Hidden delights of Belgium

Hop on a tram to find out that a holiday in Belgium doesn't just have to be about canal trips and tours of chocolate factories.

That's the advice of travelbite.co.uk, which says that journeying on a forty-mile tram-line along the Belgian coast between the French and Dutch borders offers tourists an alternative view of the nations' attractions. The stretch of line takes in the port of Zeebrugge which has a maritime theme park - the home to a 100-metre-long Soviet submarine, which is open to public viewing.

Admirers of impressive architecture should buy a ticket to De Hann, whose design owes a debt to English landscape designers of the early 1900s.

Ostend also features on the three-times-an-hour coastal trams' itinerary. It would be hard not to stop at the country's biggest port which boasts some grand art deco hotels near its docks.

De Panne is the western-most destination on the journey. It was from the town's sandy beaches that the British army was evacuated to Dunkirk in 1940 - the eve of this event was depicted in the film adaptation of the Ian McEwan book Atonement.