Hello.
I am planning 5 nights in Belgium, after a stay in the Netherlands, before flying home from Brussels, and am looking for a home base with easy rail access for daytrips to Bruges and Brussels. I am interested in art, architecture, history and gardens.

I was planning to stay in Antwerp, but I keep hearing about all the construction there, so I'm concerned about that being a disruption and/or annoyance in the city center. I'm considering Ghent as an alternative. If anyone has any information on the impact to central Antwerp or recommendations, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks, in advance.

We just went in September. Stayed in Brussels, Bruges and Antwerp (with a day trip to Ghent). The construction in Antwerp was really not an annoyance, but it certainly cut into the charm factor. Ghent would be better as far as ambiance. That said, we really enjoyed the museums in Antwerp, and dined at the best restaurant of our entire trip (twice). We kind of made short shrift of Ghent with only a few hours there (Ghent altarpiece a must), so not sure about art and museums there. As far as train convenience, Ghent is about an hour shorter train trip to Bruges (which we loved) than Antwerp. Here is my trip below if that helps (recently finished Belgium part). Lots of photos.

https://travelswithmaitaitom.com/belgium-france-2024/

Ghent makes quite a good base, although they have been having construction work there too. I have not been there myself for quite a while so I don't know whether they are close to finishing yet, but most of the work is on the tram lines to the station. But I was going to say that in Ghent you have a choice of staying in the town or staying at the station, which is a 25 minute walk from the town. Both have their pros and cons (for instance, restaurants are in town). But if you want easy access to Brussels and Bruges then I would probably stay near the station (which is fine, many cities the station is not nice but in Ghent it's OK). Perhaps a Fodorite who has seen the construction work can give their opinion here.

Lavandula

Thank you very much for the input. It is greatly appreciated.

As pointed out by Lavandula, if you want to stay in Ghent, you'll have to make a choice between staying in the city center or around the railway station.
I am not aware of 'big construction works' in Antwerp (was there a few days ago). There will always be construction works going on, anywhere in Belgium, but that doesn't need to affect tourists.
Antwerp ticks all the boxes of your interests, and the historic centre is pretty close to the station which is elected one of the most beautiful train stations in the world.
Train connections are excellent and trains run very frequently, whether you start in Antwerp, Ghent or Brussels.

Thank you, @MyriamC. After further consideration, I'm going to stick with Antwerp. I agree that it seems to tick all my boxes for this solo trip.
thanks, again

Have you seen the recent article in the New York Times?
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...o-antwerp.html

Near the Grote Markt was our best restaurant of the trip ... Restaurant ‘t Hofke. Grab a table on their lovely courtyard.

Two wonderful museums we visited were Museum-Plantin Morentus and Museum Mayer van den Bergh (and, of course, KMSKA)