Itinerary and Transport

GHENT AND EAST FLANDERS ARE LOCATED CENTRALLY IN FLANDERS, THE NORTH OF BELGIUM
- at the crossroads of Europe
- with the E17 and E40 motorways connecting Europe
- near the BRUSSELS AIRPORT, the National Airport of Zaventem (45 min)
- with a direct high-speed train connection to Paris (Thalys) and London (50 min) (Eurostar)
- with quick parking routes around the city of Ghent and easy and accessible parking garages.

DISTANCES AND TRAVEL TIMES

HOW TO REACH GHENT AND EAST FLANDERS FROM ABROAD?
AIRPLANE
Brussels Airport (IATA code BRU)
About 140 international and regional airlines fly directly to the national airport of BRUSSELS AIRPORT in Brussels (Zaventem) from over 70 international cities.
Link to the Brussels airport web site: BRUSSELS AIRPORT: www.brusselsairport.be
Ghent and East Flanders can be reached quite easily from the Brussels Airport:
by train: direct connection, every hour, 50 min travel time. The cheapest way to travel from the Brussels Airport to Ghent and East Flanders is by train. Once arrived at the Brussels Airport, you can go to the train station at the airport itself, where you can buy a ticket. Every hour a direct train goes to ‘Gent Sint-Pieters’, the central station of the city of Ghent.
Information on the train schedules: http://www.b-rail.be/main/E/index.php
by car:
approx. 45 min travel time.

Brussels South (Charleroi) – Antwerp - Ostend
Three other Belgian airports (Ostend, Antwerp and Liege) offer flights from and to various European destinations. They also have easy and direct connections to Ghent.
Link to the Charleroi airport web site: BRUSSEL SOUTH (Charleroi): www.charleroi-airport.com

TRAIN
Ghent is easy to reach by train from all the major European cities via the Brussels South train station:

Eurostar:
via the Brussels South station London is only 3.5 hours from Ghent. 
Eurostar is a quick and easy high-speed train connection between Great Britain and the European mainland, via the Channel Tunnel.
Thalys:
Ghent has a direct connection to Paris (2 hours), without changing trains.

Web site of the Belgian Railways: 
http://www.b-rail.be/nat/E/ 
Train schedules: 
http://www.b-rail.be/main/E/index.php 

CAR
Ghent and East Flanders at the crossroads of the European road network Ghent is ideally located at the crossroads of the E17 and E40 motorways, offering easy access from all over Europe.
London can be reached by car via the Channel Tunnel , i.e. the railway tunnel under the Channel between France and England.
EUROTUNNEL web site: http://www.eurotunnel.com/ukcp3main

Within the city of Ghent and the province of East Flanders
East Flanders is easy to reach by car and public transportation, with quick connections via the motorways running through the province from east to west (E40 and E34) from the northeast to the southwest (E17).
Surrounding the city of Ghent, the ring road or R4 connects all these motorways with each other, and the city centre also has a so-called small ring. It is a very dense road network, best compared with a spider’s web centred on the city of Ghent.

The same can be said of the train connections criss-crossing the province of East Flanders. Ghent has the Sint-Pietersstation (Saint Peter Station), the largest station of Flanders as far as the number of travellers is concerned.
A part of the centre of Ghent is a pedestrian zone with a surface area of 35 hectares. A parking route (P-route) surrounds the city and ensures that drivers have no trouble finding their way to the car parks. Most hotels also have a private car park and/or shuttle service. The public transportation company
De Lijn operates a fine transport network within the city and province. Trams are an ideal means of transportation in the city of Ghent.