In Ghent the meter is not what stops you. The map is. Since 3 April 2017 the centre has been cut into six sectors, and the only way to drive from one to another is out to the R40 ring and back in. Your satnav will learn this the hard way, a few metres from a no-entry sign at a "knip", one of the cut points such as the Ottogracht or the Bargiebrug. So pick a garage on the side of town you are arriving from, and walk.
The second rule starts at home. Everything inside the R40 is a low-emission zone, and a foreign plate must be registered, free, at the latest the day after you drive in. Ghent warns that approval can take up to 14 days. Dutch plates are exempt. The fine is €185, once per day.
Six doors into one old town
Ghent is a city you enter by the side door. You come in off the ring at one sector, park, and the rest of the medieval centre is a walk: towers in a row, canals, trams sliding through. From the Sint-Michielsbrug you get the three towers of St Nicholas, the Belfry and St Bavo's in one look, which is why the bridge is never empty.
Resold tickets and the bag drop at the hotel door
I would not buy the Belfry or Gravensteen on a reseller's "skip the line" page. The official desk price is €13 for the Belfry, €15 for the Gravensteen, and both open every day at 10:00; the only queue worth skipping is for the altarpiece at weekends, and its own ticket desk handles that.
My second skip is the plan to "just drop the bags" at a hotel in the car-free area. Even that needs a free digital permit tied to your plate, and a camera does not care that you only stopped for two minutes. Ask the hotel for the permit before you arrive, or unload at the garage.
Mustard from the barrel at Tierenteyn
Tierenteyn-Verlent on the Groentenmarkt sells its mustard in an 1860s shop interior, ladled from a wooden barrel into a stoneware pot. It is open Monday 13:00–18:00, Tuesday to Saturday 10:00–18:00, closed Sundays and public holidays. Ask for the hot one and take a small pot; it travels better than chocolate.
Choose your sector before you choose your garage
Look at the map before you set off and decide which sector you need. Coming from Brussels or the E40, I stay on the R40 until I reach the right entry; cutting through is what the knips exist to stop. Passing a C3 no-entry sign is €58. Most of the medieval core is also car-free, and that needs the plate-linked permit even for a hotel drop. If you only want the sights, you never need to cross a sector at all.
Parking in Ghent: Red means every day now
Low-emission zones in Europe: Autovrij gebied (car-free area)
- Foreign plates
- A free digital permit tied to your plate, needed even to drop luggage at a hotel or reach a private garage
- When
- not published
- Fine
- €58 for passing a C3 no-entry sign (GAS 4 penalty)
Ghent prices its streets by colour. Red allows three hours and orange five, both 09:00–23:00, every day: since 1 April 2026 they are charged on Sundays and public holidays too, with fines from 1 May. Yellow and green run Monday to Saturday 09:00–19:00. In the blue zone you use a disc, two hours. There is no cash: you pay in one of six parking apps or by SMS to 4411. Two free tickets a day come with every zone, 2×20 minutes, or 2×30 in green.
The hourly price is the part I cannot pin down. The city publishes it only as an image. Yellowbrick lists red at €4.60 an hour, orange and yellow at €2.20, green at €1.20; SparkSpot lists €3 for red and orange, €2 for yellow, €1.50 for green. Neither is the city. Read the price in the app before you confirm. Not paying is €48, and €108 in a reserved bay, payable within 14 days.
The city's own garages are all cashless (car park line 09 266 29 70). Inside the ring, Parking Ramen, Sint-Michiels, Reep and Vrijdagmarkt are €3 an hour and €31 a day, €4 and €34 at Saturday and event peaks. Ramen is 2.10 m high; Vrijdagmarkt is 1.90 m. Sint-Pietersplein in the south is €12.80 a day, 708 spaces.
My pick is Het Getouw: €1 an hour, €8 a day, €5 a night, 2.10 m, and outside the LEZ, so an unregistered car can sit there legally.
Car parks worth knowing
| Car park | Price | EV |
|---|---|---|
| Het Getouw (city)Gaardeniersweg 82, north-west of the centre, outside the LEZ | €1 an hour, €8 a day, €5 for the night. Height 2.10 m. Cashless, like every city garage. The cheapest garage I found, and you never enter the LEZ. | Not published on the city's garage information. |
| Sint-Pietersplein (city)Under the Sint-Pietersplein, south of the centre near the Citadelpark | €1.80 an hour, €12.80 a day. 708 spaces, height 2.10 m. The cheapest day inside the ring. | Not published. |
| Ramen (city)Ramen, a short walk from the Gravensteen | €3 an hour (€4 at Saturday and event peaks), €31 for 24 hours (€34 at peak), €9 for the night. 268 spaces, height 2.10 m. | 24 charging points; price not published. |
| Sint-Michiels (city)By the Sint-Michielsbrug, for the Graslei and Korenlei | €3 an hour, €31 a day, €9 for the night. Height 2.00 m. | Not published. |
| Reep (city)Seminariestraat 9, east of St Bavo's | €3 an hour, €31 a day. Height 2.00 m. | Not published. |
| Vrijdagmarkt (city)Under the Vrijdagmarkt square | €3 an hour, €31 a day, but only 1.90 m high: no roof boxes. | Not published. |
The cheapest way to park, by how long you stay
| If you stay | Cheapest | Cost | Watch out |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 hours in the centre | P+R Gentbrugge Arsenaal (tram 2) | Free | Free, 277 spaces, outside the LEZ, height 2.5 m. Tram 2 from Gentbrugge Schooldreef or bus 9. The city's page gives no maximum stay and no travel time. |
| …and the cheapest central garage | Sint-Pietersplein (city) | €3.60 | height 2.10 m |
| …and the kerb, for comparison | Kerb, red zone (price disputed) | €9.20 | Three hours maximum, every day 09:00–23:00. The city publishes the price only as an image: Yellowbrick lists €4.60 an hour, SparkSpot €3. I show the higher one; read the app before you confirm. Not paying is €48. |
| A full day (10 h) | P+R Gentbrugge Arsenaal (tram 2) | Free | Free, 277 spaces, outside the LEZ, height 2.5 m. Tram 2 from Gentbrugge Schooldreef or bus 9. The city's page gives no maximum stay and no travel time. |
| …and the cheapest central garage | Sint-Pietersplein (city) | €12.80 | height 2.10 m |
| 24 hours | P+R Gentbrugge Arsenaal (tram 2) | Free | Free, 277 spaces, outside the LEZ, height 2.5 m. Tram 2 from Gentbrugge Schooldreef or bus 9. The city's page gives no maximum stay and no travel time. |
| …and the cheapest central garage | Sint-Pietersplein (city) | €12.80 | height 2.10 m |
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Towed in Ghent: Lybaert, down by the Vliegtuiglaan
The police page is clear on one point: ring them first. Politie Gent, 09 266 61 11, will tell you whether the car was towed or stolen. Cars towed for bad parking go to the contracted company, Depannage Lybaert, at Vliegtuiglaan 5 in the port area, 09 228 12 31, open 24/7 for parking tows and 08:00–17:00 for accident cars.
The towing and storage are a city tax paid at Lybaert; the parking fine is separate. The 2025 regulation said €362 and €13 a day; a local news report gives €432 and €14 a day for 2026. I could not read the 2026 regulation itself, so treat the new figure as reported. A seized car, rather than a towed one, needs a release form from the police office at Antonius Triestlaan 12, open 24/7. An uninsured car needs the original insurance certificate, valid three months; no copies.
If your car has disappeared
- Who took it
- The Ghent police order the tow; the contracted towing company is Depannage Lybaert. The police tell you to ring them first, to rule out theft
- Phone
- Politie Gent — ring this first if your car has gone: +32 9 266 61 11
Depannage Lybaert, the police-contracted towing company: +32 9 228 12 31
Emergency: 101 - Collect it at
- Depannage Lybaert, Vliegtuiglaan 5 (bus 1), in the port area north of the centre. If the car was seized rather than towed for parking, first go to the police central office at Antonius Triestlaan 12, open 24/7, for the release form.
- Hours
- 24/7 for badly parked cars; 08:00–17:00 for cars from accidents.
- What it costs
- Set by the city as a tax, paid at the towing company; the parking fine is separate. A local news report gives €432 for a car and €14 per 24 hours from 2026; the city's previous regulation had €362 and €13 for 2025. The 2026 regulation itself is a PDF on stad.gent I did not read.
- Bring
- For an uninsured car the police want the original insurance certificate, valid at least three months, no copies. I would bring registration papers, insurance and ID anyway; for a hire car, ring the rental company first.
EV charging in Ghent: Four hours, then the clock
About 550 of the city's 750 public posts are TotalEnergies; the rest are Allego. The city publishes no kWh price: scan the QR code on the post, which it calls the cheapest way to pay. Since 1 February 2026, a car still plugged into a TotalEnergies post after four hours pays €0.06 a minute, €3.60 an hour, 08:00–22:00. Parking in a bay reserved for electric cars is free while you charge.
Parking Ramen has 24 points, price not published. With its €9 night, that is where I would charge overnight.
Where to charge
- City concession posts — TotalEnergies and Allego — On-street and in car parks across Ghent, about 750 public posts. About 550 are TotalEnergies. The city publishes no kWh price: scan the QR code on the post, which it calls the cheapest way to pay. On TotalEnergies posts, from 4 hours plugged in, €0.06 a minute (€3.60 an hour), 08:00–22:00, since 1 February 2026. No parking fee in bays reserved for EVs
- Ramen car park — 24 points by the Gravensteen — Parking Ramen, inside the LEZ. The biggest bank of garage chargers I found in the centre; no kWh price published, and the €9 night makes it my overnight pick
- P+R Gentbrugge Arsenaal — 2 public points — P+R Gentbrugge Arsenaal, outside the LEZ. Four points, two public and two for car-sharing; free parking, tram 2 into town
Free parking in Ghent: Park outside, ride in
The city lists 14 free park-and-rides; only Galveston and Sint-Pietersstation charge. The one I would use is P+R Gentbrugge Arsenaal: 277 free spaces, outside the LEZ, 2.5 m high, tram 2 from Gentbrugge Schooldreef or bus 9. P+R Bourgoyen on the west side has 255.
On the street, yellow and green zones are free on Sundays; red and orange are not any more.
Hotels: I found none whose own site promises free parking in the centre, so plan on a garage.
Free or nearly-free spots
P+R Gentbrugge Arsenaal: free, tram 2
277 free spaces on the Brusselsesteenweg, outside the LEZ, height 2.5 m. Tram 2 from Gentbrugge Schooldreef, or bus 9. Occupancy is live on verkeer.gent.
P+R Bourgoyen, west side
255 free spaces by the Bourgoyen nature reserve. The city lists 14 free park-and-rides; only Galveston and Sint-Pietersstation charge.
Yellow and green zones on Sundays
Yellow and green are charged Monday to Saturday 09:00–19:00 only. Red and orange are charged on Sundays and public holidays since 1 April 2026.
Two free short tickets
Every zone gives two free tickets a day: 2×20 minutes, or 2×30 in green. You still have to start them in the app or at the machine.
⚠ The small print on 'free' parking
- Foreign plates must be registered for the Ghent LEZ, free, at the latest the day after you enter; approval can take up to 14 days. Dutch plates are exempt. The fine is €185, once per day.
- Forgot to register a car that qualifies? Register within 30 days of the fine notice and pay €75 instead. If you had a warning letter, an earlier registration or an earlier fine for that car, you pay a further €110 on top.
- Since 3 April 2017 the centre is split into six sectors; you can only drive from one to another via the R40 ring. Passing a C3 no-entry sign is €58.
- The car-free areas need a free digital permit tied to your plate, even to drop luggage at a hotel or reach a private garage.
- Red zone: 3 hours maximum, orange 5, both 09:00–23:00 every day. No cash at the kerb. Not paying is €48, €108 in reserved bays, payable within 14 days.
- Vrijdagmarkt is 1.90 m high, Reep and Sint-Michiels 2.00 m. With a roof box, use Ramen, Sint-Pietersplein or Het Getouw at 2.10 m.
Take these places with you
Every place on this page as a file you can keep — car parks with their prices, the free and park-and-ride spots, the chargers and the pound.