Mercator

Ostend


This fully rigged, three-masted 1932 sailing ship was once used for Belgian Navy training purposes and is now a nautical museum that hosts changing exhibitions. The 36m-long Icelandic fishing trawler Amandine is moored permanently nearby and can also be visited.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Ostend attractions

1. St-Petrus-&-Pauluskerk

0.19 MILES

Ostend’s most striking historical building features beautifully ornate twin spires, a rose window and a gloomy neo-Gothic interior. It was consecrated on…

2. Mu.Zee

0.25 MILES

Mu.Zee, Ostend’s foremost gallery, features predominantly local artists. There’s a significant collection by symbolist painter Léon Spilliaert (1881–1946)…

3. Museumschip Amandine

0.25 MILES

The last Ostend trawler to have fished around Iceland (1970s) is brought to life with waxwork figures, videos and sound effects. Highlights include the…

4. Stadsmuseum

0.45 MILES

One might expect this museum, occupying a house that hosted Napoleon in 1798 and Belgian royals from 1834–1850, to be a little more grandiose and exciting…

5. Statue of Marvin Gaye

0.46 MILES

Soul superstar Marvin Gaye wrote his last hit, 'Sexual Healing', in 1981 while living in Ostend. His residency is marked by a wildly tacky statue of the…

6. Marien Ecologisch Centrum

0.5 MILES

This educational operation has a little one-room collection of seashells and sand that you can examine under the microscope.

7. Belle Epoque-weg

0.57 MILES

This lesser-known residential part of Ostend was once in ill repute, but savvy homebuyers have recently snapped up its wealth of utterly charming art…

8. Shinkaitei Tuin

0.58 MILES

Evolving since 2001, architect Takashi Sawano has faithfully reproduced a Japanese garden just blocks from Ostend's seashore. Come to wander through its…