# Ghent (or Gent?)



## griffly16 (Jul 6, 2006)

We're thinking of yet another trip to Bruges in a few weeks and know that there's no problem staying there as the aire is good (although not cheap). Question is, does Gent have anything similar (within easy walk of town) or is it a case of staying a few miles away then getting bus?

Have also thought about leaving the van in Bruges, then getting train to Ghent for the day. Anyone have experience of this?

Thanks
Griff


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## 94639 (May 1, 2005)

Hi Griff

We are going to Ghent this coming weekend, as we did not know of any available aires we have booked in for the night at Camping Blaarmeersen.
I believe that there is a bus service from the site into town. Hopefully we will suss things out and let you know our findings when we return on Monday. We have not visited Ghent before, but we have used the Belgian railway to travel from Brugge to Brussels and also to Ostend when staying at Camping Memling. The railway seems to run very well to time and is also very reasonably priced.


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## whistlinggypsy (May 1, 2005)

Griff, we have just returned from staying at Camping Blaarmeersen last weekend, and it is extremely easy to get around from.

The bus is only 100mts. from the site and that will get you into the centre of ghent, ask for a runaround ticket at reception its 8euro50 for two persons for ten trips on the bus or train system.

It's about 2hrs. by train from ghent to brugge and you use the same tickets as the bus.

Watch where they put you at the site, they have had really bad weather and the ground is in a terrible condition.

Bob


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## 94639 (May 1, 2005)

Watch where they put you at the site, they have had really bad weather and the ground is in a terrible condition.

Bob[/quote]

Hi Bob, 
Is the ground waterlogged or just in bad condition ie rutted
Do you have any suggestion as to which area of the site we should ask for
or which areas to avoid.


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## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

Blaarmeersen is a great campsite. It has a large restaurant, well-equipped shop, take-away chippy, and is split into small fairly secluded groups of pitches with high hedges so it feels smaller and quite cosy. It's in the middle of a huge leisure park with lovely walks round the lake, and caters for every other sporting activity you can think of. The bus into town runs every 20 minutes and the bus stop is only 200 yards from the site entrance. There is a traffic-free cycle path all the way into town, with lovely rides along the canal. (Watch out for the local kamikaze cyclists though!!)

Gent is a wonderful city with loads of interest, and museum entry (lots of them) is around €1.50 if you are over 50, and not much more if you are young. The Design Museum near the centre is fascinating.

Highly recommended, . . . BUT . . . . .

Do phone to check that it is actually open, whatever it says on the website or anywhere else (the receptionists speak excellent English). We were there three weeks ago, and I'm fairly sure the receptionist said they were closing for the season just about now.

If it is open, I'm sure you will want to go back for more next year. We did.

Cheers

Dave


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## Boff (May 10, 2005)

Hi,

quotation from one of my posts early this year regarding Gent:

Clearly a place worth seeing, but driving inside the town is not recommended. Many narrow roads and a complicated system of one-way-roads.

Aires in Gent: 
There is in fact an official aire on a Park&Ride car park at "Gentbrugge", with good tram connections (line 22) to the city centre. It can be found by following the signs to "P+R Gentbrugge" from the N9 or from exit 10 "Gentbrugge" of the A14/E17 motorway. A ground sink for grey and black water exists. Unfortunately located directly under the E17 flyover, so not too quiet. 
The Gent City Council however _officially allows_ motorhomes to stay for one night on all road sides and public car parks within the town.  A policy that should be taken as an example by some other local councils.

Best Regards,
Gerhard


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## whistlinggypsy (May 1, 2005)

Brian, they will place you in a spot that will aviod problems with the m/h but the ground everywhere is/was waterlogged.

They are extremely helpful and as far as being open they told me that they close for the winter in 2 more weeks, but as Dave recommends i would ring for conformation due too the bad conditions.

Bob


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## 94639 (May 1, 2005)

Thank you Bob, Gerhard and Dave.

We have a booking for this weekend at Blaarmeersen made quite a few weeks ago. Will e-mail them for comfirmation again.


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## 94639 (May 1, 2005)

Hi all

Just had the following reply from Camping Blaarmeersen.

Dear Sir,

Officially we close on the 15th of October, but since a few years we stay open till the first weekend of november. So there is no problem if you come half October.

So all is well for us, just hope the weather is half decent.


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## ICDSUN (Oct 10, 2006)

brisey said:


> Hi all
> 
> Just had the following reply from Camping Blaarmeersen.
> 
> ...


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## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

*Blaarmeersen co-cordinates*

Hi Brian and others

Glad everything is OK. The entrance road leading into the campsite from alongside the rowing lake has been "moved" and it's no longer a simple straight run into the site. The co-ordinates below will get you very close to the turn-in, or if using a map get onto the Zuiderlaan at the junction of the N466 with the R4 Ringroad (at the West side of the city) and drive down it until you see the sign.

Latitude = 51.0507, Longitude = 3.6819

Take it steady once inside the sports complex as they have those daft signs with about a thousand small directions all in a huge block. To save reversing (speaks from experience here)   I'd recommend you stop at each sign if necessary, and make sure you are heading for the "Camping".

Not a problem if you miss a turning, but a pest as one of the roads has (had?) a big construction hole all across it, just round a corner. (Been there, got the T-shirt!)


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## griffly16 (Jul 6, 2006)

Wow.

Thanks for all the (very quick) info 

Boff - the council really allow stopping for one night within the city!?! That's great - we were only planning to stop for one night and we don't mind a bit of street wildcamping... 

The campsite Blaarmeersen looks good too, but we're going on 3rd Nov so not sure it would be open. For one night we'll either train it from Bruges or wildcamp in an out-of-the-way place.

Looking forward to it.
Thanks to all again.

Griff


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## Boff (May 10, 2005)

griffly16 said:


> Boff - the council really allow stopping for one night within the city!?! That's great - we were only planning to stop for one night and we don't mind a bit of street wildcamping...


Hi,

oops, have just cross-checked this again and found that a slight change has been done. Here on the local council's web site it says:

_Een kampeerwagen of zwerfauto kan gedurende 1 nacht langs de openbare weg worden geparkeerd (ook op openbare parkings). Het is evenwel niet toegelaten te overnachten op de openbare weg.

Voor een langer verblijf met uw mobilhome kunt u voor één of meerdere dagen terecht op :
- de Camping Blaarmeersen
- de Park & Ride parking langs de Land van Rodelaan in Gentbrugge
- de parking aan de sporthal Driebeek, Driebeekstraat 22 in Gentbrugge.

Daar is er mogelijkheid voor het ledigen van het chemisch toilet. Op de Park & Ride parking langs de Land van Rodelaan is er ook een waterbevoorradingsput._

Means: You may park you van on the road side, but not sleep in it anymore. :?

You may still spend the night on the two mentioned car parks, Park&Ride at the "Land van Rodelaan" and at the sports hall in "Driebeekstraat 22", both in the "Gentbrugge" quarters. On both sites you can empty your chemical toilet, and at "Land van Rodelaan" you can also obtain fresh water.

Best Regards,
Gerhard


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