What to bring home from Ostend

The best souvenirs from Ostend (Oostende) are the ones you can eat, or the ones that quietly say “the sea” without a cartoon seagull on them. The town makes its own sweets and chocolate, the fish market and the regional-food shops give you something genuinely local, and a couple of shops turn the lighthouse and the coast into things you can actually keep. This is our pick of what is worth the suitcase space, and where to buy it.

We have left out the fridge magnets and the mass-made tat. Everything here comes from a real Ostend shop; prices and ranges were checked in October 2026. If you are flying, remember that sealed sweets and jarred or tinned food travel far better than anything fresh.

At a glance

Edible souvenirs

Babelutten — the coast sweet. If you buy one thing, make it a bag of babelutten, the butter toffees that belong to the Belgian coast. Moeder Babelutte, on the Adolf Buylstraat, sells them alongside nougat, cuberdons and old-fashioned sweets, often in gift jars shaped like mussel pots. It is the souvenir that tastes specifically of a seaside holiday rather than of Belgium in general.

Sea-themed Belgian chocolate. For chocolate actually made in Ostend, go to Olivier Willems on the Groentemarkt. The Ensor box turns James Ensor’s carnival masks into four pralines, and the PoppoLou Rocks praline is built around a local beer with a pinch of sea salt — both a cut above a generic box. For the full run-down of the town’s chocolate shops, see our guide to Belgian chocolate in Ostend.

A taste of the fishing town. Deschildre Streekproducten, at the Vismijn on the Oosteroever, is the place for Flemish regional food, and its seaweed charcuterie is about as local as an edible souvenir gets. Jars and vacuum-packed charcuterie travel well; grey shrimp and fresh fish from the Vistrap do not, though the stalls along the Visserskaai sell smoked and dried fish that will survive the journey.

Pick-and-mix for the kids. For a bag of sweets to keep small travellers happy, Candy Shop on the Vlaanderenstraat scoops liquorice, fruit sweets and nougat by the kilo.

Souvenirs to keep

Lighthouse ceramics. De Pottery, in the covered Ensorgalerij, sells plates and mugs with an Ostend lighthouse on them — a keepsake with a bit of the city in it, and more use than a magnet.

A book or some postcards. For a slower souvenir, the small independent bookshop De Witte Zee, near the Kursaal, is good for postcards and the odd book; postcards remain the cheapest, lightest souvenir there is.

A proper gift. If you want something for someone at home, LILY on the Hertstraat has spent more than a decade selling European fashion and interior brands, and is a reliable stop for a present that is not obviously a souvenir at all.

Buying tips

• Think about the journey. Sealed sweets, jarred and tinned regional food and chocolate (in the cooler months) all travel well; fresh fish and grey shrimp do not.
• Buy late. Pick up edible souvenirs near the end of your stay so they spend less time in a warm bag or hotel room.
• No customs fuss within the EU. Travelling to another EU country, you can take food and drink home for personal use without paperwork; if you are heading further afield, check your own country’s rules on bringing in food.
• Where to find them. Most of these shops are in or just off the main shopping streets, so a souvenir run folds neatly into a walk down Ostend’s shopping streets or a morning at the markets.