Treck Hostel
Sleep in a vintage caravan parked indoors, then BBQ in the garden with the live band
Treck Hostel is the most personality-driven hostel in Ghent — a converted house in the arty Brugse Poort district where you can sleep in a vintage caravan, an indoor camper, or a regular dorm. Live music nights, bike rental, BBQ in the garden, and a buffet breakfast for €5 make it the obvious party-meets-quirky pick. 1.2 mi from the centre but Ghent is bikeable end-to-end.
Treck Hostel is the closest thing Ghent has to a Berlin-style alternative hostel. The owners have rebuilt a corner-house in Brugse Poort — Ghent's arty, multicultural, formerly working-class district — into a place where some of the rooms are actual vintage caravans and indoor camper vans repurposed as private bedrooms. There are also regular dorms and private rooms for travellers who prefer a normal mattress.
The garden is the social heart of the place: BBQ facilities, picnic tables, ping-pong, a children's playground, occasional live music nights, and a long shared lounge that opens directly onto it. The on-site bar is small but real, with Belgian taps and one of the cheaper Gruut prices in the city. Buffet breakfast is €5 (notably cheap, separately reviewable as 'a steal') and bike rental at reception is €10/day — practical because the city centre is a flat 12-minute bike ride.
Treck is genuinely 1.2 miles from the medieval core, which sounds like a lot until you realise Ghent is small and flat. Tram 1 from Phoenixstraat takes 10 minutes to Korenmarkt; the bike route via Citadelpark takes 12 minutes. Brugse Poort itself is worth wandering — multicultural restaurants, the Drongensesteenweg coffee strip, Lousbergpark for an evening run.
Who it's for: backpackers who want personality and a social scene, anyone whose Instagram feed has caravans on it, families with kids (real playground), and travellers who'd rather pay €5 for a real breakfast than €11 for a hotel buffet. Who it's not for: anyone who needs to walk to the Belfry in 5 minutes (try Uppelink or De Draecke), or guests with mobility issues — the building has stairs and the caravans have steps.
- 01Vintage caravan and indoor camper-van rooms — the only hostel in Belgium offering this
- 02Garden with BBQ, ping-pong, children's playground, and Friday/Saturday live music in summer
- 03Buffet breakfast for €5 — half the price of every other Ghent hostel and properly stocked
- 04On-site bar with Belgian taps and one of the cheapest Gruut prices in the city
- 05Bike rental at €10/day puts the whole city within 12 minutes of the door
- Sleep in a vintage caravan or indoor camper van
- Garden with BBQ, ping-pong and live music nights
- €5 buffet breakfast — the cheapest in the city
- Bike rental on-site for €10/day
“I loved everything about it. There is so much attention to detail everywhere. It was really special and my tiny camper was so gorgeous — I want to come back for a longer stay next summer.”
“So colourful and interesting a place. The €5 breakfast is a steal — I took it almost every day. And yes, they serve chocolates with the coffee. The hosts are warm and the garden is the best part of the stay.”
“One of the exception hostels where you feel real hostel vibe. The caravan room was a bucket-list experience and the bike rental made the distance to the centre completely irrelevant.”
- Lousbergpark (running and picnic)5 min walk
- Tram 1 stop (Phoenixstraat) to centre3 min walk
- Drongensesteenweg coffee strip6 min walk
- Citadelpark and S.M.A.K. modern art museum12 min by bike
- Korenmarkt and Belfry of Ghent10 min by tram or 12 min by bike
- Sint-Pieters station15 min by tram (one transfer)
