Getty Images/iStockphoto

The Ardennes

If you’re looking for outdoor activities, fresh air and greenery, head for Belgium’s southeastern corner. Here you’ll find meandering rivers that are ideal for low-intensity kayaking. A whole series of dramatic cave systems have been sensitively equipped for visitors. Forested hills and deep valleys shelter appealing small towns topped by picture-perfect castle ruins. And in midwinter the slopes that edge the Hautes Fagnes fenlands might get enough snow to offer a weekend or two of skiing. As winter comes towards its end, the fabulous carnivals of Stavelot, Malmédy and Eupen burst with revelry. OK, so some of the Meuse Valley cities look dauntingly grimy, but scratch the surface and you'll find history, great hospitality and a wealth of attractions hiding history beneath the careworn exteriors.

Major towns are accessible by train and bus, but to really appreciate the rural highlights you’ll need a car or strong cycling legs.

Top attractions

These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout The Ardennes.

  • Castle

    Château de Bouillon

    Slouching like a great grey dragon high on Bouillon's central rocky ridge, Belgium’s finest feudal castle-ruin harks back to AD 988, but it's especially associated with Crusader knight Godefroid de Bouillon, the first 'Belgian' ruler of Jerusalem. The super-atmospheric site has everything you might wish for in a castle: dank dripping tunnel passages, musty half-lit cell rooms, falconry displays, rough-hewn stairwells and many an eerie nook and cranny to discover. Plus there are off-beat surprises like maturing cheeses and a caligraphy mini-museum.

  • Museum

    Bastogne War Museum

    This highly recommended modern museum takes you into the heart of WWII, with an audio guide featuring four imagined voices of civilian and military witnesses/participants. A usefully thorough summary of the war's context and key stages includes an engrossing 15-minute 3D film presenting Germany's early attacks as though to a press conference. Downstairs the focus is the Battle of the Bulge and defence of Bastogne. Two theatrical audiovisuals add impressively to well-displayed memorabilia.

  • Mine

    Blégny Mine

    For one of the best industrial-experience tours you'll find anywhere, don a hard hat, jump in the cage lift and descend through a pitch-black moment into the underground life of a 20th-century Belgian miner at this Unesco-listed coal mine.

  • Museum

    Fourneau St-Michel

    Some 10km north of St-Hubert towards attractive Nassogne village, Fourneau St-Michel is a superb open-air museum featuring around 50 historic buildings salvaged from villages around Wallonia and authentically rebuilt in a rural setting of woodland and pasture. Many are furnished and they're arranged geographically into 'hamlets' linked by a 3km walking trail.

  • Factory

    La Chocolaterie Darcis

    Playing a 21st-century Willy Wonka, one of Belgium’s foremost chocolatiers has turned his modern factory into a superb interactive museum experience. Walk through a Mayan temple, get seasick on Hernán Cortés' galleon and visit a 19th-century cocoa parlour, before sniff tests, quizzes, a 10-minute video tour of Mexican plantations and explanations of modern chocolate making.

  • Castle

    Château de Reinhardstein

    The very picturesque Château de Reinhardstein was built in 1354 and restored to archetypal fortress appearance in 1969. Entry is by 75-minute guided tours but even when closed, it’s well worth admiring the sturdy exterior and, perhaps, walking the 40-minute 'cascade' loop hike that crosses two little footbridges and views a modest ribbon of waterfall.

  • Museum

    Grand Curtius

    Splendid Grand Curtius unites four disparate museum collections in the former mansion-warehouse of a 16th-century Liège arms dealer. The building's red outer walls had originally been painted with ox blood. The museum's ambitious aim is to explain the whole history of art, from prehistoric stone chippings to art nouveau pianos, while interweaving tales of Liège artists and industries.

  • Church

    Église St-Jacques

    Arguably Liège's most fascinating church, this architectural hotchpotch was founded in 1015 and retains a heavily patched-up 1170 west end whose Romanesque brown limestone and brick-filler clash discordantly with the 16th-century Gothic nave.

  • Village

    Limbourg

    Well worth the 1km detour if you're driving between Eupen and Verviers (turn south at Dolhain), Limbourg is one of Belgium's most delightful historic villages.