Погода: Гент, май

Ask about May here and regulars answer with two Mays: one year it is 25C and sunny, the next it rains most of the month and never passes 15C. Our row sits between them and nearer the cautious end - 16.3C reading as 14C in a 21.6 kph wind off the coast, nights at 11C, and 51.1mm of rain across 9.9 days. That argues for a hooded waterproof rather than an umbrella you have to hold in the wind. The other May warning is the calendar: the Procession of the Holy Blood is held on Ascension Day, which usually falls in this month, and the town fills completely for it, so check the year and book early or come a week either side. The record: humidity 75 percent, 11.8 hours of sun and AQI 48.

Forum posters describe February in Belgium as similar to November - cold, wet and often bleak - though one visitor's specific trip reported it wasn't too cold and had no rain, just persistently gray skies without a single sunny stretch. Posters generally flag February as probably the single most likely month for snow, if any falls at all, in a typical Belgian winter. Posters comparing Ghent and Bruges as winter bases describe Ghent as more of a living, working city than the more overtly tourist-oriented Bruges, a distinction that shapes atmosphere more than weather. Posters generally rate February as cold, damp and gray for Ghent, workable with warm layers and the expectation that sunny days will be the exception rather than the rule.

Forum regulars call Belgian August weather genuinely hard to predict - it might hit 30C, or it might be 15C and raining, and posters are clear that rain poses a bigger risk to a trip than heat does. Early August gets a specific recommendation: many shops and restaurants close in late July, so the first couple weeks of August are quieter and pleasant, landing about two weeks after the huge, crowded Gentse Feesten festival (the third week of July). Crowds and tourism generally thin out as the month goes on, so late August offers a second, different kind of quiet window.