The Ghent Festivities: Ghent Festivities: 10 days when the city goes wild

A sparkling cultural popular festival with numerous performances of various national and international artists: a unique event in Europe, thanks to the varied and free offer of (music) performances, (street)theatre, exhibitions, animation for children, fairs, parades and so much more!

The Ghent Festivities are among the biggest popular festivals in Europe and have been recognised as Flemish intangible heritage. You can attend concerts and performances all across town. You won’t go hungry or thirsty thanks to the many food and drink stalls.

Over the course of ten days, thousands of people come to Ghent. Some of the crowd pullers include the Bal 1900 dance party, the International Puppet Buskers Festival, the International Street Theatre Festival, Baudelopark…

Go to the website to view the full programme.

A lot of squares, streets and parks in the Ghent city centre host a variety of performances during the Ghent Festivities. Well-known national artists as well as simple street performers, everyone gets a chance to perform their act. These locations are the places to be if you want to breathe in the atmosphere of the Ghent Festivities. 

You can only go up the tower of St Bavo’s Cathedral during the Ghent Festivities. Negotiate the stairs and enjoy the magnificent view of this unique party for the people in the heart of Ghent. At other times of the year, you can enjoy the most beautiful view of Ghent from directly beneath the golden dragon, Ghent’s mascot, on the Belfry tower opposite. From there you can continue exploring the heart of Ghent. Anything goes.

Everything comes to an end, and then it’s clean-up time. After ten days of revelry, the municipal sanitation department pulls out all the stops to restore Ghent to its usual spic-and-span state. This takes approximately 3 days, so you should take this into account if you visit Ghent just after the Festivities week. 

See all event locations in the Ghent Festivity Zone

Are you driving to Ghent? First check whether you may enter the city centre with your vehicle. Clean vehicles may enter the city centre free of charge, polluting vehicles have to pay. Is your vehicle allowed to enter, but do you not have a Belgian or Dutch number plate? You will ALWAYS have to register!