Sluis

Belfries - civic bell towers standing separate from the church, symbols of a town's independence from lord and bishop - are a Flemish institution, and the UNESCO listing covers dozens of them in Belgium and northern France. Sluis has the only one in the Netherlands, which follows from its position: it was part of the Flemish urban world, an outport of Bruges with its own town rights from 1290, and it kept the tower when the border eventually fell here. The building was destroyed in 1944 and rebuilt in the 1950s, so the fabric is modern. The rest of Sluis was flattened at the same time, so the town is postwar apart from fragments of wall and a windmill. What it does now is retail: it sits three kilometres from the Belgian border and Belgians come across in numbers to shop, so the streets are lined with shops and it is busy on weekends.

What you actually see

• The only Dutch belfry - a Flemish civic tower on the wrong side of the border.
• Rebuilt after 1944 - the tower and the town destroyed and reconstructed.
• A cross-border shopping town - Belgians crossing three kilometres to buy here.
• Fragments of wall and a mill - what survived the destruction of the old town.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Almost the entire town is 1950s rebuilding. It is a shopping destination first and crowded at weekends. The belfry keeps seasonal hours. Bruges is closer than most of the Netherlands.

Nearby

Bruges is south-east across the border; Breskens and the ferry are north.