Getaways to the sea less than three hours from Paris: Ostend, the Belgian seaside resort not to be missed

Do not stop in Brussels. Not even in Bruges, the “Venice of the North”. However, it would be easy and even logical, but the train still travels a quarter of an hour to the sea, to Ostend. Less than three hours from Paris, and yet so far. “Oostende good evening”, as sings Arno, but hello to understand a single word of Flemish. This is part of the charm: the change of scenery is almost accelerated, here in “Ost-End”, at the very end of the East. That of the northern beaches.