Vlissingen tide times

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived.

Model-derived from a global ocean grid. Useful indication; expect about ±45 minutes on average vs. a local harmonic gauge, individual stations vary widely. See /methodology for per-region detail. Not for navigation.

Conditions as of 06:00 local time. Refreshes daily.

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived. · Not for navigation.

The angler tradition for major/minor fishing windows: major ≈3-hour windows around moon transit and opposition; minor ≈2-hour windows around moonrise and moonset. Times are Europe/Amsterdam local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Last spring tide on Sat 16 May (range 3.8m). Next neap on Fri 22 May.

Spring tides cluster around new and full moons (biggest swings). Neap tides land on quarter moons (smallest swings). See the spring tide and neap tide glossary entries for the why.

Vlissingen (Flushing in English) sits at the mouth of the Western Scheldt (Westerschelde), the deepwater estuary that carries some of the world's heaviest maritime traffic to and from the port of Antwerp, 80 km upstream. The town's waterfront — the Boulevards — looks directly north across the Scheldt approach and onto the North Sea. Container ships, bulkers, and tankers pass within a kilometre of the sea wall at all states of tide, 24 hours a day. The mean tidal range at Vlissingen is approximately 3.8 m referenced to NAP (Normaal Amsterdams Peil, the Dutch vertical datum), measured at the Rijkswaterstaat tide gauge that has operated here since the 19th century. Spring tides reach around 4.5 m; neap tides around 3.0 m. These are large, macrotidal ranges. The flood tide runs 5–6 hours; the ebb runs slightly longer and at higher velocity due to the estuary geometry. Tidal current speeds in the Westerschelde main channel reach 3–4 knots on spring tides — among the strongest in the Dutch waters. For the sea wall and beach at Vlissingen, the tidal range means significant exposure variation. At low water, a wide sandy foreshore is exposed along the Boulevard; at high water on spring tides, waves reach the sea wall directly. The beach is most practical in the 2–3 hours around high tide. The famous North Sea surf spot at the Boulevard works best on incoming swell from the northwest combined with a rising tide over the sand ridge; the shallow bottom accelerates wave energy as depth decreases. Rijkswaterstaat maintains the official tide gauge network for the Netherlands and publishes real-time water level data online (waterinfo.rws.nl) along with official tide tables. This is the authoritative source for any navigation or planning in the Westerschelde. Open-Meteo Marine model uncertainty (±45 min, ±0.2–0.3 m) is small relative to the 3.8 m mean range — predictions here are directionally useful — but official Rijkswaterstaat gauge data should always be used for shipping, docking, and engineering decisions.