Middelburg sits on the Walcheren peninsula, which makes it a natural base for exploring the Zeeland coast and islands. The most obvious day trip is to Vlissingen (Flushing), 8 km south, a working port town with a ferry to Breskens in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. Veere, a perfectly preserved medieval harbour town 6 km north, is worth a morning by bicycle. Domburg, on the western coast of Walcheren, has a long sandy beach popular with North Sea surfers.
Across the Westerschelde, Ghent and Bruges in Belgium are reachable in under two hours by car, making them feasible day trips for those with a vehicle.
