The 14th International Conference on Queueing Theory and Network Applications will be held in Ghent, Belgium. The conference takes place in ‘Het Pand’ meeting center of Ghent University, located in the city center. The address is: Onderbergen 1, 9000 Gent.
Ghent is a cosy student city, with around 260,000 inhabitants and on top of that the city hosts around 77,000 students. The history of the city goes back until the 7th century and the centre is filled with historical buildings. Due to the large student population, Ghent is a lively city that has plenty to offer to any kind of visitor!
Trains leave from within the airport building and take you to one of the main railway stations in Brussels (subsequently Noord/Nord, Centraal/Central and Zuid/Midi), where you can switch to one of the many intercity trains (IC) to Gent-Sint-Pieters, Ghent’s main railway station (Trains with destination Brugge, Knokke, Blankenberge and Oostende also stop in Ghent). Some trains run directly from the airport to Gent-Sint-Pieters. These trains reach Ghent in about 1 hour. Retrieve train schedules. Search for routes from “Brussels Airport-Zaventem” to “Ghent-Sint-Pieters”. Trains circulate from around 5am in the morning until midnight. Tickets can be bought online on the website or in the airport from the vending machines. Tickets don’t come with numbered seats and no reservation is required.
There is a Flibco bus that will take you from outside the terminal building directly to the main railway station in Ghent (the bus leaves you at the back of the station). The schedule can be found online and tickets can be bought from there, as well as from the ticket desk at the airport. The ride takes around 1h20min. When booking well in advance these tickets can be quite cheap (5 euro).
Walking from the railway station to the conference venue takes approximately 30 minutes. Leave the area in front of the main exit using Koning Albertlaan, continue on Groot-Brittanniëlaan, cross the intersection and continue on Louis Pasteurlaan and Maurice de Weertstraat. Turn right onto Coupure Links and at the second bridge turn left onto Lindenlei, continue by the water on Recollettenlei and Ajuinlei, turn left onto Jakobijnenstraat. Finally turn right onto Onderbergen and arrive at Het Pand.
Or by tram: exit the railway station from the main entrance and go to the left to find the large bus station, this is where tram line 1 leaves. Take the tram in direction of Evergem or Wondelgem and take the tram stop “Korenmarkt”. From there walk over the Sint-Michielsbrug (bridge over the water), turn left at Sint-Michielsplein (small square in front of Sint-Michielschurch) and continue in Onderbergen. Het Pand will be on your left.
The city center of Ghent is compact and many places are within walking distance of each other. There is also a good public transportation network available, consisting of 3 tram lines and numerous bus lines both operated by the company “De Lijn”. Tram lines 1 (the red one) and 4 (the green one) stop at “Korenmarkt” which is the stop you want to take to get to the conference venue. From there walk over the Sint-Michielsbrug (bridge over the water), turn left at Sint-Michielsplein (small square in front of Sint-Michielschurch) and continue in Onderbergen. Het Pand will be on your left.
For a map of the important bus and tram lines in Ghent click here
Tickets (valid for both tram or bus) should be bought before entering the bus/tram and need to be validated inside the bus/tram. Usually you cannot buy tickets from the driver but you need to buy them from a vending machine, press shop or “Lijnwinkel”! A ticket for one ride costs 3 euro. You can also buy 10-ride cards for 16 euro (not available at most vending machines). This card can also be shared; when riding with 2 persons the ticket needs to be validated twice. Day passes for 1, 3 or 5 days are also available. More information can be found here.
Follow the parking-route to the underground parking P7, “Sint-Michiels”. This parking is about 50 meter away from the conference venue.
Tickets for a full day (24 hours) are 23,50 euro. More information about pricing is available in Dutch.
Please note that you will have to make your own bookings. As the conference date falls within the touristic season, we strongly advice you not to wait too long to make your hotel reservation, since the occupancy rate could be high during this period.
More touristic information about Ghent is available in Dutch, English, French, German and Spanish.