PHOTOGRAPHS: CHLOE CHAPMAN, HELENA DOLBY, TOM JOY, ALEX TEUSCHER/ZANNIER HOTELS, PIET DE KERSGIETER, HEIKKI VERDURME, ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES
The 50-minute train from Brussels deposits travellers at Ghent’s solid mock-medieval train station, built to receive visitors to the city’s 1913 World Exposition.
To get a feel for the city, hop on a tram (number 1, 2 or 4) heading for the centre. This 20-minute trip reveals the city’s charms, as you leave behind the more modern outskirts and move back in time to the heart of one of Europe’s most beautifully preserved medieval cities. In medieval times Ghent grew wealthy from the wool trade and this prosperity is reflected in buildings such as Saint Bavo’s Cathedral, a Gothic stunner that was remodelled from the 14th to the 16th centuries. These days Ghent’s medieval heart, centred round Korenmarkt, where grain was once traded, is still a lively place. The prosperous university town has a young population and, as gentrification has made Antwerp and Brussels pricier, creative types have been moving here. Its busy cafés and bars mark its emergence as a serious restaurant town with one of the most daring gastronomic scenes in Europe.
THE HOT CHEFS