The Ardennes
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Overview
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.
Attractions
Must-see attractions
The Ardennes
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…
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The Ardennes
This highly recommended modern museum takes you into the heart of WWII, with an audio guide featuring four imagined voices of civilian and military…
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The Ardennes
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…
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The Ardennes
A Cistercian monastery since 1132, Orval's abbey complex was wrecked in 1793 by anti-religious French Revolutionary soldiers. Rebuilding only started in…
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The Ardennes
Playing a 21st-century Willy Wonka, one of Belgium’s foremost chocolatiers has turned his modern factory into a superb interactive museum experience. Walk…
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The Ardennes
Some 10km north of St-Hubert towards attractive Nassogne village, Fourneau St-Michel is a superb open-air museum featuring around 50 historic buildings…
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Liège
South of Liège's centre, this excellent gallery hosts many high-profile temporary exhibitions but always shows elements of its own fabulous art collection…
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Liège
Splendid Grand Curtius unites four disparate museum collections in the former mansion-warehouse of a 16th-century Liège arms dealer. The building's red…
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