy, the stores stay open until 7, sometimes 8

I love Ghent and Bruges but I disagree that Brussels isn't worth it. I think Brussels is a great city too.

What to do in Utrecht

6? that seems insane. Way too early imo

i like ur video but i was in belgum last year i dont think i like it coz about blgm servis realy not like uk i stay ther 3 month then decide back to uk never return to blgm.

So I live in gent and I do service so here is my opinion: 1: go of at dampoort= not a good Idea. To find the right bus is harder and I'ts basically a geto soo 2: I don't like tourist's as well and try to avoid the city when I now the hordes are incoming. 3: I don't like tourist's if you can see from mile's away thy are tourists, so no nice service for you. Be modest goddamit. We don't tip, we get paid, we work for our pay. Don't expect a lot. 4: At around 8pm the bar's and café's re-open and life returns otherwise go to the student's street's to party. 5: there is more chance that it will rain everyday than that it isn't in belgium. So sit inside or wait, or sit on the ground. Don't be picky. 6: yes, go to the top. Amazing 7: Yes, but if you see nice cozy places with young people cudling: DON'T GO AND DISTURB 8: Ok 9: Apparently 10: not the tourist's or Dutch... Don't you go creeping on student's bro

Question: Should I learn to speak Flemish or will I be able to get by with French? I experienced firsthand how some Belgians can get off-put by someone speaking the language of the other "side," but I figured because it's rather touristy, that I would be okay with French. Obviously, if English is the better option, then great, I am just the type that prefers to speak the native language as much as possible, out of respect for the locals.

As a Belgian citizen I only can recommend as cities to visit : 1. Gent. 2. Antwerpen. 3. Brugge. Forget about Brussel; it sucks really, Brussel is a place to hate really. You never feel safe or clean.

Dear Wolter, I am a Dutch student looking to study for a Master in Belgium. Which city/university in Belgium do you recommend the most for living as a student?

I live in Antwerp, 60 km from Ghent. What I don't like about Ghent is that the 2 main train stations are outside of the city center. Ghent is mainly a touristic and student town. As a Belgian I don't see why I should visit it. There are a few good concert venues but in Antwerp and Brussels there are more of them

So one of his pet hates is tourists....and he is a tourist suggesting we visit there...Oh the irony

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