Access: advantage Antwerp
Antwerp as Ghent are easily accessible by car from France, with each linked by motorway. When it comes to rail links, however, Antwerp has the edge. The Flemish metropolis is on the route of the Thalys trains linking Paris and Amsterdam. It takes an average of 2 hours 15 minutes to get there by train from Paris.
Ghent, on the other hand, requires a change of train in either Brussels or Lille. Ghent is therefore easier to reach from the northern metropolis, but the journey time is still relatively long - an hour and a half on average, with the need to change trains at Courtrai (Kortrijk).
In terms of air links, Antwerp does have an airport, but it is only connected to a handful of destinations (including London City Airport). Nevertheless, Antwerp is closer to Brussels Airport by train than is Ghent. The average journey time from Brussels Airport to Antwerp is 40 minutes, and from Brussels Airport to Ghent 60 minutes.
Metropolises and the economy: facts and figures
Antwerp
510,000 inhabitants and 174 nationalities. 1.2 million inhabitants in the metropolitan area. As Belgium's second-largest city, Antwerp is first and foremost a major trading centre. port being the largest in the country, the largest in Europe for traditional freight and the second largest in Europe for container traffic (12 million units carried by 2021).
In addition to its port activities alone, Antwerp generates more than 20% of added value for companies based in Flanders and 25% of jobs. The city has many head offices and excels in financial, legal and marketing services, fashion, design and scientific research. It is one of Europe's leading chemical centres and has the largest diamond trading exchange. Antwerp handles 86% of rough diamonds and 50% of polished diamonds from all over Europe.
Ghent
267,000 inhabitants and 161 nationalities. 450,000 inhabitants in the conurbation. Ghent is the third largest city in Belgium and the largest university city in Flanders, with 71,000 students.
Ghent is regarded as one of Europe's leading centres for the "tech with four research clusters working together and linked to local universities. These include health technologies, biotechnologies, green technologies and the circular economy, as well as digital innovation. These sectors have earned the city the title of "Capital of Knowledge. Five of Belgium's leading bio-tech companies are headquartered in Ghent. The city is also the bridgehead of the North Sea Port, a 60km cross-border port area stretching from Vlissingen in the Netherlands to Ghent 32km inland.
Accommodation: advantage Antwerp
Antwerp
155 hotels offering 12,974 beds in 2022. The capacity breaks down into 468 5-star beds, 5,877 4-star beds, 3,669 3-star beds and 1,175 2-star beds.
Chain hotels in Antwerp: B&B, Crowne Plaza, Hilton, Holiday Inn, Ibis, Indigo, Linder, Mercure, NH Collection, Novotel, Premier Suites and Radisson Blu.
There are also a number of luxury boutique hotels in former patriarchal residences. These include the Franq Hotel (a former bank), Botanical Sanctuary, Maison Nationale, Rubens and Sapphire House.
Ghent
118 establishments with 6,654 beds in 2022. The capacity breaks down into 2,258 4-star beds, 2,279 3-star beds and 282 1 and 2-star beds. There are some 1,500 other rooms that do not fit into any category, according to Tourisme Flandre statistics.
Chain hotels in Ghent: Adagio, B&B, Campanile, Holiday Inn, Ibis, Marriott, NH and Novotel.
Boutique hotels include The House of Edward, Hotel Harmony, Pillows Grand Boutique Hotel Reylof, Yalo Urban Boutique and 1898 The Post.
Number of French overnight stays in 2022: 112,000 in Antwerp and 78,000 in Ghent.
Gastronomy: the Antwerp advantage
While haute cuisine has long been the preserve of Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent have seen a complete renewal of their culinary offering in the last decade, with the emergence of new restaurants. For a long time, Ghent was even considered the culinary capital of Flanders, but it seems that Antwerp has now taken over with a surprising diversity.
If the Michelin guide is anything to go by, Antwerp has 21 Michelin-starred restaurants - including 3 with 2 stars and one with three stars - compared with 7 starred restaurants in Ghent, including a single 2-star restaurant. As for Gault & Millau, it awarded toques to 30 restaurants in Ghent, including two with four toques. It awarded toques to 87 restaurants in Antwerp, including 5 with 4 toques.
MICE infrastructures: equality
Both Antwerp and Ghent offer a wide range of venues suitable for meetings and congress. These range from prestigious venues in classic buildings to state-of-the-art conference centres and some more unusual structures.
Antwerp
The city's main MICE facility, the Flanders Meeting & Convention Center Antwerphas chosen 'A Room with a ZOO' as its slogan. This infrastructure, which includes around twenty meeting and conference rooms (including the Elisabeth Hall designed for 2,000 delegates), some historic, others contemporary, is located within the Europe's first scientific zoo ! The profits from the congresses also support scientific research and animal welfare. Another advantage of this venue is that it is adjacent to the Central Station.
Another unusual venue for a MICE event is the medieval castle of Het Steen, on the banks of the Scheldt. In Belgium, you can also organise a meeting at Chocolate Nation, the country's largest museum of Belgian chocolate. A perfect venue for team-building activities. Or maybe you'd prefer to hold your meeting in the De Koninck brasserie, with its five fully-equipped meeting rooms.
Information on organising a MICE event: antwerpconventionbureau.be.
Ghent
The city of Ghent is ideal for conferences of up to 1600 people. The largest capacity is not the Gent International Congress Center (Gent ICC, 17 meeting rooms) with its plenary hall for 984 delegates. But the theatre CapitolThis former 1930s cinema has an auditorium with a capacity of 1,600 delegates. The theatre also includes a restaurant, bar and several meeting rooms.
One of the advantages of Ghent is that it can organise events in a number of historic venues: the opera house, former factories, abbeys and convents, the town hall, a former hospital (De Bijloke) or the beautiful art nouveau Vooruit 'Festivities Hall'.
MICE information : visit.gent.be/en/gentcongres.
Discover : advantage Ghent
The two cities of Antwerp and Ghent boast a rich historical heritage, with patrician residences reflecting every style from the Middle Ages to art deco. As well as bold contemporary structures, imposing squares and numerous Flemish Gothic churches.
Antwerp
Antwerp, for its part, impresses with an impressive number of buildings with triumphant late 19th-century architecture, a true reflection of the wealth of Antwerp's upper middle class. The Central Station and Avenue Meir with its department stores reflect this opulence. The Grand Place with its town hall and the narrow streets around the cathedral are reminiscent of Renaissance Antwerp. Lovers of art nouveau will appreciate the Zurenborg district, while fans of contemporary architecture will love wandering around the Bonaparte and Guillaume (Willem) docks.
Ghent
However, Ghent's historic centre is more picturesque than Antwerp's, with rows of medieval, Renaissance and Baroque houses surrounded by 19th-century neo-Gothic buildings. You'll discover remarkable urban panoramas along the the Graslei and Korenlei quays. The historic centre is dominated by the belfry (a splendid view of the city) and its church towers. The classical Ghent can be discovered at St Pietersplein, and the Ghent of Art Nouveau and Historicism around the Vrijdagmarkt. The centre of Ghent is a veritable open-air museum of European architecture...
Museums: equality
Antwerp
The splendid Royal Museum of Fine Arts KMSKA reopened in 2022 after a twelve-year closure. The museum boasts a fine collection of Belgian paintings, including the largest collection of paintings in Belgium by the painter James Ensor. The KMSKA can be considered one of Belgium's finest art museums. The MAS (Museum an den Stroom) tells the story of the city's link with the Scheldt. The vertical museum also offers magnificent views over the metropolis...
Ghent
The MSK fine arts museum has one of the most remarkable collections of Flemish primitives, as well as many Magrittes. While we wait for the reopening of the very attractive Design Museum, the House of Alijn offers an interesting alternative. This museum offers a nostalgic insight into the daily lives of children 150 years ago...
