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Flanders (Vlaanderen)
Bruges in province of West Flanders
Flag
Information
Country	Belgium
Regional capital	City of brussels (outside the territory)
Area	13 624 km²
Population	6 647 506 hab. (1er January 2021)
Density	487,93 inhab./km²
Nice	Flemish (nl) Vlaandenaar
Official language	Dutch
Other languages	Flemish, Brabant, Limburgish
Telephone prefix	32 followed by 3, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58 or 59
Tourist information office	rue Marché aux Herbes 61 1000 Brussels. ​ 32 2 5040300 E-mail: [email protected] ​
Location
51 ° 0 ′ 0 ″ N 4 ° 18 ′ 0 ″ E
Official site
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The Flanders (Vlaanderen in Dutch), in long form the Flemish region (Vlaams Gewest in Dutch), is one of the three federated regions of Belgium. Its official language is Dutch and its capital, the city of Brussels, has the particularity of not being located on its territory but on that of the Brussels-Capital Region.

Understand

Regions

Flanders is divided into five provinces.

Cities

• Antwerp (Antwerpen)  (last update Feb. 2018)
• Bruges (Brugge)  (last update Feb. 2018)
• Kortrijk (Kortrijk)  (last update Feb. 2018)
• Ghent (Gent)  (last update Feb. 2018)
• Hasselt  (last update Feb. 2018)
• Leuven (Leuven)  (last update Feb. 2018)
• Mechelen (Mechelen)  (last update Feb. 2018)
• Ostend (Ostend)  (last update Feb. 2018)
• Ypres (Ieper)  (last update Feb. 2018)

Other destinations

To go

Circulate

Speak

The Dutch as spoken in the Netherlands is the only official language of Flanders and taught at school to young children of the Flemish region even if, at home, they rather speak Flemish generic term which includes all the idioms of Flanders which vary from region to region.

Buy

Eat

Have a drink / Go out

Housing

Learn

security

Health

Respect

The Flemish are quite tolerant. Follow generally accepted rules of courtesy and you will be well received. However, there are rules specific to Flanders which you must respect, as far as possible.

• Flemings generally don't like to talk about their salary or politics. You should also avoid alluding to their possible religious beliefs.

• The question of the relations between Flanders and Wallonia, the disputes, the high number of separatist and far-right votes in Flanders are controversial subjects.
• Speaking French in Flanders can, in some cases, be misinterpreted. Speaking overtly French can be considered offensive in the Flemish region, and you will either be ignored or, at worst, get a frosty response and minimum service. Across the country, the lingua franca between Flemings and Walloons has become ... English, especially among the younger generations, to avoid speaking in the “other language”, French! That is why, as a tourist, it is better to start a conversation in English or in the language of the "country".

• However, it is not completely correct to say that we cannot use French in Flanders: on the coast and in tourist towns (tourist interest obliges), French is well accepted. If, however, you encounter difficulties, say or make it understood that you come "from abroad" (France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Quebec or other), that you are not French-speaking "Belgian". You will no longer have any difficulty, unless - of course - the interlocutor does not speak French. It is true that English occupies an increasingly important place in Flanders, because its teaching is compulsory while that of French is optional.

• Don't tell the Flemings (and also the people of Brussels) that they are "Dutch". Most Flemish people, although they speak a language quite similar to Dutch (Flemish, algemeen beschaafd, at best), are not and do not consider themselves to be "Dutch" and generally do not like to be assimilated to their neighbors in the Netherlands.