Ostend

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Lighthouse on the coast of the North Sea in a sunny day, Belgium

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Overview

Ostend is the largest city on the Belgian Coast and its only truly year-round destination. Along its wide white-sand beach is a spacious promenade surveyed by an interesting mix of midrise architecture atop cosy seafront cafes with glassed-in terraces.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

St-Petrus-&-Pauluskerk

Ostend

Ostend’s most striking historical building features beautifully ornate twin spires, a rose window and a gloomy neo-Gothic interior. It was consecrated on…

Fort Napoleon

Ostend

The impenetrable, pentagon-shaped Fort Napoleon is an unusually intact fortress dating from 1812, though there’s comparatively little to see inside. The…

Atlantikwall Raversyde

Ostend

The gripping Atlantikwall is a remarkably extensive complex of WWI and WWII bunkers, gun emplacements and linking brick tunnels created by occupying…

Belle Epoque-weg

Ostend

This lesser-known residential part of Ostend was once in ill repute, but savvy homebuyers have recently snapped up its wealth of utterly charming art…

Stadsmuseum

Ostend

One might expect this museum, occupying a house that hosted Napoleon in 1798 and Belgian royals from 1834–1850, to be a little more grandiose and exciting…

Anno 1465

Ostend

Once a vibrant fishing village, Walraversijde disappeared entirely following the strife of 1600 to 1604, leaving mere foundations. Today the…

Statue of Marvin Gaye

Ostend

Soul superstar Marvin Gaye wrote his last hit, 'Sexual Healing', in 1981 while living in Ostend. His residency is marked by a wildly tacky statue of the…