OCTOBER 2021
I am interrupting the road trip series with an autumn recommendation: Dinant & the nearby Chateau de Walzin. Dinant isn’t that big so you can combine the two places in one day trip, but I would recommend making a weekend out of it. Unfortunately we had some issues with the tax authorities about our van, so we went by car, but Wallonia seemed like the perfect place for an autumn camping trip. We were super lucky with the weather and experienced 25 degrees in October. As we were visiting in the beginning of October we were a bit too early for fall foliage, but half October should be the perfect timing to enjoy fall leaves in Wallonia.
Practical information
Dinant and Chateau de Walzin are located within a 20 minutes drive of each other, making a combination really easy. We really enjoyed the drive to Chateau de Walzin, as you already get to enjoy the beautiful nature of Wallonia. When you arrive to Dinant from The Netherlands you will find a large parking site just before the old town, we were able to park for free on a Saturday. From this parking site it is only a 5 minute walk into the old town. Dinant is quite small and I would recommend exploring on foot, as everything is within walking distance.
Dinant
The most famous sight of Dinant is at the waterfront, where you can spot the colorful bars at the other side of the Meuse. It seems like the cathedral Notre-Dame is built into the rocks and you can see the citadel towering over the town, definitely a spectacular sight! I found it more impressive in real life than I expected and was really impressed. You can visit the citadel by taking the cable car from the old town, this costs € 10 per adult and € 8 for kids. We decided not to visit the Citadel, as I would personally rather see the citadel from the other side of town.
We walked up the hill to Maison Leffe, the little museum of the Belgian beer. You can enter the museum for € 10 per person, which includes a tasting and a gift. Make sure to reserve some time for this on a sunny day as Maison Leffe has a very cozy beer garden. The museum is partly located in a small church, which was very lovely.
Besides these sights, I do want to prepare you that some parts of Dinant are a bit run-down, which I found surprising as it is such a touristy place. But in Belgium beautiful cities often go hand in hand with less pretty neighborhoods. Dinant does have lots of different restaurants on offer, varying from very classic to modern burger bars. In Dinant the inventor of the music instrument “Sax” was born and you will find many nods to this around town. I particularly loved the glass Sax statue which you will find in front of the town hall.
Chateau de Walzin
Chateau de Walzin is a privately owned castle located only 8 kilometers of driving from Dinant. We decided to drive as close as possible to the castle and parked our car at the end of Rue du Barrage, at the end of this street you will find a small parking lot. If the parking lot is full, you can also park roadside. When you are on the parking lot you can see a small pathway into the forest and if you take this route you can cross the river Lesse via a small footbridge. If you continue this path you will see Chateau de Walzin after about 10 minutes walking.
We decided to enter the grass field to create some drone videos of Chateau de Walzin. This area is really breathtaking when the leaves are turning color, so I would recommend to visit in fall. We had such a lovely sunny day and we were very grateful to explore this beautiful part of the Ardennes. Next year, I definitely want to do a longer hike and go camping in this area in autumn. Apparently, this is one of the most gorgeous parts of Belgium for leave peeping. Charlies Wanderings has very good recommendations if you want to do longer hikes in this area. If you want to enjoy a weekend in nature, you will find a campsite near Chateau de Walzin or you can stay in a spa hotel nearby.
