Attractions

With its Albert I Promenade and Zeedijk, which together form a kind of Boardwalk, along with its casino and beaches, Ostend is the nearest thing Belgium has to Atlantic City. But there's culture here, too, in notable art museums and links with modern artists. The long beach west of the harbor has stretches that are under lifeguard surveillance in summer from 10:30am to 6:30pm, and some stretches where swimming is not permitted at any time. Look for the signs that indicate both of these, and for the green, yellow, or red flags that tell you whether the sea conditions permit swimming.

Musical Notes -- Through the summer, carillon peals ring out periodically from the belfry tower of the Stedelijk Feest- en Kultuurpaleis (Municipal Festival and Culture Palace) on Wapenplein, and there are concerts at the painted wrought-iron bandstand (1895) on the square.

Leisure Attractions

Belgium's largest casino, Casino Oostende, Oosthelling (tel. 059/70-51-11; www.cko.be), has gaming rooms for roulette, blackjack, craps, and stud poker, along with slot machines. There's been a casino at this spot since 1852, but the elegant original was unlucky enough to occupy a prime spot for a concrete bunker in Adolf Hitler's Atlantic Wall seacoast defenses -- you might think the restored 1953 postmodern replacement isn't much of an improvement over the bunker. The gaming rooms are open daily (minimum age 21) from 3pm to 7am. Admission is free and a passport or identity card is required.

The Wellington Renbaan (Wellington Racetrack), Koningin Astridlaan (tel. 059/80-60-55), close to the Royal Arcades, is the only racetrack on the seacoast. A post-World War II successor to an 1856 original, it has a grass track for flat and hurdle racing and a lava track for the trotters. Racing takes place May to September; call for race times (the tourist office can furnish a detailed schedule). Admission to grandstand seats is 12€ ($15) Monday to Friday, and 15€ ($19) on weekends and holidays; admission to the field opposite the grandstand is free.

Royal Ostend

Made fashionable by King Léopold I's decision to establish a vacation residence here in 1834, Ostend soon became a magnet for blue-blooded vacationers from Britain and the Continent. You can view remnants of this vanished glory scattered around town. The Venetiaanse Gaanderijen (Venetian Galleries), now an exhibits hall, is on the seafront Albert I Promenade. The Koninklijke Gaanderijen (Royal Galleries), 400m (1,300 ft.) long, from 1906, constructed under Léopold II's tutelage, connected the Royal Villa with the racetrack. These galleries protected the king and his entourage from sun, wind, and rain during their promenades. In 1930, the Thermae Palace was constructed at its center.

At the entrance to Venetian Galleries stands a sympathetic bronze sculpture (2000) of King Baudouin (1951-93). When compared with the resort's haughty sculptures of King Léopold I (1831-65) and King Léopold II (1865-1909), it shows how times have changed for the royal family. Léopold I, the first king of the Belgians, adopts a heroic nationalistic pose in an equestrian sculpture on Léopold I Plein, and Léopold II, a pompous imperialistic pose in an equestrian sculpture on the seafront Zeedijk at the Venetian Galleries . Baudouin, the "people's king," is depicted strolling in Ostend, wearing a raincoat.

The summer residence of Léopold I, a surprisingly ordinary-looking town house at Langestraat 69, abandoned by the royals and fallen into a crestfallen state, has been restored and now houses the Ostend Historical Museum. Its 1954 waterfront replacement as the Royal Villa, close to the Casino, later became the plush Oostendse Compagnie Hotel, which closed in 2005, and the building now is privately owned.

Léopold II earned a reputation for allowing the royal libido free rein. He supposedly stashed one of his mistresses, a Hungarian baroness, at the grand Villa Maritza, Albert I Promenade 76, one of a group of three surviving 19th-century waterfront villas, now the upscale eponymous restaurant.

The vast, neo-Gothic Sint-Petrus-en Pauluskerk (St. Peter and Paul Church), from 1907, on Sint-Petrus-en-Paulusplein, has a suite of stained-glass windows and a memorial chapel dedicated to Belgium's first queen, Marie-Louise of Orléans, who died in Ostend in 1850.

Marine Themes

There's plenty of sea-related stuff to see and do in Ostend. Kids will likely appreciate a ramble through the Driemaster Mercator (Three-Master Mercator), Mercatordok (tel. 059/70-56-54), moored in a dock facing the rail station. Formerly a Belgian merchant marine training ship, the Mercator, a white-painted, three-masted schooner, is now a floating maritime museum. The ship is open May, June, and September, daily from 9am to noon and 1 to 6pm; July and August, daily from 9am to 7pm; April to June and September, daily from 10am to 1pm and 2 to 6pm; and October to March, weekends and holidays from 11am to 1pm and 2 to 5pm. Admission is 3.50€ ($4.40) for adults, 2.75€ ($3.45) for seniors, 1.60€ ($2) for children ages 5 to 14, and free for children under 5.

Another worthwhile old sea dog is the Museumschip (Museum Ship) Amandine, Vindictive-laan 35Z (tel. 059/23-43-01; www.museum-amandine.be). Launched in 1961, the trawler was the last Ostend IJslandvaarder (Iceland Fishing Boat) to work the rich Iceland fishing grounds. She now sits in a dry basin on a plastic "sea," as a museum of the history and traditions of Ostend's Icelandic fishery. The ship can be visited Monday from 2 to 7pm, and Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 7pm. Admission is 2.50€ ($3.15) for adults, and 1.25€ ($1.55) for children under 14.

Though popular with children, the small Noordzeeaquarium (North Sea Aquarium), Visserskaai (tel. 059/50-08-76), by the old fishing harbor, is not exactly riveting. It features North Sea flora and fauna, including fish, mollusks, crustaceans, polyps, anemones, and shell and seaweed collections. The aquarium is open April to September, daily from 10am to noon and 2 to 6pm, and October to March, weekends from 10am to noon and 2 to 6pm. Admission is 2€ ($2.50) for adults, and 1.40€ ($1.75) for children under 14.

You need to be up early to watch the stands at the Vistrap (Fish Market) on Visserskaai being loaded up with North Sea fish fresh off the boats from the previous night's catch. Sole, plaice, whiting, cod, bream, brill, eels, and shrimps are the main species on view and for sale.