St Bavo's Abbey
St Bavo's Abbey
4
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Monday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

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4.0
4.0 of 5 bubbles72 reviews
Excellent
36
Very good
21
Average
11
Poor
4
Terrible
0

Ekvin
Troyes, France28 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Sept 2013 • Friends
Some reviews here concern the St Bavo's Cathedral but these are 2 completely different sites.
The cathedral is in the city centre and contains the Lamb of God painting (some panels are under restauration in the museum for fine arts, you can see the experts restauring there).
The St Bavo's Abbey (see picture) is a medieval abbey in beautiful surroundings (address: Voorhoutkaai 43). Visiting the abbey is only possible from april to oktober om fridays, saturdays and sundays fron 2pm till 6pm. Otherwise a very nice place for a pic nic!
Written 4 October 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2011 • Friends
East of the tourist heart of Ghent and close to the Ghent Dampoort railway station, this is an absolute must for the lovers of ruins. Check also the vegetation on the walls with very specific plants and flowers. A peaceful area where the children can run and romp while you are checking over 1000 years of history. They don't have this in Bruges ;-)

Main entrance is near the 'green cathedral', through a gate in the southside of the complex, Ferdinand Lousbergskaai. Nearly every sunday from april to november, the neighbours organize a little event, a concert, a lecture or something for the kids ...
Written 20 February 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

avidtraveller195
Melbourne, Australia584 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2014 • Couples
The St Bavo's Abbey is close to where we are staying and is only open to the public on Sunday afternoons - 2-6pm with no charge for entry. The visits are handled by local volunteers who have produced an excellent written history which is available in English. We chatted to the 3 volunteers who were on duty and gained further insights into this fascinating abbey which is largely in ruins, with the exception of the refectory which is intact and is still used for small concerts because of its excellent acoustics. You will not be over-run by tourists with 100-150 visitors on a fine Sunday. The day we visited it was raining and there were only a handful of visitors.
Written 11 August 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Garfieldluvr
Denver, CO973 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2016 • Couples
Walked over there during opening hours to find no one there and no access. Bummer, as this was one of the things I would have really liked to see. When you have limited time in a small town like this, its frustrating to waste time and effort getting over there for nothing.
Written 2 October 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

GhentErwinfromghent
Destelbergen, Belgium86 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
In Ireland tourist buses would drive for half a day to reach these beautiful ruins, the cradle of Ghent. It's a pity the place is, except for weekends in summer, not open to the public. Yet!!! Probably next summer the gate of the abbey will open more frequently.
Written 22 January 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Jroy32
Toronto, Canada80 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2019
It was a last minute decision to come here, and was glad I went! It was a bit of an eerie and magical feeling walking around the ruins when no one else was around! There's lots of green foliage which makes for nice photos! Definitely come visit if you have the time - it's within walking distance from the city centre.
Written 23 August 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

maartenw2016
Ghent, Belgium686 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2017 • Solo
The outer look of this former abbey/castle is beautiful, and it's situated just close to the junction of two rivers, close to the city center. Only from april to october you can visit the interior, but it already looks beautiful, also when at night, lights illuminate the walls.
Written 10 November 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

DIetrich
182 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
July 2017 • Friends
The abbey is from the 7th century and the remains are still learning you a lot. Very nice is the evocation of the former church next to abbey with trees as the pillars.

Written 23 July 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

CanuckTraveller345
Toronto, Canada309 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
July 2015 • Couples
We tried to find this place which was incorrectly located on the tourism map provided by the city. Eventually we found it, and ventured in. There was no ticket booth, no gate, no signs, no nothing.

Upon entering, we were so excited, as the whole thing seemed magical -- ruins overgrown by nature. It was beautiful. However it wasn't long before we were approached for a security guard asking to see our tickets. We obviously didn't have any and asked where we needed to purchase them. He explained that they could only be purchased somewhere that was about a 25 minutes walk from here, since there was currently a photograph exhibition on display throughout the ruins. He also said we couldn't buy a ticket to this place only and would have to buy tickets to all the photo exhibits and that it was expensive.

Annoyed, we left and saw a closed and abandoned ticket booth on the way out. Why hire a security guard when you can't even have someone selling tickets on site? Or could there be at least a sign for uninformed tourists like us? This ruined our visit as I was upset to not be able to visit the ruins.
Written 28 August 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Debra P
Washington, UK28 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2013 • Couples
This is an impressive building and there's a very good copy of the mystic lamb so you don't have to pay the 4 euro to see the original one (sorry, I know some people may find this unacceptable but it's just my opinion).
Written 24 September 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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St Bavo's Abbey, Ghent

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