Urban Gardens Gent — Hotel in Ghent

Heard that the camping was taken over a year ago and that this is their first high season. It seems they are doing work, but I question if the order is right. Likely prone to change next season(s).

The reception and bar+pizza popup seem relatively new and are in good shape. Despite the pizzas, as well as the bread in the morning, being delicious and fresh, the average wait to be served is way too long, which also goes for the reception (even when you're just collecting your bread). All days there was a queue, and some people reportedly waited for 1.5h for their pizza. Staff were friendly, the pizza and bar personelle only spoke English. They bar (also order place for the pizzas) seemed slow and may be to being understaffed.

There were bungalows being built and seemed fancy for the glampers.

However, the toilet building looked somewhat outdated and smelled like sewage on the outside, and also a breeze of this can be occasionally smelled at the camping pitch. There were no lights in the dark alley which was especially hard to navigate to at night. I feel like there were too few toilets and showers for the amount of people they serviced. The showers were generally, but not super consistently, warm to hot. Also inside the showers, which is only accessible 6-23h, there was this occasional sewage-y smell and there was mold at all stalls I used (aside of the common but seemingly older calcium deposits). There are hardly any sinks outside of the shower stalls, adding to the queue size. At both the showers and the toilets, the cleaning method of "adding a bunch of water" to mop was used, without noticable cleaning agents. The floor became a pool of clean water, which soon changed to a muddy one because of people walking through it - making it seem dirty in a matter of minutes.

There is this recreational water (municipal, not camping owned) next to the camping which was really great and well maintained. There was also a public (municipal) free of charge shuttle service to Ghent centre just outside (

We stayed at this site on the 20th May 2023, wish I had read all of the reviews first. Over the last 7 months we have used 90 different sites and aires, and this one is possibly the worst. When you factor in “value for money” it definitely is the worst as we paid €40 for a Saturday night.

After the queue to check in at 13:00 we were allocated a pitch. There was already someone on the pitch! Back to reception where we were allocated a second pitch. This looked like a building site, very unpleasant and very far away from the electricity point.

Back to reception, who offered to lend us an extra hook up lead for a €50 cash deposit! We didn’t have enough cash so then they wanted to take my driving licence to “keep safe in an envelope” I don’t think that is safe. I said I would have a rebate and not use electricity but apparently nobody can do that, so allocated a third pitch which “is closer to electric and not on an ugly building site”

On to the third pitch now, already lost lots of our 22 hours for €40, our plan was to arrive and go straight into the city.

The third pitch was again too far from the electric, I have 35m cable and would need to run the lead over the area where people walk, children ride bikes, cars, caravans and motorhomes drive, so risking damage to it, no thanks. So we did not use the electricity we were charged for, thank you.

There were not many showers, so very busy. The water overflowed and ran outside of the block onto the path and was unpleasant inside too. The facilities are extremely in need of refurbishment. The grounds are pleasant but need some maintenance, quite overgrown.

Al in all a poor experience made worse by the fact that it was €40 to stay for 22 hours. And there was no chance of getting connected to WiFi…

Unless you are desperate, just use the park and ride for €6, the free shuttle bus is for anyone to use anyway, not a specific perk of the campsite.

You really must do better if you are to be so expensive, you must do better also if you were to be...

Before going through this review, a forward is necessary. A few days before reaching the structure, I read some terrible reviews about this camping. Not to mention I was highly worried. Luckily, once I got there, I understood all those reviews were misleading. So, let's start. Pitches. Pitches are sufficiently big, either for a tent or for a mobile-home. Ok, they might not be the biggest in the world but, seriously, have you considered you're camping and not in a royal residence? Neatness. Staff are cleaning not everyday but every hour. Restrooms are clean. One can say that floors are often dirty due to the mud, but it is not possible to expect to have floors always shiny; have you considered you're camping and not in a royal residence?

Service.

Staff are very kind and helpful. No problem with languages.

4.Position. The camping is placed at the limits of the Urban city, but that is just a 4km by bicycle. Moreover, in 3 minutes on feet, you can reach a free shuttle bus to the city that runs every 15 minutes from the morning to midnight.

Lacking points. Ok, if one really wishes to point out some limits, that should be the lack of a mini-market within the camping and the fact that the bar is closed on Sundays and Mondays. Wifi is only available near the reception, but you can easily understand that these are minor things and, again, have you considered you're camping and not in a...