Ahh, Belgium… the culture of beers, fries, and partying! For you, I volunteered to experience the best parties in Ghent and made a list of bars, clubs, festivals & other events – for all ages, music tastes and budgets – to help you find where to party in Ghent. Enjoy!

Are you an exchange student? Check out our article about foreign students in Ghent.

Where to Party in Ghent: Bars

If there is one thing that Ghent isn’t lacking, it’s bars! Here’s a list of my personal favourites – lively bars to start, spend or finish the night:

Vooruit café is the bar/café of Ghent’s theatre. It can be open till pretty late, depending on the event (DJ set, after party…). It’s huge and has an amazing terrace!

Bar des Amis is a very big bar with a wide variety of beers and other drinks. It’s situated on Vlasmarkt next to clubs, while itself being open till very late sometimes.

Patrick Foley’s is an Irish bar in Ghent offering great food and drinks, and Karaoke nights!

Polé Polé is a beautiful café with an amazing selection of beers. Usually open till midnight.

Troya, situated near Zuid, is a salsa and shisha bar with a great dance floor.

Other nice bars/cafés for pre-party drinks: Porter House, Het Spijker, Fatima, Blond, Jan Van Gent, De Walrus, The Speakers Corner, Rock Circus, Café Backdoor, Café Molotov, Defoo, Overpoort Bowl, De Ploeg…

Where to Party in Ghent: Clubs

I don’t know about you, but in my country bars close pretty early and if we want to keep the party going we must go to a club. Ghent doesn’t have this issue but still offers a LOT of choice for clubbing:

Charlatan often welcomes concerts in the evening and parties at night, the music types vary from one event to another but there are two dance floors inside. Probably the most popular nightclub in Ghent. 

Club 69 and De Roerkuip on the Beestenmarkt.

Kompass is the very famous techno club of Ghent, with open-air events during summer in the yard and all night raving all year round in the warehouse. It is located outside of the centre – but is easy to reach by bike and buses.

Millie Vanillie is a small but nice club in the centre with themed nights.

Abacho Silent disco: this silent disco is located in an underground building in the centre of Ghent. The wireless headphones offers 3 different DJ sets with a mix of pop/rock/electro/techno/ and a LOT of Dutch songs. Thanks to the coloured lights you can see who is listening to the same music as you. 

For those who LOVE salsa, Club Central offers free dance classes on Fridays and Saturdays!

If you enjoy dancing to pop music and today’s radio hits, check out Cuba, Twitch, Klub XIII, De Viking or A.M club!

Festivals

Gentse Feesten is probably the biggest party in Ghent! This music and art festival is all over Ghent and lasts for 10 days. Trust me, you don’t want to miss it! The Boomtown Festival is a multi-day music festival happening in the summer during the same time as Gentse Feesten.

The Gent Festival van Vlaanderen, takes place annually in September and brings beautiful concerts in unique locations – read more about the event in our article here. 

Gent Jazz Festival is a prestigious Jazz music event and people come from all over Europe for it!

Other Events

Moonday: events for house and techno lovers.

Fly Over, a free and unique one-day festival during which the viaduct B401 turns into a giant stage for arts, food, drinks and DJ sets.

Splḗn is a “music escapade”, you can check out some of their sets on SoundCloud and keep an eye out for their events in Ghent.

After Work Parties to network, dance, meet with colleagues or just relax after a long day.

Student Kick Off. This one-day event is no secret for long time Gentenaars but if you are new here you might not know it yet. Student Kick-Off was born in 2006 and is now the largest student welcome festival in Flanders. There are two music stages and a full line up. The entrance is free – food and drinks can be purchased inside.  

If you are into concerts and rock music, check out our guide for rock venues in this The Square.Gent post.

Did I miss your favourite bar/club/event? Let us know in the comments!

Please drink responsibly and pay attention to others. Don’t drink and drive. Before deciding what you’ll do for the night, please check the link to the venues to get their latest updates and opening hours.