In Gent, there are about 320 cafés/bars. For a pretty small town like this, this fact is an immediate example of our beloved beer drinking culture. If you want to discover it all, get yourself a café-plan and get started… I’m sure that if you ask your dearest ESN-board members for some advice, they’ll all have their own favourites. But there are also some zones in town every student knows:

OVERPOORT

Looking for a party where you can get wasted, dance and have a lot of fun? In that case, Overpoort is the place to be. If you have never seen a long street where every house is a bar, this is your first area to visit. Dead during daytime, more and more alive as the night proceeds. Nice detail: most pubs here don’t close before 6 o’clock in the morning. And most of those stay open as long as there are people inside. Don’t be surprised that if you keep partying, daylight will be on by the time you leave. And don’t be surprised when you’re not the only one to still be there…

VLASMARKT

While Overpoort is the place to be during the week, during the weekends the locals move to Vlasmarkt to party. There, you will find a couple of well-known pubs and, from time to time, waiting lines to get in. These pubs are bigger compared to those in other areas of Ghent, and the club Charlatan even accommodates multiple party rooms…

After all this partying, there’s always a time you need to rest. And what better place to have a nice time off than a terrace in the afternoon sun? Around Vrijdagsmarkt, Korenmarkt and Graslei, there are some tea-rooms with (sometimes large) terraces to drink another beer, which, some say, is the best remedy against a nasty hangover...

And last but not least, between Zuid and Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat there are some cafés with a nice atmosphere, such as some world cafés and Vooruit Café. For other curiosities, find yourself a small street that has a café in it, or a remote part of town where the only thing to do is that particular café, and be prepared to get surprised!