Find places to eat, things to do and local favourites for your stay by the sea.
Selected by Ostend City Guide
Restaurant
Centre
A Thai restaurant on the Vlaanderenstraat in central Ostend: curries, Pad Thai and stir-fries to eat in, take away or have delivered.
Cocktail bar
Lively cocktail and tapas bar by the Kursaal, with tropical and tiki cocktails, late-night sharing plates, pasta and resident DJs.
Mariakerke
Seafood restaurant on the Zeedijk in Mariakerke with a sea-view terrace, owner-chef Jan Liebrechts and homemade shrimp croquettes.
Attraction
Raversijde
Open-air museum in the dunes with more than 60 bunkers, gun positions and tunnels from both world wars, on Prince Charles’ former estate.
Art
The painter James Ensor’s home and studio, kept as he left it, with an interactive visitor centre on his masks, carnival and Ostend.
Sport & activities
Oosteroever
About 1,000 m² of trampolines on the east bank, with foam pits, dodgeball, basketball hoops, a ball pit and a toddler zone.
Hotel
Large holiday hotel on the Mariakerke promenade with rooms and apartments, buffet restaurants, an indoor pool, a kids’ play village and the tram outside.
Station quarter
New hotel in the Sky District by the station, opened in 2025, with a 1970s soul-and-funk look, a dance-floor bar and a terrace for every room.
Campsite
Campsite behind the dunes on Ostend’s western edge, with touring pitches, static caravans to rent, a café-brasserie and a children’s playground.
28Mar
Exhibition
Seafront (Zeedijk)
28 Mar – 3 Jan 2027
10:00–17:30
About 100 works trace 150 years of small sculpture in Belgium, from Art Deco statuettes to Wim Delvoye, at Mu.ZEE on the seafront until 3 January 2027.
16May
16 May – 9 Nov 2026
10:00–18:00
A small exhibition at Ostend’s City Museum on Paster Pype, the priest remembered as the father of the fishermen, with unseen photographs. Until 9 November.
