OCTOBER 2021
Last year we were already in lockdown when autumn arrived, but this year I was able to make plenty of (day)trips to enjoy the crisp autumn days and colorful leaves. One of the best locations for spotting colorful leaves is Durbuy in the Southern part of Belgium. Durbuy is located in the heart of the Ardennes, a beautiful region full of forests and hills. If you are a nature lover or a cyclist this is the perfect area to explore. We took the van for our day trip so we could get the camping feel and I highly recommend you stay longer in this area.
Practical information
We had no issues finding parking near Durbuy, we parked for free about 1 kilometer from town. It was a lovely walk into town next to the river Ourthe. If you park closer to town you do have to pay. The Ardennes are known for its adventure sports and outdoor activities, so you will find many campsites, glampsites and holiday homes in the area. Durbuy is the unofficial smallest city in the world. You can walk through the whole town in 15 minutes, so you won’t find a lot of hotels. However if you do have the opportunity to stay in the heart of town I would highly recommend doing that, so you can enjoy Durbuy before the day tourists arrive. Durbuy gets busier during the day; it is the most charming town in the area and tourists come visit it in combination with having dinner.
Durbuy
I loved the medieval city center of Durbuy. To be honest, I kind of expected it to be a bit run-down. Wallonia used to be super rich, but now its GDP per capita is much lower than that of Belgium. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how well taken care of Durbuy was. Unpopular opinion: I liked it more than the super popular Dinant. There is a nice variety of more upscale restaurants, trendy places and fast food options. We spotted a lot of fancy cars and well dressed people, next to the usual tourists. A part of the town is car-free and this was of course my favorite area. Lots of buildings in Durbuy are covered in ivy, sometimes even red ivy, super stunning! The village is surrounded by forests, hills and rocks, offering spectacular backgrounds. We visited on a hot autumn day and the terraces were full of people, but the town itself wasn’t too crowded.
Things to do
Homalius rock: Just outside the medieval center you will find this special rock. It was a bit blocked by an art installation, but still really impressive.
Parc des Topiares: This is a park with sculptures of buxus plants just next to the old town.
Belvedere: This is a viewing tower that offers a beautiful view over the valley of Durbuy. Officially you can only visit it with the tourist train, but we just drove up and I was allowed to take a quick picture.
Kayaking: The river the Ourthe flows right next to Durbuy in a lovely surrounding and you can hire a kayak to explore it.
Visit a cave: Near Durbuy you have several opportunities to visit caves: the caves of Han and the caves of Hotton. I had visited the caves of Han before, so we didn’t visit this time.
Taste beer: Belgium has the best specialty beer in the world and in Durbuy you have several options to do a tasting in Durbuy.
Visit Dinant & Chateau de Walzin: The other hotspot of Wallonia is only a half hour of driving from Durbuy: colorful Dinant and nearby Chateau de Walzin.
