What You Won't Read in Guidebooks About Ghent: A Belgian Local Speaks
Sofie De Smet has lived in Ghent for 28 years — born here, schooled here, and now running a small graphic design studio in the Patershol quarter. She's 32, she rides her bike through the rain (Belgian weather guarantees most days qualify), and she holds firm opinions about waterzooi, tourist boats, and why Overpoortstraat should arrive with a warning label. If you're exploring the region, is Belgium's other medieval canal city.
The setting for her wisdom: Cafe Vooruit — a grand Art Deco cafe in a former socialist meeting hall — on a Thursday morning. Veggie Day in Ghent.
Q: What do tourists always get wrong about Ghent?
Sofie's verdict: They come for a day trip. From Brussels or Bruges, the 30-minute train delivers them to walk the canal, see the Altarpiece, eat chocolate, and leave. They've seen the surface, but they haven't felt the city.
Ghent is a university town — 70,000 students — with the energy of a much bigger city packed into a medieval footprint. The student bars, the music scene, the independent shops, the street art, the food culture that runs well beyond waterzooi: you need at least one evening to find any of it. If you're exploring the region, Amsterdam is the Dutch capital just hours north.
Stay overnight. Catch the illuminated skyline from St. Michael's Bridge after dark. Walk Patershol when the restaurant windows are glowing. That's when you understand why the people who live here never want to leave. If you're exploring the region, Paris is a quick train ride to the French capital.
Q: Speaking of Patershol — what's the story?
Sofie's verdict: It was a red-light district until the 1980s. Then the city cleaned it up and the restaurants moved in. Today it's the most atmospheric neighborhood in Ghent — narrow cobblestone alleys behind Gravensteen castle, intimate restaurants with 8-10 tables, wine bars tucked into 17th-century cellars.
The trick is going for dinner, not lunch. By day, Patershol is quiet. At night, the streets glow with warm light from the restaurant windows, the cobblestones catch the lamplight, and you've walked straight into a painting. That's not an exaggeration. If you're exploring the region, London is connected by Eurostar via Brussels.
Go to Vrijmoed for a splurge (Michelin-starred, tasting menu ~85 EUR) or Marco Polo for casual Italian that's been there forever. For a drink, 't Dreupelkot pours only jenever (Belgian gin) — 200+ varieties in a room the size of a closet.
Q: The Ghent Altarpiece — is it actually worth the hype?
Sofie's verdict: Locals who first saw it on a school field trip at 14 will admit they were bored stiff. Then they return as adults, after the full restoration is complete, and end up standing in front of it for 45 minutes. The detail does that to you — van Eyck painted individual blades of grass, reflections in gemstones, the veins in leaves. In 1432. With brushes he made himself.
The 16 EUR includes an excellent audioguide that unpacks the theology and symbolism. Without it, you'll admire the technique but miss the meaning. With it, the painting becomes a puzzle you can spend hours solving.
So yes — it's worth the hype. But take the audioguide.
Q: What's the most overrated thing in Ghent?
Sofie's verdict: The canal boat tour. It's fine — 8 EUR, 40 minutes, nice views. But you see the same buildings you'd pass walking the Graslei waterfront, just from a lower angle. If you have 40 minutes, walk the canal instead. You'll see more, stop where you want, and save the 8 EUR for a beer.
The most underrated? Citadelpark in summer. Ghent's largest park comes with a playground, a pond, and both SMAK (contemporary art museum) and MSK (fine arts museum) on its edges. Locals bring picnics and lose entire afternoons here. Tourists never make it, because it sits outside the medieval center.
Q: What should tourists eat beyond waterzooi?
Sofie's verdict: Waterzooi is good — don't skip it. But the city has far more on the table:
Stoofvlees (Flemish beef stew braised in beer) — richer and frankly more interesting than waterzooi. Best at Het Pakhuis or any traditional estaminet.
Frites from Frituur Jozef on Vrijdagmarkt — proper Belgian frites in a cone with stoofvleessaus. 3-4 EUR. As essential as the Altarpiece.
Cuberdons (neuzen) — purple, nose-shaped candies that are Ghent's own sweet. Raspberry-flavored, slightly gummy inside. Buy them at the Groentenmarkt from the candy cart. 2-3 EUR for a bag.
Belgian waffles — but make it the Liege waffle (dense, sweet, caramelized sugar), not the Brussels waffle (light, fluffy). The distinction matters.
Q: Overpoortstraat — the honest truth?
Sofie's verdict: Overpoortstraat is the student nightlife street. Cheap drinks, loud music, bars packed on Thursday and Friday nights. If you're under 25 and want to party until 4AM for 20 EUR, it's perfect. If you're over 30, you'll last about an hour before the noise sends you home.
For a better night out, head to the bars around Vlasmarkt and Groentenmarkt — more relaxed, better music, still cheap by European standards.
Q: Safety concerns?
Sofie's verdict: Ghent is extremely safe. The only real issue is bicycle theft, so lock rental bikes securely. Overpoortstraat on weekend nights gets rowdy but never dangerous. Keep an eye on your belongings at busy tram stops. That's honestly it.
Q: One thing every visitor should do?
Sofie's verdict: Walk across St. Michael's Bridge at blue hour — that moment between sunset and darkness when the sky turns deep blue. The three medieval towers light up — St. Nicholas', the Belfry, St. Bavo's — all in a perfect line. The reflection in the canal below doubles the image.
Locals have seen it a thousand times, and it still stops them. The view is free, it takes 30 seconds, and it will be the photo that defines your trip.
Q: Best thing about living in Ghent?
Sofie's verdict: The scale. Everything sits 10 minutes away by bike — the studio, the market, the museums, the bars, the canal, the parks, all inside a 2 km radius. You learn the city intimately: which streets turn beautiful in which light, which cafe makes the best coffee at 7AM (Cafe Labath, on Oude Houtlei), where to find parking at Gravensteen on a Saturday.
Ghent is small enough to master but big enough to keep discovering. After 28 years, Sofie is still finding new courtyards, new restaurants, new angles on buildings she has passed every day of her life.
That's the version worth chasing — not the checked-box trip, but the lived one. Stay a night. Walk Patershol in the dark. Eat frites in the rain. Watch the three towers light up from the bridge. Then you'll know this city the way the locals do.
