I remember asking my seat-mate on my first flight to Belgium about the country's beaches. He smirked and acknowledged that although Belgium did have a coastline, it wasn't worth my time to visit. But the day I sat for 5 hours on the highway heading north from Brussels going nowhere I stared at the sign pointing to Oostende, a coastal town, and wondered exactly what it must look like - at that point the end of the highway was like a bright light at the end of a long dark tunnel (see Summer Vacations post).
So I turned to the trusty internet for some Google images and learned that the 40 miles of oceanfront included some varying towns and cities. Oostende, my original search, looked like your typical European, cement high-rise beach front with lots of white people crowding the sand. On the other side, Knokke Heist, was supposed to be the West Palm Beach town of Belgium. Somewhere in the middle had to be surf, sand, ice cream and kids riding bicycles and building sandcastles.
Turns out that place was called De Haan and it was even much better than we expected. One main street with brightly painted, wooden buildings housing stores (open on Sundays!), snack shops and bike rentals. We parked easily for free right by the beach and spent a few hours watching our kids run around with all the blond Belgian and Dutch kids wearing sweatshirts to protect from the wind on the expansive sandy field. The tide was far out and small pools of water warmed in the bright sun. The kids had a blast playing in the sand and collecting shells. We took turns closing our eyes, lying in the sun in a perfectly comfortable 72 degrees and enjoying this last glimpse of a Belgian summer.
Did I mention this place was only one hour from Brussels?! We'll be back when the sun returns next year!
