Comparative wind tunnel experiments were performed on passive flow separation control on a at plate model equipped with a flap. The purpose of these tests was to investigate the flow control capabilities of off-surface mounted elements. A comparison was made of delta-shaped vortex generators of 1 to 1/3 boundary layer height and cylinders close to the wall. Surface pressure as well as PIV measurements were performed to investigate the influence of the layout of the VGs as well as the diameter of the cylinder and the position of the elements. The results showed that the off-surface devices performed better than the on-surface VGs for the fully separated case, and were equally good in improving the state of boundary layer that is on the verge of separation. It was also found that the off-surface devices could be positioned over a wider range with respect to the separation point. The experiments furthermore indicated that for the optimum cylinder configuration the vortex shedding frequency was consistent with the frequencies found in literature on periodic flow excitation.