One of the darkest, yet most impressive places to visit in Ghent is the Gravensteen Castle.
Within Gravensteen’s castle walls you’ll go back in time and learn about the counts of Ghent and their crazy love for torture and power.
In the Middle Ages, a lot of people died within these stone walls in the most gruesome ways imaginable. But today Gravensteen Castle is just a harmless (and pretty interesting) tourist attraction where you can learn about the Medieval times in Belgium.
Since we’ve visited Gravensteen Castle twice, we think it’s time to put our experience into the travel blog. So, in this blog post we’ll share our own experience in Gravensteen castle, the important history and facts about the place, plus all the practical information that you need to go visit the castle by yourself.
A little disclaimer: We have tried not to write too detailed about these gruesome events that took place within the castle. However, it’s inevitable not to write about them at all because they’re part of the history of Gravensteen Castle. So, if you feel uncomfortable with reading about torture in the Middle Ages, then you should probably leave this blog post now.
We also don’t claim to be historians in any way, this is just our personal experience of touring Ghent’s famous castle.
Now, if you’re ready – let’s learn about this rather dark place in one of our favorite cities on earth! This is our trip to Gravensteen Castle in Ghent.
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About Gravensteen Castle in Ghent
First things first, let’s make sure that you can go on a trip to Ghent’s castle yourself. Here you can find information about how to get there, opening hours, ticket prices and how long it takes to visit Gravensteen Castle.
How to get to Gravensteen in Ghent?
It’s super easy to get to Gravensteen Castle with public transportation from Gent-sint-Pieters Station.
Just take the tram line in front of Gent Station and ride it into the city center where you can walk the remaining distance to the castle. A single ticket with the tram costs €2,5.
You can also just use your legs and walk the 2,8 kilometers to Gravensteen from Gent Station – calling ourselves the Worldwide Walkers, that’s our main form of transportation.
Gravensteen Castle opening hours 2024
The official opening hours to Gravensteen Castle is every day from 10 AM – 6 PM.
However, you should take into account that the castle closes at 6 PM and you need some time to experience the place beforehand.
The last admission at the online booking system says to arrive between 4:20 – 4:40 PM, so come no later than this hour and you’ll have enough time to go explore the castle before it closes.
Gravensteen Castle tickets 2024
The entrance fees to Gravensteen vary a lot, so we made a table below with some of the ticket types and prices. Unless you’re a child, student, or live in Ghent – then expect to pay the basic price of €13. You can book your Gravensteen tickets here.
You can either buy your ticket directly at the counter or book it online. We suggest you book in advance during busy periods to secure your spot.
And remember to grab your free audioguide before you start your tour around Gravensteen Castle.
| Ticket Types | Prices 2024 |
| Age 0-12 years old | Free! |
| Age 13-18 years old + Students of Ghent maximum 25 years old | €2,7 |
| Residents of Ghent + All students maximum 25 years old | €8 |
| Regular adult tickets: 18+ years old | €13 |
How long is a visit to Gravensteen?
It took us 1,5 hour to go through the whole place with an audioguide. So expect to spent between 1-2 hours on your visit to Ghent’s iconic castle.
This means that you don’t have to set aside a full day to visit the Gravensteen Castle, which gives you time to explore more of Gent. So make sure to go by some of the other great historical buildings or go on a guided tour in Gent to learn more about this amazing city.
History & facts about Gravensteen Castle
Before we share our experience, we’d like to tell you a bit about the history of Gravensteen Castle. We learned most of this from the audioguide that’s available at your visit in the castle. So, make sure to pick up the free audioguide before you start your tour around the Gravensteen.
Gravensteen Castle was built in 1180 by Philip of Alsace, who was the Count of Flanders from 1168 until his death in 1191.
The name “Gravensteen” refers to a castle that’s made out of stone for the count. And rightfully, the whole castle is built in stone, and its walls are still standing strong today.
From 1180 to 1353, Gravensteen Castle housed several Counts of Flanders, and it’s therefore also known as the “Castle of the Counts”.
For many centuries, grim things took place inside of Gravensteen Castle and in its courtyard. In fact, if you didn’t have an invite to the castle and Philip of Alsace wasn’t in the mood to see you, then you could expect hot oil or big rocks to fall from the castle walls and onto your head. Not a very pleasant way to be told to bugger off.
Gravensteen Castle is also known for its torture chambers where many disgusting things happened back in the Middle Ages. When I think about the Middle Ages, I always think of kings and queens and great love stories. However, the Middle Ages were actually really brutal – and probably more deadly than romantic…
A lot of things happened to Gravensteen Castle during its time in Ghent. Apart from being a castle housing the Count of Flanders, it also used to be a court, a prison, and even a cotton factory.
There is so much interesting history in the city of Ghent, and Gravensteen Castle is one of the best places to get sucked into another time period and experience what Ghent was like hundreds of years ago.
What to expect on a day trip to Ghent’s castle
In this section, we’ll share more pictures from Ghent’s castle and tell you what you can expect on a day trip to Gravensteen.
First we bought our tickets to Gravensteen Castle at the ticket counter. It went smooth and the woman behind the counter was really nice. Then we went to pick up our free audioguides. We quickly learned that the audioguide is half of the experience – without it, you’ll just walk through empty rooms in an old castle and don’t learn anything.
The audioguide in English is also pretty funny – so you won’t feel bored during your visit.
The first room you visit is where the knights used to gather in the castle. However, they always started fighting over their local feuds, which always left a mess in the castle. In this room you can see all the old lances that were used for jousting, several armors worn by knights, and many different weapons used by the knights of Flanders.
Next stop is the roof.
We visited Gravensteen Castle during the winter – The snow had just fallen in Belgium, which left a beautiful white layer on the rooftops of Ghent. Unfortunately, it also meant that Gravensteen’s rooftop was closed due to slipperiness. Normally you get an amazing view over Ghent city from the rooftop of the castle. But we’ll just have to come back and take more pictures another day.
Then we went to see where Count Philip of Alsace and Countess Elisabeth used to live. There are not really anything to see in these rooms. But the audioguide tells you a bit about their history as a couple. Apparently, he was only 14 years old and she was only 13 years old when they got married. They never had any children together.
Afterwards, things started to get grim. It’s at this point in touring the castle that you learn about the horrors that took place here.
First you see the oubliette, which is basically a dungeon in the castle. Here the count could throw down people who had committed crimes – or just got on his nerve.
Afterwards, you’re let into a room where you see the drawings of the 5 most horrible execution stories from the castle. In my opinion, the grimmest story was about the man who was boiled alive in the 16th century (if I remember correct). That just sounds so painful, I can’t even begin to imagine it!
Then the tour takes you to the darkest room of the castle. It’s basically a room filled with all these different instruments that was used for torturing people in the Middle Ages. The room was different when I visited Gravensteen Castle a few years ago. There used to be dolls in these hurtful instruments to showcase how the instruments worked, but today you just have to use your imagination.
So, it’s actually less uncomfortable to visit now because you don’t see these dolls, but it also means that you don’t understand how most of these instruments worked. And maybe that’s okay..? I mean, it’s not that pleasant to know.
Afterwards, you visit the most uncomfortable room in the castle (at least for me!)… The squared room! This room used to have four chains linked to each of the four walls. Then in the middle of the room was a stool with a person connected to all of these four chains. Have a look at the photo below, and you get the picture…
“Funny” story – If you were chained to this device, then you could have your friends come over and cheer you on. There was a man who was sitting on this chair for more than a week. The authority at the time was trying to get a confession out of him. However, because his friends and family came to cheer him on he never lost hope and therefore never confessed.
He was eventually one of the few people who survived the grim torture of Gravensteen Castle.
You also get to visit the toilets. Another funny story – the count and countess went to the toilet on the castle walls, so “it” went directly into the moat around the castle. That way, the people living in the village could see what came out of the count and countess. The Middle Ages was such a strange time. I mean, why would people want to watch that?
The tour around the castle ended with the story of Philip of Alsace’s death. He died in a crusade in Syria from an unknown illness. Somehow his death wrapped up the whole experience in Gravensteen Castle, and it was overall a great place to end the tour.
We hope you enjoyed this bizarre and dark (yet interesting) blog post about Ghent’s Gravensteen Castle. Feel free to leave a comment if you want to visit Gravensteen yourself and have any questions about your visit.
You can also read our blog post about things to do in Ghent, because there are so many other great attractions in this city apart from the Gravensteen. So, make sure to check it out before your trip to amazing Ghent.
Thanks for reading and happy travels!
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I visited Gravensteen in 1976 after speaking at the University of Gent. I was not aware of the torture chamber until I entered it. The chamber was so surreal that I was stunned. Then I realized that some of my Hugenaught relatives may have suffered there or in a similar castle. The devices of torture were truly diabolical. May Jesus be glorified by the courage and devotion of those who remained faithful.