page_title: West Flanders
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: West Flanders / Geography
caption_attribution_description: Español: De Panne: Playa y apartamentos De Panne (Belgium) - the dunes and the beach - I took this picture in march 2006
context_page_description: West Flanders is one of the five provinces of the Flemish Region, also named Flanders, and also is one of the ten provinces of Belgium. It is the westernmost province in Flanders.
  Its capital is Bruges.
  The whole Belgian North Sea coast, an important tourism destination, lies in West Flanders. A tram line runs the length of the coast, from De Panne on the French border, via the port of Ostend, to Knokke-Heist on the Dutch frontier.
context_section_description: The province of West Flanders lies in the most densely populated area of Western Europe. It has 1,181,828 inhabitants, and a population density of 378.2 inhabitants per km². It borders the North Sea, northern France, Zeeland in the Netherlands, the Flemish province of East Flanders (Dutch: Oost-Vlaanderen) and the Walloon province of Hainaut (Dutch: Henegouwen) in Belgium. West Flanders is the only Belgian province that borders both France and The Netherlands.
  The province has an area of 3,125 km² (1,207 sq mi). In terms of area, it is the largest province in the Flemish Region and the fifth largest in Belgium.
  West Flanders has a very flat landscape with polders, except for a row of dunes along the coast and an area with small hills known as the 'Westvlaamse Bergen', with the Kemmelberg (159 m) being the highest point in the province.
  The main rivers in the province are the Leie (French: Lys) and Yser (Dutch: IJzer). The Yser flows into the North Sea at the town of Nieuwpoort and the Leie flows into the Scheldt river.
caption: The Belgian coast near De Panne
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