Breskens is a lovely coastal town in the south of the Netherlands. It has a wide beach, some lovely nature surrounding it and a few great places to eat. The coast of Zeeland is very close to most Belgian cities & towns in Oost-Vlaanderen & Antwerpen, and if you ask us a more relaxed option compared to the busy coast of Belgium. Though there are plenty of options to stay a few nights, the are is also worth a daytrip.
We visit Breskens a lot. Since we are traveling with a 9 year old, we took a look around to discover the best places to go to with your children.
Though you can easily entertain your children with outdoor activities such as building a sandcastle or jumping over waves, there are also a lot of options in the area to entertain them a bit further.
- Beach pavilions
You can find big stretches of beach all along the coast of Zeeland. The beach at Breskens is quite picturesque, with a lovely lighthouse. One of the best things with children are the beach pavilions you’ll find all along the coastline. They are tearooms / restaurants, and the ideal spot to locate your beach afternoon. If the weather is hot, refreshments and a toilet are always near. And what about taking an aperitive with some snacks on one of the porches, while watching your kids play in the sand below, followed by a lovely meal? We have spent many cosy evenings with friends doing so.
Febe enjoying some mussels at Loods Tien.
Excellent seafood salad at Loods Tien.
The playground in front of Breskens Aan Zee.
It’s hard to tell which beach house you should go to. Our favourite is probably Loods Tien, because of the excellent food and the more mediterranean atmosphere on warm summer nights. Breskens Aan Zee is also a good option, with a lovely beach playground for the children and an excellent menu as well. And at Halve Maentje you can go for a high tea (not during July / August though, and you have to make a reservation one day in front). Just try them all 🙂
- Groede Podium
On a convenient bike ride from our holiday home, this outdoor play paradise is ideal to spend an afternoon, or even a full day. The large grounds are dotted with several play options: large bunkers (dating back from the second world war) which you can climb upon, a water playground, climbing towers, trampolines, …
Groede Podium is also home to some lovely animals (a variety of sheep, small pigs and other farm animals) and it has a self service cafetaria with great lunch options.
The playgrounds are located just behind Groese Polders, one of the many nature reserves in the area (though that’s for another blogpost…). - De Afslag
Just outside of Breskens centre, near the beach, Roompot Zeebad & ‘t Halve Maentje, you find another great playground. With an indoor and outdoor playground, a midget golf course and a train garden, it’s easy to spend a few hours there. There’s also a restaurant there. We haven’t dined there (yet), so we’ll update this when we do.
- Playfarm “Pierewiet”
In Nieuwvliet you find Pierewiet, a superb outdoor playground, with a smaller indoor section. The outdoor playground is really big and the best thing of all: your children can ride go carts the whole afternoon on the ‘roads’ around the playground!
You can watch your kids play while enjoying a drink on the outside terrace. We suggest you go for the icecreams there: not expensive and massive. Although, as you can see, the waffles are also excellent 😉
There’s also an indoor play option. Though smaller, our girl and her friends enjoyed it a lot. Upstairs the have a craft attic, where your children can make a variety of things, from woodcraft to iron works. - Vijf Weeghen
One of the nicer aperitive spots for parents is this cosy restaurant, with a large outside area and big playground. The 5 Weeghen is located in Nieuwvliet, not that far away from “Verdronken Zwarte Polder”, our favourite nature reserve in the area. It’s a great spot to enjoy a glass of wine and some excellent snacks. The restaurant also seems a good option, and there’s plenty of room inside (and an indoor play area as well) for those rainy days. We haven’t dined there (yet), so we’ll update this when we do.
- Museum Breskens
Located in the harbour of Breskens, this small museum is a great place to go to with children, especially on a rainy day.
The museum is surprisingly interactive for such a small venue. Febe really enjoyed the games she could play on the big flatscreen when entering the main room, and steered her own boat on a virtual boat navigator. There’s also an informative short movie about the fishing industry of Breskens (or how it used to be). The collection of sea shells and stuffed (sea) birds is gigantic and impressive to gaze upon.
- Seal watching safari
With a very good pair of binoculars there are some points at the Westerschelde where you can watch the seal colonies from the mainland. There is an observation hut at Nummer Eén, but our material was far from good enough to actually see the seals.
A better option is to book a boat trip with Rederij De Festijn, located in the harbour of Breskens. You can book a trip between April all the way up to the end of Octobre. During an hour and a half you’ll take a closer look to the two types of seals living in the Westerschelde: grey seal and common seal. You can also see a lot of sea birds and who knows, maybe even a porpoise?
Febe turned 9 the day we went on the safari 🙂
One of the 5 groups of seals we saw that day. See the drinking pup? - Berkenhof Tropical Zoo
A bit of a longer drive from Breskens, but we really enjoyed our day out in Kwadendam. Berkenhof Tropical Zoo is a small zoo with a lot of butterflies, reptiles, small mammals (monkeys, mongoose, …) and a very interesting dinosaur section. There’s also a fun water playground (indoor) and a smaller outdoor play area.
While it’s an ideal option for a rainy day, you might want to take a look around on this larger Zeeland peninsula while you are there (and payed the toll for the tunnel). Middelburg and Veere are both very cosy towns to take a stroll. - Playground in the dunes
When we take a bikeride in the area (which we often do while we are there), we always stop at the playground in the dunes between node 83 and 10 on the Holland Bike Network (more about this in a later blogpost!). This playground might not be the biggest, but it is a very nice one and an ideal break for your children.
The playground is located in the dunes, in between those two red dots. - Indoor swimming pools
Looking for a way to cool down other than at the beach, or to spend a rainy afternoon? Zeeland is home to a lot of holiday parks. All Roompot parks for instance have indoor swimming pools.
In Breskens you have Roompot Zeebad, where we always stay. With a fun slide, jacuzzi seats in the water, two play areas for toddlers and a rapid water area it’s enough for a few hours of fun with your children.
Slide @ Roompot Zeebad.
Toddler play areas & jacuzzi area @ Roompot Breskens.
This summer we also tested two other indoor swimming pools, on the larger peninsula I talked about earlier: Kamperland and De Parel (Domburg). Roompot Kamperland has a swimming pool with a 60m indoor slide and a wave pool. They also have a very small outdoor swimming area and an indoor jacuzzi zone. The best pool might be the one at Domburg, De Parel. With two slides (a tube of 78m and a pelican drop), a large outdoor swimming area with jacuzzi zone, several indoor jacuzzi zones (even heated ones), this one was surely the best option for us. Domburg is also a very cozy town, with a few excellent dining options.
Pelican drop @ Roompot De Parel.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading our tips for the area around Breskens. Let us know if you’ve tried any of these yourself, or if you have more tips!
