Cadzand-Bad

Cadzand-Bad sits on the last stretch of Dutch coast before the Belgian border in Zeelandic Flanders, with a wide beach, dunes and a marina built in the 2010s in the mouth of a former creek. It draws a heavily Belgian and German clientele - Bruges is closer than most of the Netherlands - and the resort has been substantially rebuilt with apartment blocks along the front, which divides opinion locally. What it is known for among beachcombers is fossils: the sand here is fed by dredging and by natural transport from older deposits offshore, and fossil shark teeth wash up in numbers, along with other Neogene material, so people walk the tideline with sieves and the local shops sell them. There is a nature reserve at the Verdronken Zwarte Polder and the Zwin, the cross-border tidal reserve, is a few kilometres into Belgium.

What you actually see

• Fossil shark teeth - washing up on the tideline in numbers and collected with sieves.
• A wide beach and dunes - the last Dutch stretch before the Belgian border.
• A rebuilt resort - apartment blocks along the front, which locals argue about.
• Cross-border reserves - the Zwin tidal area a few kilometres into Belgium.

When to go

April to September. A day.

Honest expectations

The North Sea is cold with rip currents - swim between the flags. Parking is charged and fills. The resort is heavily developed. Fossil finds depend on tides and recent dredging, so some days yield nothing.

Nearby

Sluis is south-east; Breskens and the Vlissingen ferry are north-east.