Bathing cities

Holidays by the sea

For a holiday by the North Sea, you don't have to make a big trip. Those who visit the coast immediately notice how quickly everything feels different. Together, the Belgian and Dutch coasts form a long strip where people like to go for beach, sea and space. You stay close to home and yet it feels like a real break from your usual rhythm. A few days are enough to catch your breath.

Most popular seaside resorts in Belgium and the Netherlands

Along this coastline are seaside towns, each attracting their own crowd. On the Belgian side, you will find Ostend, Nieuwpoort, Knokke-Heist and De Haan. On the Dutch side, Zandvoort, Scheveningen, Noordwijk, Egmond aan Zee and Domburg are popular choices. Around the border, places like Sluis and Cadzand are also popping up, attracting many visitors as they are easily accessible from Belgium and easy to combine with a day by the sea. In all these towns are hotels that cater to a variety of ways to spend the night by the sea. Some travellers choose a hotel close to the beach. Others seek a place from which they can quickly walk, cycle or visit a nearby village. The coast makes those choices easy.

A stay by the sea fills itself without effort. You can spend a morning on the beach, take a walk along the dyke or plan a trip to a nature reserve such as the Zwin. Those heading towards the Netherlands can just as easily combine that with a visit to Sluis, a stop on the boulevard of Scheveningen or a walk through the dunes of Cadzand. This creates a holiday that doesn't need tight planning. You choose a seaside town, you choose a hotel, and what follows automatically adapts to your pace.