Westvleteren works well as a base: 10 minutes from Reninge, 44km from Koninklijke Baan Coast Road.
Westvleteren is in Flanders, Belgium, with about 1,200 people. You drive on the right here. The nearest town is Reninge, about 6 km away.
Westvleteren is a village in the province of West Flanders, Belgium. It is a section of the municipality of Vleteren. The core of it is a linear settlement along the N321 road.
Westvleteren is primarily known for the Westvleteren Brewery (Dutch: Brouwerij Westvleteren), a brewery founded in 1838 inside the TrappistRead more Abbey of Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren. Its beers have often been rated best in the entire world. The current brewing capacity is roughly 500,000 cases per year. While taste is highly subjective and individual, some international beer drinkers consider the Westvleteren 12 to be among their favourite beers. The majority of members of BeerAdvocate and RateBeer, two beer rating websites, consistently rate the Westvleteren 12 as their most enjoyable beer; the 8 and the Blonde also rank highly on both sites.
The parish and the church were named after Saint Martin of Tours. The Saint Martin Church (Dutch: Sint-Martinuskerk) is of late Gothic style with Romanesque components, and is a protected building.
The abbey café opposite Saint-Sixtus monastery in Westvleteren: effectively the only place on earth to reliably drink Westvleteren 12, long rated the world's best beer, at the source with a slab of abbey cheese.
4 km · about 5 min drive
museum
In Flanders Fields Museum
Set in Ypres' rebuilt Cloth Hall, this museum tells the harrowing story of the WWI Western Front trenches.
15 km · about 25 min drive
landmark
Menin Gate
A vast memorial arch bearing 54,000 names of the missing, where the Last Post sounds every evening at eight.
15 km · about 30 min drive
beach
De Panne Beach
Belgium's widest sandy beach, famous for land-yachting and bordering the wild Westhoek dunes near the French border.
21 km · about 25 min drive
landmark
Vieux Lille
Lively old quarter of Flemish brick gables and grand squares, the cultural capital of the French north.
40 km · about 45 min drive
coastal drive
Koninklijke Baan Coast Road
The N34 'Royal Road' hugs nearly the whole Belgian coast, sharing its corridor with the world's longest tram line and passing Belle Epoque De Haan, dunes and beach resorts.
44 km · about 50 min drive
landmark
Bruges Markt
The medieval heart of Bruges, where the climbable Belfry tower looms over a square of stepped-gable guild houses.
47 km · about 55 min drive
film location
Belfry of Bruges (In Bruges)
The 83m medieval belfry that Ray climbs and falls from in the climax of In Bruges.
47 km · about 55 min drive
Driving roads near Westvleteren
44 kmKoninklijke Baan Coast RoadThe N34 'Royal Road' hugs nearly the whole Belgian coast, sharing its corridor with the world's longest tram line and passing Belle Epoque De Haan, dunes and beach resorts.
71 kmCap Blanc-NezDazzling white chalk cliffs on the Opal Coast with views across the Channel to England on clear days.
80 kmCap Gris-NezThe closest point in France to England, a windswept headland of cliffs, lighthouse and migrating birds.