Today I took advantage of the good weather and the holiday and decided to take my chance at the Belgian beaches. I went by train to Duinbergen (direct trains from Brussels every hour, journey takes 1h30) and checked the beach there. First impression: it is great! Not too different from the Portuguese beaches. I confess I was a little surprised because I expected it to be somehow different, but it is actually quite similar. Even the town itself reminded me of other Portuguese coastal towns.
We then rented a bike (there's plenty of bike shops along the main avenue which rent not only bikes, but also go cars) and first went north to Knokke and then south to Heist. I liked Knokke better: lots of people walking near the sea, several private beaches, cafes, restaurants, lots of movement and a general mood of enjoying the sunny day. You have a bike lane along the beach that leads you to a natural park (right in the border between Belgium and The Netherlands!), where you can walk or ride a horse. Lots of people there as well with their caravans enjoying their lunch.
It was a great daytrip to do from Brussels and a place I really recommend to take a stroll in a good weather day, specially to get out of the busy city life and enjoy the fresh air with the outdoor activities. I would love to be able to swim in the North Sea, so let's hope for some hot weather in July for me to comeback!
Great post! The only thing I would say you need to add to this is the sheer expense of Knokke - it is very expensive there. So if you are poor, and don't want to pay at least 20€ for food, take a packed lunch!
ReplyDeleteGood tip! I didn't check the prices because indeed I went prepared with sandwiches ;)
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