Ghent is a beautiful and deeply historic city about half an hour away by train from Brussels. Its medieval architecture is stunning and the city is very walkable, since the city center actually is car-free. Unlike Brugges, which is beautifully quaint and idyllic yet has actually very few residents, Ghent is a living and breathing city, with an active university nearby and a much larger population. In fact, Ghent is the capital of East Flanders and the third largest city in Belgium after Brussels and Antwerp.
Ghent has a rich, rich history. I highly recommend going on some sort of walking tour so you can learn a bit about the history and architecture of the buildings. We went on a free walking tour (in English) with Ghent Free Walking Tours and I absolutely loved it. Our tour guide was a local university student who grew up in Ghent. He told wild stories about how certain buildings came to be the way they were, and also shared a lot of fun historical facts.
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