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    Gravensteen

    4.5 (67 reviews)
    Closed 10:00 am - 6:00 pm

    Gravensteen Photos

    Recommended Reviews - Gravensteen

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    Vanessa N.

    A must visit if you are in the city. You get a nice view of the city. The price includes a self guided audio guide, which was not bland and monotonous like most audio guides. It was humorous and informative. There are parts in the castle with narrow and steep stairsz so this may not be for everyone.

    Michael F.

    Another on my list of highly recommended sites to check out. I mean castle tours are usually not a tough sells. In this case, what put things over for me was the accompanying audio tour. Rather than dryly present the facts, they take a comedic approach from the point of view of a (former) court jester. Beyond the history of the Castle of the Counts, you'll also hear of all the various methods of torture at the time. The self guided tour will take you about 45-50 minutes if you listen to the entire "show", which of course I recommend!

    Sameerah B.

    This was the former home of the count of flanders. This castle was absolutely stunning. I did not pre-purchase tickets for this attraction because I was unsure what time we would arrive. They still had plenty of tickets available the day of. Tickets were only 13 euro, and it includes an audio guided tour. This tour is not handicap accessible. It requires walking up and down orginal narrow spiral stairways. The audio guide takes you through different rooms inside as well as outside the castle. In each room, the audio guide tells you a story/history about what it was used for. If you have never been inside a real castle, I definitely recommend stopping by for a visit.

    Erich L.

    Cool well kept castle there aren't many like this. It's well preserved with a self guided audio tour that has some good stories about life in the good old days when people were boiled alive and tortured. Beautiful views from the top.

    Jim R.

    Gravensteen (aka the castle of the counts) is a thousand-year-old medieval structure open to tourists. If you buy your tickets in advance online you can avoid a wait as capacity is controlled and you will pick a specific time slot. An audio guide is included (and necessary) in order to understand the history of the structure. The narrative features a local comedian that adds interest to the largely empty structure. The building itself is nicely restored and the exterior views are great but there's not a lot to see inside. Nonetheless we took many pictures and the view from the top of the castle over the town is great. Worth a visit. We spent a little over an hour, there are 18 audio stops, but you may spend as long as you like.

    Corey C.

    Another among the sights and sounds of Belgium that are worth checking out. Even from the outside, this spot is worth a few snaps for memory's sake. Architecturally brilliant if you are in to medieval/castle vibes for sure. And such a cute town over all!

    Larry N.

    An amazing medieval castle to visit. Lots of actual weapons and armor from Ghents past. Get in early, as it gets very busy in the afternoon.

    Types of torture
    Gemini U.

    This has got to be the best self guided tour of a castle that I have been to. Long lines to get in, but moved fast. The day we visited was a cold blustery day, and crowded. The fact that the self guided tour includes headphones (not ear buds) was an added bonus for me when walking the grounds part of the tour. They kept my ears nice and warm. They had an actor/comedian record the tour information (at least for the English language headsets.) There are several different languages to choose from. The humor in the script for each room/area of the castle for me, helped me absorb the vast amount of information about the castle and occupants. You can go at your own pace, and take your time to linger, and appreciate what has actually taken place behind these walls. It's really well done and takes you to most places in and outside the castle. My favorite part was where the toilet is located, and how they actually used it. Although I can't imagine getting up in the middle of the night, and walking down the steep stairs out to where it is located. I guess for those times... that is where the bedpan comes in handy. If you are in Ghent you don't want to miss seeing this castle, and the view from the top like everyone else has said, is the cherry on top. Although I wasn't able to climb to the very tippy top due to my fear of heights so I had my daughter take the video for me! There is a small gift shop at the end of the tour located where you hand in your headphones.

    Yvelin R.

    Very impressive castle, whether it's being repaired after a fire or not. My husband has visited several castles in the past and he was impressed with this one. The climbing and going down stairs was a bit of a mission with the 2 year olds, but we managed. We enjoyed the exhibits and walking around. The views from the roof top are so worth it. Definitely recommend visiting this place if you're in the area.

    Amazing!
    Gen M.

    This is fun for people of every age. The castle has been lovingly restored and the unguided tour lets you go at your own pace, explore, and read the little placards. Be forewarned that there are a lot of stairs and tiny conifer places. You need to be able to climb and descend several times. The most fascinating room was the one with swords and daggers and chain mail in glass cases. Pick up one of the laminated explanatory sheets as you enter to fill you in on the use and history behind different types of weapons. These are works of art, many of them inlaid with mother of pearl or precious metals. The room full of torture paraphernalia was also engrossing, if sad. They even have a guillotine! Walking the ramparts you get incredible views. Definitely worth the 10 euro admission price! It should take you about an hour to an hour and a half. Tell the kids to keep their eyes peeled for the medieval latrines!

    The castle gates
    Mike B.

    This imposing fortress is both architecturally impressive and historically significant. Seat of the counts of Flanders and shield against Viking raiders, it looms over the old town. There are excellent views of Ghent's medieval skyline from the top, particularly at dusk. The audio tour is amusing and informative, although it felt like some topics were glossed over a bit. This may be because of the format was thematic, relating to the purpose of each chamber, rather than a narrative arc of the castle's history. The castle is a bit hemmed in by the town and tram wires in some places. But you can get great shots from across the water if you cross Rekeklingestraat bridge. (Both from the bridge and from a viewpoint on Sint Widostraat, on the west side of the waterway.)

    The outside view. Looks awesome.
    Ticha B.

    A must see for any tourist visiting Gent. Gravensteen Castle is a restored castle in the heart of Gent. I urge you to pay the few Euros to get in. Kids are free. Make sure you use the bathrooms before you embark on the 16-17 stop tour through the castle and property. Bring a snack as well if you tend to get hungry (there are picnic benches towards the end of the tour stops). Gravensteen has a magnificent view of Gent once you get to the top...a must see because you see all four sides of the city from the rooftop lookouts. Check out the torture rooms (with the torture equipment), the dungeon, the ancient bathrooms, crazy spiral stairwells...so much to do and not enough time to read and see everything if you're just in Gent for a couple of hours. Wear walking shoes and bring water. It's a nice hike up to the top. And don't get stuck in the medieval dungeon! Memories of GoT!!

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    Gravensteen Reviews in Other Languages

    Review Highlights - Gravensteen

    The narrator of the audio guide was hilarious, and it was full of a combination of facts, stories, and jokes.

    Mentioned in 8 reviews

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    Het Huis van Alijn - Clocks, all from different time periods

    Het Huis van Alijn

    4.8(4 reviews)
    0.2 km

    This is truly a not to be missed museum experience. As many of you who follow me know I primarily…read morewrite food reviews yet on occasion something strikes me as specials and very worthy of a review. This is one of those things. In a former alms house next to a church this museum is in two parts around a courtyard with tables and a cafe. The first part of the exhibit was on the world famous "fun fairs" of Europe, Belgium in particular. These are traveling amusement activities that entail everything from rides, side shows, puppet shows, oddities, tarot card readers, etc. These are now UNESCO protected. The exhibits throughout are interactive and quite entertaining. The second portion, across the courtyard is a series of rooms, marked by the twelve months of the year, showing everyday life and accessories of 20th century Belgium. It is so well done and interesring and really captures daily living, events and traditions through this period of time. What I found fascinating is how much it paralleled life in the US with a few exceptions. For example they didn't have Halloween until recently. Christmas gifts were opened on Dec.6 brought by St. Nicholas, not Santa Claus (who comes later) and rituals around marriage and death. It's obvious a lot of our traditions in the US were carryover from European immigrants. It was also great to see the similarities of life in the 70s, 80s and 90s when the differences in the world got smaller and fewer. A great exhibit and museum that culturally makes a lot of sense and very educational.

    Found this place by accident. If you ever wondered what it was like to visit a crazy uncle that…read morecollected random things from the 60-80's, this is worth a visit. Each room themed with old school toys and machines.

    Photos
    Het Huis van Alijn - Display exhibits in different languages

    Display exhibits in different languages

    Het Huis van Alijn - Appliances to increase home productivity

    Appliances to increase home productivity

    Het Huis van Alijn - An old Leuven stove

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    An old Leuven stove

    STAM - Stadsmuseum Gent

    STAM - Stadsmuseum Gent

    4.1(7 reviews)
    1.5 km

    This gets three stars for being the only museum of Gent's history. I did learn quite a bit, but I…read morefound the setup to be very frustrating. I got the audio tour since I don't speak Flemish. Unfortunately, it turned out that for the most part, the audio tour just replicates the main placards in each room that are already in English. For the other pieces with audio excerpts, the tour is organized very poorly, where sometimes it just describes an object, and other times, the number is near a specific object, but the description is for the entire room. This really could have been done better. The woman at the front desk was very adamant that I lock up my bag, even though this didn't seem to be mandatory policy for the museum, and they charge for the lockers. Overall, this was not a great experience.

    Regardless of the content of the collection, this is an all star museum. The galleries are…read morewelcoming, visually stimulating, creative, and interactive. I learned a lot about Gent (mostly from the interactive maps), and felt immersed in the story of the place throughout the visit. The biggest drawback was that all of the labels are in Dutch so it wasn't always easy to know much about the objects I was looking at. On the flipside, I wasn't expecting there to be much English and the fact that all of the large wall panels are in English made the trip very informative and allowed for me to follow along through the course of history. As an added bonus they have free wifi and a really great little cafe with outdoor seating.

    Photos
    STAM - Stadsmuseum Gent
    STAM - Stadsmuseum Gent
    STAM - Stadsmuseum Gent

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    Design Museum Gent - Hands on Design

    Design Museum Gent

    4.0(4 reviews)
    0.2 km

    The Design Museum was mentioned in a New York Times article about Gent that came out shortly before…read moremy trip to Belgium. I bookmarked it because we were planning to spend a full day in town. While I do enjoy a variety of museums, this particular one didn't really hold my interest. That's not to say it won't hold yours! If you're someone who loves a behind the scenes look at how things are made, or you want to know about different textiles and other materials, furniture design, etc. you will love this place. I saw some interesting things in an exhibition about fibres and plastics, but the museum as a whole didn't leave me wanting more. To each their own!

    Right off the bat, I will admit I am not much of a "design" type. Certainly I have a style, and I…read moreknow what I admire, but maybe its not necessarily what is hip or up to the standards of the design community. That said, I also don't necessarily see why some things are so special when they don't appeal to me. But art is subjective, so I just have to remember it's always a matter of taste. As for the Design Museum in Gent, well, it's pretty fantastic. I visited when two specific exhibitions were on display: Pieter De Bruyne (Pioneer of Postmodernism) and Destrøy/Design (A selection from the collection of the Frac Nord-Pas de Calais). Both I liked, for different reasons, but the one thing they had in common was that they made the viewer think critically about the art. There is also a permanent exhibition, which I wasn't as fond of. Because it was all in Dutch, it was hard for me to figure out what the "point" was, or the common thread holding things together. A few pieces here and there caught my attention, but mostly I breezed through it. Still, if there is a special exhibit here, I recommend stopping by. I spent maybe 30-45 minutes here, but people who are more art-minded might linger through the four floors even longer.

    Photos
    Design Museum Gent - Hands on Design

    Hands on Design

    Design Museum Gent - Hello, Robot. Design Between Human and Machine

    Hello, Robot. Design Between Human and Machine

    Design Museum Gent - Hands on Design

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    Hands on Design

    Hotel d'Hane-Steenhuyse - At Hotel d'Hane-Steenhuyse

    Hotel d'Hane-Steenhuyse

    5.0(1 review)
    0.6 km

    In my previous visits to Ghent, I had not run across this historic residence. My colleague and I…read morewere strolling after lunch and happened upon it. He said he had walked through it in the past but there were no tours at the time (that has changed). He thought it was actually an old hotel, though, in reality, it was a palacious residence when it was occupied. For a freebie, this was a great opportunity to see an upper-class European residence dating to the 18th-Century. It also gave a peek into the 19th-Century since many of the updates current at that time were still evident. What fascinated me the most was the fact that this house was constructed over the top of five existing houses when it was built. Hence, the layout was a bit unique. Even though the house has not yet been fully restored and furnished, it allows for a worthwhile tour. What has been restored is quite nice because they have tried to remain as authentic as possible. For example, they have contacted the original supply houses for the wallpaper and have matched it to the originals in many rooms. The ballroom is impressive with its parquet floor and the paintings made to look like reliefs are particularly interesting. The staff here are exceedingly friendly and engaging. The tour guide did a great job in explaining the nuances of the structure, particularly the evolution of the updates. This place is worth seeing if you are in Ghent. This facility is only open afternoons Friday, Saturday and Sunday so you have to plan accordingly.

    Photos
    Hotel d'Hane-Steenhuyse - County's Bedroom at Hotel d'Hane-Steenhuyse

    County's Bedroom at Hotel d'Hane-Steenhuyse

    Hotel d'Hane-Steenhuyse - Rear Facade at Hotel d'Hane-Steenhuyse

    Rear Facade at Hotel d'Hane-Steenhuyse

    Hotel d'Hane-Steenhuyse - Countess' Bedroom at Hotel d'Hane-Steenhuyse

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    Countess' Bedroom at Hotel d'Hane-Steenhuyse

    MSK - Museum voor Schone Kunsten

    MSK - Museum voor Schone Kunsten

    4.0(3 reviews)
    2.2 km

    On a very wet November Saturday,I walked through Ghent's Citadel Park and I spent a memorable day…read moreat Ghent's MSK Art Museum.Although it is appreciably smaller than the Old Masters Art Museum in Brussels,there were plenty of paintings and works of Art that captivated me from the time it opened to the time it closed.I have confined this review to its paintings from the 14th Century to the end of the 18th Century.Its collection of Renaissance and Baroque Period Paintings with devotional subject matter is outstanding.Some of my favorite devotional theme paintings were Puccio di Simone's"Coronation of the Virgin"14th Century Italian Trecento,Colin de Coter's"Adoration of Magi",Master of the Family of Saint Anne's"Saint Anne and Family",Jacob Oostansen's""Calvary",Jaime Huguet's"Crucifixion of Saint Peter"(Spanish Renaissance),Marius Van Reymerswaele's"Calling of Saint Matthew"Jacob Jordaens'"Flight From Egypt",Peter Paul Rubens'"Saint Francis receiving Stigmata"(a quintessential Counter Reformation Painting),Gasper de Crayer's"Judgement of King Solomon",and Hendrick Van Vliet's Church Interiors with marvelous lighting effects,among many others.Other favorites were Theodore Rombouts'"Allegory of Senses",Anton Van Dyck's"Jupiter and Antiope",Adriean Van Utrecht's"Fisherman's Stall",Aelbert Vander Schoor's"Smoker",Melchior d'Hondecoeter's"Waterbirds",Jacques Fouquier's"Panorama of Avignon",and Jan Van Goyen's"Landscape With Castle",among numerous others. The next day,I returned to this fine art museum to concentrate on their 19th and 20th Century works of Art. Furthermore,I appeciated the helpfulness of their staff and fine curatorial work.

    A part of me wanted to say that this is just another art gallery, but honestly there isn't such a…read morething as 'just another art gallery', especially when the gallery that we are referring to happens to be in Europe. This particular gallery, while I didn't necessarily stumble across, I didn't realise that it existed until the night of my arrival in Ghent. The reason is that I got it mixed up with the modern art gallery. However, this gallery also contains modern art, but along with that it also have quite a lot of traditional works of art, whether they be impressionist or whether they be of the old masters. Another interesting part of this gallery was that there was a room that was set aside to show us the technique of restoring the older paintings, and included one particular work of art (namely the altarpiece) that was being restored at the moment.

    Photos
    MSK - Museum voor Schone Kunsten
    MSK - Museum voor Schone Kunsten
    MSK - Museum voor Schone Kunsten

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    Gravensteen - castles - Updated May 2026

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