Out and about with the kids

There is plenty to do for families with young children in Zeeuws Vlaanderen. From larger amusement parks such as Plopsaland to lots of fun, small-scale activities in the area.

Here are our tips. Scroll down for more information.

Looking for seals with a shipping company De Festijn in Breskens

Groede Podium in Groede (free of charge)

Sea Life in Blankenberghe

Plopsaland Belgium in De Panne

Ostrich farm Sluis

Searching shark teeth

Catching small crabs in the Verdronken Zwarte Polder

Take the ferry to Vlissingen and visit the reptile zoo Iguana

Pick-your-own garden in Aardenburg

Knokkertpath in Erasmus forest

Star observatory in Brugge

Scroll down for more information!

Seal safari

Tip number 1: from Breskens, you can book a boat trip with De Festijn shipping company to go in search of seals in the Westerschelde. There are no guarantees, but you almost always see them. And the boat often gets very close. Great fun!

Be sure to book this excursion when the weather is nice, as the boat is mostly open. And make sure you book online in advance at www.defestijn.nl, as the safaris are almost always fully booked. It is therefore rarely possible to just drive to the harbour on the off chance.

Sea Life Blankenberghe

A tip for when the weather is less favourable, as this attraction is largely indoors.

You will find spectacular aquariums with North Sea fish, piranhas, rays and even sharks. Outside, you can see penguins and otters. They also regularly take in “cryers”, abandoned baby seals found on the beach. Of course, you have to be lucky to find them in the shelter. When the weather is dry, you can enjoy yourself on the pirate-themed mini golf course.

Check www.visitsealife.com/blankenberghe for more information.

Star observatory Brugge

The observatory in Bruges is also open to visitors and it's mainly indoors

Discover the wonderful world of the universe, the solar system, planets and black holes.

Visit www.cozmix.be for more information.

Groede Podium

Groede Podium is a fun and interesting place to visit. And it's free, too.

Groede Podium is a remaining Nazi bunker village. During the war, the Nazis painted windows and doors on the bunkers, leading the Allies to believe it was a civilian village. Today, it has been turned into an information and play park. You can wander in and between the bunkers and read about the Second World War. The paintings can still be seen here and there.

Children will have a great time, because in addition to the bunkers and playground equipment, there is also a drift kart track, an animal pasture and several trampolines.

Plopsaland Belgium

Okay, it's still a good hour's drive away. But if your children are big fans of Kabouter Plop, Bumba, Mega Mindy and all the other heroes from Studio 100, then Camping De Meulinge is relatively close by.

For children, it's one big party of recognition.

www.plopsa.com

Ostrich farm Sluis

Not the first animals you would expect to find in Zeeuws Vlaanderen. But in Sluis, we do indeed have an ostrich farm. And it is very nicely set up. In 2024, it was even voted the best day out in Zeeland.

Check the website for tour times: www.destruisvogel.nl

Searching for shark teeth at the beach

Did you know that you can find real shark teeth on the beach between Nieuwvliet and Retranchement? How cool is that? Admittedly, you are most likely to find them after a huge storm when there are few tourists around, but shark teeth are found throughout the year.

To prevent the beaches between Nieuwvliet and Cadzand from becoming too narrow, sand is regularly sucked up from the Westerschelde and sprayed onto the beach. This completely turns over the top layers of the soil, allowing shark teeth and other fossils to wash ashore.

Would you like to go looking for shark teeth? Please note: it is best to search at low tide in the strip where the shells have gathered and look for black shark teeth. Shark teeth absorb the surrounding minerals in the soil and change from a whitish tooth colour to a deeper colour, usually black, grey or brown. The fossilisation process takes at least 10,000 years, although some shark teeth can be up to a million years old! Good luck...!

Catching small crabs

Between Nieuwvliet and Cadzand, you will find the Verdronken Zwarte Polder nature reserve. The salt marshes are flooded by seawater only a few times a year, while the mud flats are flooded daily. That is why there are wooden boardwalks across the mud flats. Under the boardwalk, often near the posts, you can often see crabs. Or they are hidden in the sand, of course. Children love catching crabs.

All you need is a piece of string, a weight (e.g. a nut) and a clothes peg. Attach the weight and the clothes peg to the end of the string. Put something tasty in the clothes peg, such as a piece of ham, a peeled prawn or something else that crabs like. Lower the clothes peg into the water where you have spotted crabs. When the crab takes the treat, pull the string up. Please note: always lift the crab carefully by its shell. That way, it cannot reach your fingers.

Of course, you should always release the crabs you catch. You can release them a few metres from the water's edge and see which crab reaches the water first.

Visit Iguana

For a fun day out, you can visit the Iguana reptile rescue centre in Vlissingen. First, you have to take the ferry across the Westerschelde, because Iguana is located in Vlissingen, on “the other side”.

During the summer season, the ferry departs from Breskens every half hour. It is a bicycle and pedestrian ferry, so you cannot take your car on board. When you arrive in Vlissingen, it is about 2 km to the centre of Vlissingen. You can walk, of course, but with small children it is better to ask the first bus driver you see which bus you need to take. There are several buses from the ferry to the centre.

Iguana is the largest reptile zoo/rehabilitation centre in Europe and there is plenty to see. From colourful salamanders to turtles, from snakes to caimans.

www.iguana.nl

Pick your own garden Aardenburg

The Flikweert family's fruit farm is located in Aardenburg. You can put together your own bouquet in the enormous flower garden, which covers no less than 2,000 square metres. There are flowers of all kinds, sizes and colours. Children can decorate their own vase, which they can then use to display their bouquet. The farm also regularly organises various workshops.

In autumn, you can also pick fruit to your own taste.

Check the picking garden's website for more information.

Erasmus forest

The Knokkertpad in the Erasmus Forest is located between Nieuwvliet and Cadzand, about 2 to 3 km from the campsite. The forest was planted around the old farmstead of farmer David Erasmus, a farmer who did not like new agricultural techniques. He transferred his land to Staatsbosbeheer (the Dutch Forestry Commission) in 1971. Thanks to his old-fashioned management style, this farmer left behind many old agricultural landscape features, such as ash coppice woods, hawthorn hedges and old cattle drinking troughs.

People who live in a wooded area themselves may not be impressed by those few hectares of forest. But Staatsbosbeheer has created a very nice trail where children can discover all kinds of things: what can you hear in the forest when you are quiet? Can you climb like a spider?

If you are cycling with your family towards Cadzand/Sluis, this is a nice place to stop.