Ostend, Ferries and Ferry Crossings

Welcome to the Ostend (Belgium) section of FerryCrossings.org, the site for information about major UK and continental ports and the ferries between them. Our site includes an introduction to a number of ports and feature pages about the various crossing ways, lanes and routes and companies operating between them to help you plan your journey and discover interesting travel destinations along the way. You can even compare prices and save money on your ferry tickets with ads from selected major ferry lines.

Port of Ostend, Belgium

Ostend. Ostend is the largest Belgian city on her coast and is in West Flanders. It was already an important town by the mid 13th century when the inhabitants gained the right to hold a market and build a market hall. The primary source of income was from fishing. At the end of the 14th century the inhabitants of Ostend decided to re-site their town a little further inland and behind protective dykes (dikes). Although the dykes protected the town from the ravages of the North Sea they couldn't protect the town from invaders. The town held a strategic coastal position and, as such, attracted the wrong sort of attention. Ostend suffered invasion and destruction, leaving thousands of dead or wounded, in the 3-year Siege of Ostend between 1601 and 1604, (during the Eighty Years War of the late 16th and early 17th centuries) when the city was in Dutch rebel hands and fighting the might of the Spanish Empire. As the town slowly returned to a sembance of normality the importance of the harbour grew with it. A turning point in the history of the town came when it became a holiday destination for the Belgian Royal Family in the 19th century. There was a boom in the building of new and important buildings, houses and monuments. The Royal Family were soon followed by the rest of Belgium's great and influential families as they vied with each other for attention. As a result of this popularity it has a fine esplanade and pier to grace its beautiful sandy beaches.Today, windsurfing and kitesurfing are two of the resort activites which are the most popular.

Ostend is a pleasant seaside resort and port which has all the facilities that the visitor needs - good shops, good food, beaches, water sports, places to walk and explore and places to relax and watch the world go by. You can visit the 'Mercator', a Belgian Merchant Ship which has been converted into a maritime museum, or see the Museum of Modern Art which includes a collection of art works from the revolutionary members of the COBRA (COpenhagen, BRussels, Amsterdam) movement which came into being as a reaction against the French Surrealist movement in the late 1940s.