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Well, we liked the little town of Cassel - on a hilltop (perhaps the only one in the area) with excellent views over the plains of Picardy.  There are some good Flemish restaurants there for lunch or an evening meal, and a musem and a few shops.

The Blockhaus at Eperlecques, near Chateau du Gandspette, just off the D300 which is the road from the port to St Omer, is worth a visit too - very haunting. 

St Omer on market day - a very Flemish town centre, with a good range of shops in a smallish area, and a nice park.  The marshes and canals around the town, too (Marais).

Bruges if you want to go further afield, is only about an hour away, and definitely worth a visit.

There's both an ALDI and a Lidl in Bourbourg, near Dunkerque, which we've visited several times and on Monday mornings Lidl discount a lot of things by 30%!  We've stocked up on cheap duck breasts, and a variety of other things, including packaged salads from ALDI for lunch on the boat, at the end of a couple of holidays, before heading back to the port at Dunkerque.

Bourbourg is one of those towns which on paper looks ok, but on driving through, is like a throwback three or four generations and it wouldn't be on my 'must see' list.  There are some architecturally interesting 'Chicory factories' as it was obviously the epicentre of the chicory industry in the past, and apparently there are canals and town walls there, but we've not manage to find them.

Frites in Ieper(Ypres) is a must! The Belgians don't just make good chocolate!

Of course there is also the Menen Gate with the Last Post sounded every night at 8pm. Try to get through it without blubbing! Also the Flanders Museum in Ieper.

Bruges is a must see for me, just a lovely city, along with the war cemetaries around Flanders.