Les ArdennesBelgiques.

The medieval castle of La Roche-en-Ardenne sits on a rocky promontory above the deep bend of the Ourthe — a dramatic ruin of 9th–15th century construction, partly dismantled by Louis XIV's engineers in 1689 to prevent it being used against French interests. The town below was one of the most heavily contested sites during the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944 – January 1945) — the last major German offensive on the Western Front, in which German Panzer divisions advanced through this forest to within 30km of the Meuse. The Bataille des Ardennes museum in the town documents the battle through American and German military equipment, maps and personal accounts.

The most spectacular cave system in Belgium — the Lesse river disappears underground at Han-sur-Lesse and re-emerges 8km later, having carved a vast network of caverns through the Devonian limestone over 500,000 years. The tour enters by a small tramway from the village and exits by boat on the underground river. The chambers include the Salle du Dôme (50 metres high, 145 metres wide — one of the largest natural chambers in Europe), stalactite formations of extraordinary age and size, and the specific silence and darkness of a cave in which the only light is carried by the guide. Jules Verne visited in 1865; Victor Hugo visited in 1862. Both recorded their impressions. Book the guided tour in advance.

The Abbaye Notre-Dame de Saint-Remy at Rochefort produces three Trappist beers sold only by number — Rochefort 6 (7.5% ABV, ruby), Rochefort 8 (9.2% ABV, the one most often cited as one of the finest beers in the world), and Rochefort 10 (11.3% ABV, dark, almost syrupy with dried fruit and chocolate complexity). The monastery does not offer public tours — the monks brew in enclosure and the beer is sold at the abbey gate, at local cafés, and in specialist shops. The correct place to drink Rochefort 8 is in a quiet café in Rochefort town with a single glass, at room temperature, while appreciating that it was brewed by men who took vows of poverty and silence.

The most architecturally extraordinary monastery in Belgium — and one of the most moving. The original 12th-century Cistercian abbey was sacked by French Revolutionary troops in 1793 and left as a ruin; the current monastery (1926–1948) was built beside the ruins rather than on top of them. Visitors walk through both: the intact modern monastery church (severe, Cistercian, contemporary stained glass by René Lalique) and the roofless ruins of the original 12th–18th century buildings, open to the sky, with the cloister garden, the fish pond of the Orval legend, and the complete arches still standing. The combination of ruined medieval Cistercian architecture and functioning modern monastery on the same site is unique in Belgium.

Orval produces exactly one beer — an amber ale of extraordinary complexity. The beer is brewed with three hop additions (Hallertau, Styrian Goldings, and dry-hopping with whole cone hops), fermented with the Orval house yeast, then re-seeded in the bottle with a Brettanomyces (wild yeast) strain that continues to develop over 3–5 years. Young Orval (fresh, within 3 months of bottling) is citrus-forward and aromatic; aged Orval (12–24 months) develops a dry, leathery, barnyard complexity from the Brettanomyces; very aged Orval (5+ years) becomes something else entirely. The monks sell fresh Orval at the abbey gate. To taste aged Orval, visit a specialist Belgian beer café with cellar stock.

The most spectacular medieval castle in Belgium — built on a narrow rocky ridge above a dramatic loop of the Semois river, the castle was the seat of Godfrey of Bouillon (1060–1100), who sold it to the Bishop of Liège to fund his participation in the First Crusade of 1096–1099 and became the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The castle survived largely intact through the medieval period and was used by successive rulers until the 19th century. The views from the ramparts over the Semois loop — the river far below in a perfect U-bend of forest — are the most dramatic views in the Belgian Ardennes. The castle is connected to the medieval cobbled town below by steep steps and passages.

Saint-Hubert is the spiritual heart of the Belgian Ardennes — the town where the 8th-century bishop Hubert of Liège is buried, patron saint of hunters, dogs, mathematicians and the mentally ill (his range of patronages reflects the medieval tendency to assign every human condition to a specific saint). The Gothic basilica (15th–16th century) contains his gold reliquary and is one of the finest Gothic churches in Wallonia. The town is also the centre of the Ardennes hunting culture — the festival of Saint-Hubert in November (Fête de la Saint-Hubert) brings hunters from across Belgium for a blessing of hounds, horses and hunting horns. The surrounding forests are the most intensively hunted in Belgium.

The Brasserie d'Achouffe is one of the founding stories of Belgian craft beer — started in 1982 by brothers-in-law Pierre Gobron and Chris Bauweraert in a farmhouse in the hamlet of Achouffe (population 89), using home-brewing equipment and a recipe for a strong Tripel ale they called La Chouffe ("the gnome" in Walloon dialect, after the gnomes of Ardennes folklore). The gnome character on the red cap became one of the most recognised beer branding images in Belgium. The brewery grew from farmhouse to a full commercial operation, acquired by Duvel Moortgat in 2006, but still based in Achouffe. The brewery tour includes the production hall, the original farmhouse brewhouse, and a tasting of the full range. La Chouffe (8% ABV, golden Tripel, coriander and orange peel) is the flagship.

The English word "spa" — applied to every wellness centre, thermal bath and health resort in the world — comes from this small Belgian town in the Ardennes hills. The iron-rich mineral springs of Spa were first described in the 16th century and became the most fashionable health resort in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries — Peter the Great, Marie de Médicis, Charles II of England, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas and Tsar Nicholas II all came here. The thermal establishment (Thermes de Spa, 2003 building overlooking the town) offers full spa treatments; the original Pouhon Pierre le Grand spring (where Peter the Great took the waters) is in a small pavilion in the town centre, free to visit and still flowing.

The Hautes Fagnes (High Fens) is the highest plateau in Belgium — a UNESCO biosphere reserve of raised peat bog at 550–694 metres, where the Signal de Botrange (694m) is the highest natural point in Belgium, marked by a modest cairn. The landscape is unlike anything else in the country: treeless bog with cotton grass, sundew, mountain cranberry and the specific silence of a landscape that has been accumulating peat for 12,000 years since the last glaciation. Wooden boardwalks cross the most sensitive bog areas; the surrounding spruce and beech forest has a primeval character. In winter the Hautes Fagnes is snow-covered when the rest of Belgium is merely grey.