west flanders ( ; west flemish: "west vloandern"; french: "(province de) flandre-occidentale"; german: "westflandern") is the westernmost province of the flemish region, in belgium. it is the only coastal belgian province, facing the north sea to the northwest. it has land borders with the dutch province of zeeland to the northeast, the flemish province of east flanders to the east, the walloon province of hainaut in the southeast and the french department of nord to the west. its capital is bruges ("brugge"). other important cities are kortrijk in the south and ostend ("oostende") on the coast, roeselare and ypres ("ieper"). the province has an area of which is divided into eight administrative districts ("arrondissementen") containing 64 municipalities.