Where to Stay: Brussels, Bruges, or Ghent?

There's no one really good answer to this, all the cities have their advantages (and their fans / detractors) if you are just considering ease of access for a normal traveller. You can travel really easily between the cities by train if it is just a small group and so the answer doesn't matter much. However, I think the easiest would be to base in Brussels with such a large group. If you are travelling by train from Paris, it will be more straightforward to just travel directly to Brussels and stay there. The Eurostar hub is Brussels and there are no direct trains from Paris to Bruges (although you can get off at Lille Europe, walk to the Lille Flandres station with luggage and 25 people, and change to another train in Kortrijk and change again. No, that would not be for me.). This is not to say that Bruges and Ghent are not worthy, but I am thinking it seems less complicated to me to just go for Brussels. There might be a different answer if you were all travelling everywhere by bus (I don't know - what are your plans??). Obviously the bus driver would know also whether their bus fits into all those narrow medieval streets. In Bruges tour buses stop off near the Begijnhof (Beguinage) and drop people off there and pick them up again at the end of the day.
There will be others who say go for lovely Bruges or striking Ghent, but I am thinking mainly of logistics. I would rather take a group of people without luggage on the Belgian trains with me. You might get some varied opinions on this!!

Lavandula

I teach high school and also took some young folks to London last year - admittedly not this large of a group. I really like Bruges. It is an easy walkable town and It quite safe. Its is also a very Instagram type of medieval town to wake up in, early morning gets you the best photographs and I know that age group like their photos. There are boat trips, horse drawn carriages, lots of chocolate, French fries, Belgium waffles, lunch cafe's. We even did a bike ride to Dam along the canal - had lunch and rode back. Very cheap to do. A day trip to Ghent would be possible as the train station is easy to walk to. Other's may suggest Brussels because of the logistics but Bruges is just delightful.

I'd go with choice 2; stay in Bruges and 1 day in Ghent.

Maybe it's just me and group travel...but after being all together in France for the main part of the trip allowing folks to go their own ways a little would be easier in Brussels. Some to Bruges, some to Brussels museums if they need one or two more... or just scarfing waffles or mussels. Also you will want to be in Brussels the night before your flight anyway.

I vote for Bruges. It's charming, picturesque, a small town, and comfortable. Folks could go off on their own, following their interests. There's the tower, (remember the movie?) the chocolate (I threw out most of my clothes to make room for maximum chocolate), a canal cruise, the haunted evening tour, chocolate tours, and the beer/ breweries. There is actually a beer pipeline under the town.

Ghent is a great day trip, and the Monuments Men movie Alterpiece panels are there, and the related VR Tour is fantastic.
Kudos for organizing this. Have a wonderful time!

Ghent is a university town. If you are going with a group of 17 to 23 year olds, I would bet they would prefer Ghent to Bruges or Brussels. Although any of the 3 towns are worth your time.

mpaulynsettle, I'm a high school teacher as well!

Thanks, everyone, all of these are excellent suggestions. FWIW, we'll be taking the train from Paris to Brussels. Since the young people are not younger teens, they are capable of choosing their own adventure. I was planning on making this less structured than the rest of the trip anyway, which will be done through a tour company. I suppose we could also give them options on what they want to do and split up that way. Given what I've heard about Bruges, that does sound like it should be on the agenda, but maybe some people might want to go to Ghent for one of the days too, instead of another full day in Brussels.

Bruges is the most marketable and for cocktail-parties-back-home conversation. A more sophisticated choice for a group of self-starters might be sleeping in Antwerp. But if your daily schedule will be the choice of 95% of the group, Bruges.

If your schedule coincides with Feesten in Ghent, that's where you'll want to be.

Thanks, you've both given me some additional considerations!

I loved Ghent. I stayed there for three nights and did a day trip to Bruges, which was the perfect amount of time for both. I enjoyed Bruges, but the crowds got to me a bit and I was happy to get back to Ghent for the evening.

Ghent was wonderful and is perfect for people who love history, charm, and local culture without the crowds of Bruges or Brussels. There are picturesque canals, bridges, and cobbled streets and lots of historic and beautiful sites. I agree that if you are coming with college age kids, they would probably enjoy Ghent more. Ghent is a university town, so it’s got a real youthful energy about it. I definitely preferred the "lived in" atmosphere of Ghent to the crowds of Bruges.

Having just returned from Belgium a couple weeks ago, I'll offer two thoughts. Base out of Brugge, assuming you are going to have to get a hotel anyway. Brugee is sort of laid out in town squares and easy to walk to everythiing that is in each square. An educated quess is that you can walk to the fartherest tourist site in 30 minutes. Brugge has an open air, one level city bus that will take you along a predeternimed route, but it is not cheap. Those buses may not even accomondate 25 people at once. From there you can day trip it to Gent. It's also really nice.

The other thought is to stay in Brugge then move to Gent for a stay then head on to Brussels. The idea is that you are minimizing the back and forth train trips by starting north and working your way south. With the cost of 25 tickets each time, that may be more than using two hotels. It would certainly cut down on the back and forth travel and I assume there will be room sharing.

Finally, make sure that you get the Purple Heart award for taking on this task. LOL

You will always get a lot of differing opinions on this question. Everyone has a preference about these three cities, and everyone is right. Everyone is also wrong. There is no best option among the three.

But there is maybe a best option for your specific situation. I used to teach, and I took college kids to Europe twice. Here's my suggestion based on my experience.

Stay in Brussels. Why?

• It's the easiest to get to from Paris. Ghent and Bruges require a change.
• It's where you are departing from at the end of your trip.

The young people can easily take a day trip to Bruges or Ghent (or Antwerp, or Leuven, or Ypres, or Mechelen). Or they can stay in Brussels.

The other options aren't bad, but I don't think they give you an advantage in terms of logistics or convenience.

rmill and Lane, thanks for your suggestions! When I first wrote, I thought there would be 25 of us total. Now we're up to nearly 40, which means Ghent and Bruges are off the list as places to stay, since I need a hotel which can accommodate that many people. I think you're right, Lane, anyway, that Brussels would have been easier even if I still had only 25, since we'll be departing from there. We can always split into different groups for people who want to hang out in Brussels, those who want to visit Bruges, and those who want to go to Ghent.

You may not be aware how much bigger is Antwerp than Ghent or Bruges. It has several chain hotels. It's probably more expensive than Ghent, but cheaper than Brussels. It has a lot more total choices to "do" than Ghent or Bruges. As I noted earlier, Americans will ask, "Did you see Bruges?", but Europeans will ask if you saw Antwerp. Antwerp is also a major transit hub, with direct premium trains from Paris. I think there are more cheap food options in Antwerp than in Brussels.

Historic buildings are more widely distributed in Antwerp than in Ghent and Bruges. I consider that an advantage, but others might disagree.

Tim:

Thanks, that's another place I'll put on the list. I didn't even consider Antwerp! I have six months before I have to book the rooms, because the end of the year is the last date for participants to sign up for the trip.

It would be ideal if you pick Ghent as your base. Ghent sits midway between Brussels and Bruges (25-30 min by direct train), so you lose almost no sightseeing time, yet stay only 55-65 mins from Brussels Airport for departure. The medieval centre is compact and largely traffic-free, ideal for guiding 25 people on foot. Also, the presence of thousands of students in the Ghent means the hostels, cafés and nightlife are usually affordable. Spend your first full day with a the short train ride to Bruges for the Belfry views, canals and chocolate. Then, return to Ghent for riverside evening buzz that Bruges lacks after dark. On Day 2 explore the Ghent’s Gravensteen castle, street-art alley and Graslei quays. Later, you can let the group scatter to museums, bike hires or cheap eats all within a ten-minute walk. On departure day roll bags onto an early train to Brussels-Central for a Grand-Place photo stop before the 10 to 20-minute airport train ride (you can skip the photo stop if you are in a rush)!

Thanks! I was planning at least a day trip to Ghent since my students will all either have just graduated a couple of weeks before the trip, or graduated this past June, so they might like the idea of visiting a college town. Our group has ballooned to nearly 40 people, almost 30 of them are students. Do you think Ghent has hotels that are big enough for all of us? I'm planning to book the rooms in January, since we're still adding travelers until December.

Also, I'll have to check out the train departure times, because if our flight home ends up being really early I'd have to book transfers from Ghent to the airport.

Everyone has given me a lot to consider, for sure!

Also, the presence of thousands of students in the Ghent means the hostels, cafés and nightlife are usually affordable.

Just to put this into perspective…
Ghent
- UGent 46.000 students
Brussels
-VUB 21.000 students
-ULB 30.000 students
-Université Saint-Louis – Bruxelles 4.000 students
Antwerp
-UAntwerpen 23.000 students

With more than 86,000 students – that is almost a quarter of all the students in our country – Brussels is the largest student city in Belgium. It has some 51 universities and high schools.
Brussels is also a world city, where you can blend into the crowd. In brief: you get all the benefits of a university city, plus those of a bustling metropolis.
People of at least 160 different nationalities live in our capital city, and in total, the inhabitants of Brussels speak more than 180 languages.

No idea of the exact date of your visit in Belgium (I understand summer 2026) but just some major events in Belgium that summer
Ghent: Gentse feesten July 17-26 https://visit.gent.be/en/calendar/ghent-festivities
Brussels: Flowercarpet Aug 14-16 https://www.flowercarpet.brussels/en
Antwerp: Tall Ships Races Jul 11-14 https://tallships.antwerpen.be/en/
PS: Belgian National Day Jul 21, start summer holidays Jul 4

...and just forgot another important thing.
In Belgium, the legal age to buy beer, wine, and other beverages with an alcohol content of 0.5% or more is 16 years old. For strong spirits, such as porto, sherry, and other spirits containing 15% or more alcohol, the legal drinking age is 18 years old.

This is excellent information, thanks! That's a good point about the number of universities in Brussels means great cafes and nightlife, which I'm sure they'll appreciate! Unfortunately we'll be gone by the time the festivals are happening, but I'm sure there won't be any lack of fun things for the students to do.

If the concept of a Youth Hostel fits your expectations, see this link from the Brussels Tourist Office https://www.visit.brussels/en/visitors/what-to-do/education-offers/stay-in-a-youth-hostel-on-your-next-school-trip-to-brussels

You might enjoy looking at Michelle Damiani's post: "Forget what the guidebooks say: choose Ghent"

Edited to add: The post is on her blog at michelledamiani.com

As you also might enjoy looking at Michelle Damiani's post: "Three days in Brussels" (although 10 years old) https://michelledamiani.com/around-the-world/2015/10/9/three-days-in-brussels

Windyram and Janet - thanks for the rec and link! I'll check it out. Also, I've thought of hostels, since they're significantly less expensive than hotels for the dorm rooms. Adults would be in private rooms, of course!