Taking a train in Belgium
Trains are quite frequent in Belgium and provide good connections between most cities. In Ghent, there are two useful train stations: Gent-Sint-Pieters (the biggest one with the most direct connections, including Brussels, Liège, Bruges, Antwerp and Lille-Flandres) and Gent-Dampoort (only to Antwerp). In case you're coming from Antwerp, don't get out in Gent-Dampoort but stay 10 minutes longer to reach Gent-Sint-Pieters, it's an easier and nicer station. The national train company is called NMBS/SNCB. More info on http://www.belgianrail.be/en/
Tickets:
Prices for international trains increase if you don't book them in advance, but national train tickets don't, they stay the same price. It's by far the easiest to buy them at the ticket machines or desks inside the train stations. Don't buy them on the train itself, it costs €7 more than if you buy it in the station.
There are some discounts available, the most interesting one for most of you would be the one for people aged 26 or less. They can travel for €6,40 one-way from every Belgian station to every other Belgian station with the ticket called "Go Pass 1". If you are travelling together with 5 people, it's even cheaper (€52) to buy a "Go Pass 10" (10 one-way trips) and share the price. Then you have to fill in the train stations and dates yourself, but you can fill in 5 trips for 5 different people at the same time; Usually the Go Pass option is the cheapest option to go to Ghent for people under 26.
Brussels Airport Zaventem:
As you probably read in the 'Airports' section, you can take a direct train to Ghent from our biggest airport. The train station is two levels below the arrivals hall, you don't even have to exit the building. There's 1 direct train to Ghent per hour, if you just missed it you can take any IC-train which stops at Brussels-Midi and change to another train to Ghent there.
The saddest thing about this train connection is that there's an extra airport tax of €5,30 for every ride from/to this airport. It's a fixed price and you need to buy it to be able to go through the entrance gates at the Brussels Airport Railway Station.
Tickets:
Prices for international trains increase if you don't book them in advance, but national train tickets don't, they stay the same price. It's by far the easiest to buy them at the ticket machines or desks inside the train stations. Don't buy them on the train itself, it costs €7 more than if you buy it in the station.
There are some discounts available, the most interesting one for most of you would be the one for people aged 26 or less. They can travel for €6,40 one-way from every Belgian station to every other Belgian station with the ticket called "Go Pass 1". If you are travelling together with 5 people, it's even cheaper (€52) to buy a "Go Pass 10" (10 one-way trips) and share the price. Then you have to fill in the train stations and dates yourself, but you can fill in 5 trips for 5 different people at the same time; Usually the Go Pass option is the cheapest option to go to Ghent for people under 26.
Brussels Airport Zaventem:
As you probably read in the 'Airports' section, you can take a direct train to Ghent from our biggest airport. The train station is two levels below the arrivals hall, you don't even have to exit the building. There's 1 direct train to Ghent per hour, if you just missed it you can take any IC-train which stops at Brussels-Midi and change to another train to Ghent there.
The saddest thing about this train connection is that there's an extra airport tax of €5,30 for every ride from/to this airport. It's a fixed price and you need to buy it to be able to go through the entrance gates at the Brussels Airport Railway Station.
International trains
You might even consider coming to Belgium by train. As far as I know, there are three international train stops in Belgium: Liège-Guillemins (trains coming from Germany usually stop here), Antwerpen-Centraal (interesting to change to an intercity train here if you come from the Netherlands) and Brussels-Midi. The one in Brussels is obviously the biggest, most central one and it has good direct high-speed connections with:
- London St. Pancras (1h48)
- Lille (0h35), Paris Nord (1h22) and Marseille (5h10)
- Amsterdam Centraal (1h50) and Schiphol Airport (1h32 high-speed; 2h36 normal IC train)
- Cologne Hbf (1h47), Düsseldorf Airport (2h28), Frankfurt Airport (2h35) and Frankfurt Hbf (2h59).
They all have connections with many other destinations in those countries. More info about connections and prices on https://www.b-europe.com/EN.
- London St. Pancras (1h48)
- Lille (0h35), Paris Nord (1h22) and Marseille (5h10)
- Amsterdam Centraal (1h50) and Schiphol Airport (1h32 high-speed; 2h36 normal IC train)
- Cologne Hbf (1h47), Düsseldorf Airport (2h28), Frankfurt Airport (2h35) and Frankfurt Hbf (2h59).
They all have connections with many other destinations in those countries. More info about connections and prices on https://www.b-europe.com/EN.