Local guide
Cycling in Ghent: routes, rentals and what locals do
How to see Ghent by bike: where to rent, which routes are worth it, and the parts of the city that only make sense on two wheels.
Ghent removed through traffic from its centre years ago, and the bike won. Locals cycle everywhere, the city is flat, and the distances that feel long on foot take seven minutes on a bike.
A bike is also the only sensible way to combine the medieval centre with the old harbour, the parks and the outer neighbourhoods in one afternoon.
Renting a bike
CityCycling Gent rents from the Krook, Gent-Sint-Pieters station and Gent-Dampoort, which covers whichever side of the city you arrive on. City bikes, e-bikes and cargo bikes if you are riding with kids.
Route 1: the water loop
Portus Ganda to the Nieuwe Dokken and back along the Schelde. Old inland harbour, new housing on the water, and almost no cars the whole way.
Route 2: parks and campus
Citadelpark, the botanical garden and the GUM, Sint-Pietersplein and the abbey garden. Green, flat, and full of students, which tells you where the good coffee is.
Route 3: industry turned neighbourhood
North through the Industriemuseum area, the beluiken workers' alleys and out to the docks. This is the Ghent that built the city's money, and it is far more interesting than that sounds.
Cycling rules worth knowing
The centre is a pedestrian zone: you may ride through it, slowly, but walk your bike on the busiest stretches. Lock the frame to something fixed, and use the guarded parking under the Korenmarkt if you are leaving it for hours.
Turn this into a cycling tour
Pick bike as your transport and we build a route that fits the time you have, with a story at every stop.
Build my cycling tourMore Ghent guides
- Things to do in Ghent: what locals actually recommendThe places people who live in Ghent send their friends to: the castle, the canals, the hidden gardens and the bars tourists walk straight past.
- A self-guided walking tour of GhentA walking route through Ghent built by locals: three hours, the medieval centre, the begijnhof and the old harbour, with the stories behind each stop.
- One day in Ghent: an hour-by-hour planA realistic one-day itinerary for Ghent, from morning coffee to the last terrace, written by people who live here.
- A weekend in Ghent: two days, without the queuesHow to spend two days in Ghent: the classics on day one, the neighbourhoods locals actually live in on day two.