Belgium is known, on the cultural identity subject, to be a very divided country. For those who don’t know, the country is essentially virtually split in half, with the northern half being predominantly Flemish and Dutch-speaking, while the southern half is mainly Walloon and French-speaking. Flanders and Wallonia, besides being home to two different sets of people, have a very different image in terms of economy and industry. Flanders may be endowed with a much richer technological economy as opposed to Wallonia’s stagnating industrial economy, but Wallonia does beat Flanders in one area: the beautiful landscape. Here you find the Ardennes mountains. For anyone who’s ever seen mountains before, these are actually more like hills, but for Belgians who are used to seeing miles and miles of flat plains and cow pastures, this is probably like their equivalent of the Himalayas.
The Ardennes Mountains
All jokes aside, this is a spectacular place to get away from the bustle of the city and spend a few days in nature. We went with a group of 13 friends (just like Jesus and pals) and rented a huge house somewhere in the countryside for the weekend, which ended up costing about €40 per person. It’s a great deal considering you get the place from Friday to Monday night inclusive. The complex we rented from was called Chateau Laval, which is actually a complex of 5 different holiday cottages ranging in size and capacity from 4 to 34 people. We picked La Grange (The Barn) house for 12 people.
Chateau Laval - Exterior and part of the garden
The place was very nice and spacious, was fully equipped, and in a nice quiet location. The only major disappointment was that sheets are not included in the house, so you should bring your own. Had we known this, everyone would of course have brought their own sheets, yet the website did not specify this. When we told this to the owner, who asked €5 for each bed sheet, he told us that this was a Belgian thing, and anyone who’s ever been to a bed and breakfast in Belgian would know. Of course we had four Belgians among us who had no idea about this either. So we felt a bit scammed with that situation (especially since now I see on most other websites “bring your own sheets” or “sheets not included”). Otherwise, the place was pretty cool, equipped with a fireplace, big kitchen with dishwasher and even a deep fryer (!), a barbecue, TV and DVD player, radio/CD player, and a little garden. And now we will never forget it’s bring-your-own-sheets in Belgium!!
La Grange - Dining room, living room and kitchen; bedrooms upstairs
In terms of location, it is only a few kilometers away from La Roche-en-Ardennes, one of the most beautiful old towns in the province of Luxembourg, where we went to kayak. The kayaking was so much fun and a great way to spend half a day. We rented two person kayaks from the town center (there are lots of companies on the main street, you can’t miss ‘em), after which a bus drove us a few kilometers away, from where we started our journey back down the river to La Roche. It took a couple of hours but you can take your time and make it last a few more hours if you would like. I suggest you bring your lunch (you get buckets to keep your things dry) and stop along the way at some nice little grassy knoll, take in the scenery, enjoy your food, refuel for the rest of the trip, and keep going. The landscapes are so beautiful that you would do well not to rush through it. Plus you get really hungry doing all that paddling so you might find yourself racing to the end just to get some food, and then you miss out.
La Roche-en-Ardenne - The end of the kayaking trail
We went near the end of the summer time in mid-August, which may have explained the river’s shallowness and hence the difficulty of actually kayaking – we spent most of our time trying to get unstuck from beds of rock. But it was all in good fun. Maybe if you go in the spring it will be a bit easier to do some real paddling.
There are many other activities you can do (for example, visiting a cave – check back for a post on that later), and lots of different places around the whole area of the Ardennes you can stay… this is just our experience. But, you can check the countless websites offering activities and various forms of housing (from campsites to chateaus). Just find what is best for you and your budget and you are sure to be near beautiful scenery and fun outdoor activities no matter where you choose to stay.
La Roche-en-Ardenne - Happy people kayaking and the castle in the back
If you are already in Belgium and would like to just take a breather from the city for one day, La Roche is a beautiful place to drive to on a Sunday morning. In around an hour and a half (from Brussels), you will arrive, and you can find the tourist office for what is the most appropriate hiking trail for your abilities and for the amount of time you have. They range from 1.5 to 6 hours and vary in difficulty accordingly. After your hike you can check out the local castle on the hill or relax at one of the many cafés along the river or on the main street. There is also a WWII museum in town for history buffs.
La Roche-en-Ardenne hiking trail
There’s a ton of information and options for spending a bit of time in the Ardennes, and I found it could be quite overwhelming to choose from in terms of where to stay and what to do. Hopefully we could help you start somewhere.
Map of Location (Chateau Laval) – Google Maps
Map of Location (La Roche-en-Ardenne) – Google Maps
A Weekend in the Belgian Ardennes – Flickr
Very nice article and very useful information about the sheets!