Hiking in the Belgian Ardennes »

If you’re a hiking lover, the Belgian Ardennes are a true paradise for you! There are many hiking trails in all kinds of unspoiled natural areas. Surely, there is something for everyone. During my time in the Ardennes, I’ve hiked three trails. In this article I’ll tell you more about these trails and my experience.

Preparing for the hikes

It’s important to do the necessary preparation before you are going to hike one of the trails which can be found in the Belgian Ardennes. Here are some tips:

Take enough water with you

Depending on how long you’re going to walk it’s recommended to take some snacks with you
Wear some good hiking shoes and comfortable clothes
No matter what kind of trail you’re going to hike, always take your camera with you for making some beautiful shots!

And the most important thing: enjoy!

Would you like to read more hiking tips? You can find an extensive post about this by clicking here.

Route 1: around Reinhardstein Castle

The Reinhardstein Castle is a beautiful castle, located in a natural environment and close to Robertville. A visit to the castle is recommended, but if you do have some extra time you should definitely go hiking around the castle. There is a trail which brings you from the parking place of the castle, all the way around the castle into the wooded area. On the way you come across small waters and a magnificent waterfall. Some parts of the trail can be a bit steep, but in general the trail isn’t that difficult to walk if you have an average condition. At some places there are unequal paths so take into account to wear some good shoes.

If you’re planning on hiking the whole hiking trail, it’ll take you around 2,5 hours and it has a length of 6 kilometers, see above the map.

Route 2: in the forests of Houffalize

During our time in the Ardennes, we stayed in a holiday home near the town center of Houffalize. Our holiday home was located at the ‘Rue de la Tannerie’ and across the street there was the start of a hiking trail, which we planned on hiking. It’s not an official hiking trail as far as I know (it doesn’t have an official name), but the route speaks for itself and it’s best to keep the app Maps.me with you during the hike so you can see which way you need to go.

On the way you come across forests, but also farmlands. It’s a beautiful and diverse route which is easy to walk (there are no height differences). It depends on the route you take, but we walked around 4 kilometers in an hour and 15 minutes.

Just for some extra information to know how the trail goes: on the way, you also come across Ferme de Randoux, which is an accommodation located in a beautiful building.

Route 3: in the Fairies Valley, Achouffe

The hiking trail in the Fairies Valley, as they call it, starts in Achouffe: at the brewery of La Chouffe. More information about a visit to the brewery can be found in one of our latest articles by clicking here.

The trail is also called as the ‘beaver route’, because beavers are living in this environment. Although the chance on seeing beavers is quite small, you come across several dams, which is very interesting.

The route is very diverse. You walk through forests and along little rivers. Some parts are quite steep, but others are flat. Although the trail is good to walk for all ages with an average condition, it’s good to know that sturdy hiking shoes are important to wear. Especially when it’s rainy, because the ground can be muddy and slippery. The trail is, in total, 6 kilometers long and take around 2,5 hours. Personally, this was my favourite trail out of the three. See below the map of this hiking trail:

Download the Maps.me app!

As the Belgian Ardennes provides lots of hikes, it’s definitely recommended to download the Maps.me app on your mobile phone. This app provides all hiking trails, viewpoints and more. You can also use the app offline when you’ve downloaded the map.

Author: Tamara