Tombeau du Geant

The Tombeau du Geant is a rounded hill of about a hundred and forty metres, wooded to the top, standing inside a loop where the Semois turns almost completely back on itself, so the hill is nearly an island with the river running round three and a half sides of it. Seen from the viewpoint on the ridge above Botassart it reads as a green mound in a river ring, and the name comes from a local story about a Gaulish chief buried there. It is the single most photographed view in the Ardennes. A short walk from the car park reaches the belvedere, and paths continue along the ridge and down into the valley for those who want more than the view. Autumn colour and morning mist are what most people time it for.

What you actually see

• A hill in a river ring - the Semois looping almost fully around it.
• The Botassart belvedere - the standard viewpoint on the ridge.
• Autumn colour in the loop - the wooded hill turning in October.
• Morning mist - cloud filling the meander below the viewpoint.

When to go

May to October, with October best for colour and early mornings for mist. One to two hours. The viewpoint is free and open at all times. Weekends and autumn mornings bring photographers in numbers.

Honest expectations

It is one view and takes twenty minutes; there is nothing else at the site. The car park is small and fills at peak times. There are no facilities. Without mist or autumn colour it is a green hill.

Nearby

Bouillon is south-east; the Semois valley runs both ways.