The Belgian Ardennes, from the Meuse to the High Fens

The Belgian Ardennes, from valley to valley

The best way to see the Belgian Ardennes is to follow their rivers. From Namur, the road runs along the Meuse at the foot of limestone cliffs to Dinant, with its collegiate church and its citadel. Just past the town, it squeezes between the cliff and the Rocher Bayard, a rock needle about forty metres high. Legend has it that the horse Bayard split it with a kick of his hoof. Further on, the pointed towers of Vêves Castle look down on the village of Celles.

Then the road enters the forest. At Han-sur-Lesse, the Lesse disappears underground and comes out again at the far end of the caves. Further south, the Semois winds in wide loops between wooded hills. You look down on them from the Rochehaut viewpoint or from the one at the Tombeau du Géant.

To the east, you pass the Coo waterfall and the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, then climb onto the High Fens plateau, a moorland of peat bogs. Here the Signal de Botrange marks the highest point in Belgium, at 694 metres. The loop returns to Namur by way of Spa and Durbuy.

Downstream, the valley long lived off tobacco, introduced in 1855 by a schoolteacher, Joseph Pierret. Cultivation declined after the 1950s, and the last commercial production stopped at the end of 2025. At Vresse-sur-Semois and Laforêt, long wooden drying sheds remain, where the leaves were air-dried.

Since 2022, the valley has been a national park. When the water level allows, you can paddle down the river by kayak.

The Battle of the Bulge

On 16 December 1944, the German army launched a last offensive through the Ardennes. The next day, at the Baugnez crossroads near Malmedy, American prisoners were shot. Bastogne, a road hub, was surrounded on 21 December. Called on to surrender, General McAuliffe replied with a single word: “Nuts!”. Bastogne held out until Patton’s tanks arrived on 26 December. Further north, Malmedy was bombed by American aircraft on 23, 24 and 25 December: more than 200 civilians were killed. The offensive was pushed back by the end of January 1945.

The region still bears the marks. In Bastogne, the Mardasson Memorial, unveiled in 1950, is shaped like a star and bears the names of all the American states. Right next to it, the Bastogne War Museum, opened in 2014, tells the story of the battle.

What not to miss

1. 1Namur CitadelAbove the meeting of the Sambre and the Meuse, with its underground tunnels.
2. 2The Han cavesAn underground visit that ends on the banks of the Lesse.
3. 3The basilica of Saint-HubertThe shrine of the patron saint of hunters and the saint’s cenotaph, carved in 1847.
4. 4The Coo waterfallA 15-metre waterfall, whose main fall was dug in the 18th century by the monks of Stavelot.
5. 5SpaThe town that gave its name to spas.
6. 6Durbuy and WérisDurbuy, a town since 1331, and Wéris, the largest megalithic site in Belgium.

The Belgian Ardennes in pictures

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The Coo waterfall and its two falls on the Amblève.

Food in the Ardennes

Ardennes ham, salted and often smoked, has had protected geographical indication status since 1996. In autumn, restaurants serve game from the nearby forests, wild boar and roe deer.

In Dinant, the couque is a biscuit of honey and flour pressed into carved wooden moulds, so hard that you break it into pieces. The abbeys of Rochefort and Orval brew Trappist beers, under the monks’ supervision.