Lange Nelle Lighthouse

Lange Nelle (“Long Nelly”) is Ostend’s lighthouse and the symbol of the city, a slender white tower with a blue wave pattern on the east bank of the harbour. It is 57.5 metres tall, its light shines 65 metres above the sea, and there are 324 steps to the top. The present tower dates from 1947 and has been in service since 1949; it was restored and painted in its blue-and-white pattern in 1994, and it has been a protected monument since 2004.

It is the latest in a line of lighthouses. Ostend had a light on the dike from 1771, a 60-metre tower from 1861 that was destroyed in 1915, and a concrete tower from the 1920s that the retreating German army blew up in September 1944. Today the light is operated by the Flemish Agency for Maritime Services and Coast. It gives three white flashes every ten seconds and can be seen about 27 nautical miles out to sea.

The lighthouse is not open to visitors, so this is a sight to enjoy from outside. The best views are from the end of the West Pier and the Visserskaai across the harbour channel, or close up from the Hendrik Baelskaai. The easiest way to get there from the centre is the free harbour ferry from the Visserskaai to the east bank, a crossing of a few minutes, and you can combine it with Fort Napoleon and the dunes.