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Hidden gems in Nieuwpoort
Look beyond the beach and Nieuwpoort reveals quiet places with a story of their own.
- Locks like a goose foot: in the inner harbour of Nieuwpoort, the IJzer, three watercourses and two canals meet at the Ganzepoot, a lock complex whose six arms resemble a goose foot. In late October 1914 Hendrik Geeraert and Fernand Ume opened the Veurne-Ambacht sluices here. The water flooded the IJzer plain and halted the German advance.
- A quiet British cemetery: just outside the centre, on the road to Sint-Joris, lies Ramscappelle Road Military Cemetery. Designed by Edwin Lutyens, it holds over 840 casualties of the First World War, more than 300 of them never identified. In 1917 British troops held the front line here for several months.
- The resort's church: on the Sint-Bernardusplein in Nieuwpoort-Bad stands the neo-Romanesque Sint-Bernarduskerk, designed in 1923 by Pierre Vandervoort to replace a church from 1877. Inside are a seventeenth century wooden statue of Saint Roch and confessionals from the mid eighteenth century, while the sculptures on the west front are by Oscar Jespers.
Practical tips
These tips help you get even more out of your visit to Nieuwpoort.
- Tides: plan a beach walk or a bike ride along the coast with the tide table.
- The weather: the weather page shows the forecast and hours of sunshine for the coming days.
- By bike: most sights are easy to reach by bike.
» View our complete 'see & do' list with many more museums, attractions, monuments and other places of interest.