The Ardennes

South of the Meuse the land rises into the Ardennes, a plateau of beech and spruce forest cut by winding rivers into steep valleys, and it is where Belgians go to walk, kayak and eat game. Bouillon's castle sits on a rock in a loop of the Semois, one of the most striking fortress positions in the country. At Han-sur-Lesse the river disappears underground into a cave system explored by tram, boat and foot, and Rochefort has its own caves and its Trappist brewery. The valleys of the Ourthe, Amblève and Lesse carry kayaking routes, and the Hautes Fagnes plateau in the northeast is a high peat bog of boardwalks and stunted trees, unlike anywhere else in Belgium.

History

The name comes from Arduenna Silva, the vast forest of Roman times, probably from a Gaulish word for high, and the forest of today covers far less ground. The 12th-century chanson de geste Quatre Fils Aymon names many Walloon rivers and places, among them the rock at Dinant said to be leapt by the magic horse Bayard, Viking raiders used the old Roman roads here in 881 and 882 to attack the abbeys of Malmedy, Stavelot and Prüm, and much of the region belonged to the Duchy of Luxembourg; revolutionary France annexed it in 1793, and the Congress of Vienna in 1815 returned most of it to Luxembourg (Wikipedia, Ardennes).

The landscape

• Bouillon Castle - a medieval fortress on a rock spur in a river loop.
• Han-sur-Lesse caves - a river cave system visited by tram, on foot and by boat.
• Hautes Fagnes - high peat bog with boardwalk trails and a distinctly northern feel.
• Kayaking the Lesse or Ourthe - descents through the valleys in summer water levels.

When to go

May to October for walking and kayaking, with October giving the best forest colour and the game season on menus. Kayak descents depend on water levels and are suspended when the rivers are too low or too high. Winter can bring snow to the Hautes Fagnes.

What to expect

Public transport into the deeper valleys is thin, so a car is close to essential. Towns like Durbuy market themselves hard and can feel like a theme park version of themselves in high season. The Ardennes are hilly rather than mountainous, and visitors expecting Alpine scale will find them modest; the appeal is forest and rivers, not peaks.

Nearby

Liège and Namur sit on the Meuse to the north; Luxembourg lies across the border.

Key facts