A short walk north of the Grote Markt, the Sint-Niklaaskerk is Veurne's other major church — older, plainer, and more characterful than its neighbour. The squat fourteenth-century brick tower at the west end was built almost as a fortified keep; it served as both belfry and watchtower in the days when Veurne sat exposed on the Flemish frontier with France.
You can climb the tower in summer for a view across the polders to the sea. The simple Gothic interior is whitewashed and well-proportioned, with a single fifteenth-century carving of the Virgin worth seeking out near the high altar.