The Belgian Coast

Belgium's entire coastline runs for about 65 kilometres, and a single tram line, the Kusttram, runs almost the whole of it from the French border at De Panne to the Dutch border at Knokke, which makes it the longest tram route in the world. That single fact shapes how the coast is used: you can get off at any of dozens of stops, walk on the sand, and pick up the next tram twenty minutes later. The beaches are broad, flat and sandy with a big tidal range, backed in places by apartment walls and in others by protected dunes. Ostend has the Mu.ZEE gallery and the legacy of James Ensor; De Haan kept its Belle Époque villas and avoided the towers; and the Zwin reserve at the eastern end is a tidal salt marsh important for birds.

What you actually see

• The Kusttram - riding the full coastal line end to end, roughly two and a half hours.
• De Haan - Belle Époque villas and the least developed of the resort towns.
• The Zwin nature reserve - tidal marsh and dunes at the Dutch border, strong for birds.
• Ostend - Mu.ZEE, the Ensor house and the working port and fish stalls.

When to go

May to September for swimming, though the North Sea is cold in any month. Spring and autumn are excellent for walking and birdwatching with the beaches almost empty. July and August fill the resorts with Belgian and Dutch holidaymakers.

Honest expectations

Much of the coast is walled with high-rise apartment blocks built in the 1960s and 1970s, and the result is functional rather than beautiful; the good stretches are between the towns. The sea is cold and often grey, and wind is a constant. The tram is frequent but gets extremely crowded in summer.

Nearby

Bruges is half an hour inland; the Dutch Zeeland coast continues east.