Long weekend in the Ardennes region

Our chalet in Ardennes

In the summer of 2023, I finally got a chance to spend a long sunny weekend in the Ardennes region, an area of deep forests and rolling hills, spread out across three countries - France, Belgium and Luxembourg. It was a lovely driving trip over 4 days. On the way there, we stopped in the mountain resort of Valkenburg and in the student town of Maastricht while driving back. In Ardennes, we spent one day walking around and visiting (apparently) the smallest city in the world, Durbury. And the second day, we visited Luxembourg City.

I loved my time there, relaxing while being surrounded by nature. And the chalet we were staying at was another highlight of this trip. It was such an idyllic weekend, and so close to Amsterdam, that I could see myself going there again for sure (though that never happened 😁).


Driving to Ardennes, through Valkenburg 

It is a 4 hour drive from Amsterdam to Durbury, though it took us a lot longer due to rains on the way. The first part of the drive was through dried out vegetation as it had been a hot summer. The second part got greener though. And for the first time I saw hills in the Netherlands (yes they exist!) in the province of Limburg. So we decided to have a lunch stop in the hilly town of Valkenburg. And what a stunning stop it was.

As usual it was a rainy day, and I timed our stop so that we could spend the non-rainy hours exploring the town. We had lunch next to the city walls, with a view of the hills around. At the restaurant, we ran into a waiter who knew a lot about India, its culture and history, and chatted with us through our lunch about it. It was such a welcome surprise, I would never have expected to find someone who knows about India in such a small restaurant in a small town like Valkenburg.

Valkenburg city walls

After lunch, we walked around the old town. It was such a gorgeous little place, with a castle, a moat and city gates all around. And there were colourful flowers everywhere. The old town was full of grand buildings, all made of yellow stone. All around there were huge city gates. After that, we walked up the hill to the castle ruins and loved the views of the town from the top – they were stunning.

We spent some time in the high street, it was lined with charming shops, restaurants and hotels. The wares being sold there was quite nice actually. Apparently, Valkenburg is quite a popular resort in the Netherlands and that showed in the good quality of stuff being sold there. We walked into a shop selling the famous cuckoo clocks from Blackforest and ended up buying one! Another surprise for us, as we wouldn’t have expected it.

City gates of Valkenburg

The people here felt different too, they were less tall than the Northern Dutch and appeared less fit too. They spoke in a softer tone and were warmer. I now understand why the North and South Dutch say that they have different cultures. I felt the same about the people here too.

We were supposed to have a very short stop at Valkenburg but ended up spending 3 hours exploring the town, it was just so inviting. We didn’t want to leave but had to, and its good we left when we did, because by the time we left, it started raining again! After that, we also got stuck in a thunderstorm on our way to Belgium. There was a heavy downpour and the highway was flooded with water. For some time, we could barely see the road or the cars ahead of us. It was a bit scary, but thankfully all the cars started driving slowly and we all made it out safely. It was still quite an interesting experience to drive on a highway with such heavy rains when you can’t see anything.


Our accommodations

View outside our chalet

We reached Durbury still in daylight and got a chance to look around our accommodation for a bit. We had booked a chalet at Sunclass Durbury – a vacation bungalow park in Ardennes. It was a green wooded area with secluded wooden chalets spread out across the park, surrounded by trees and greenery. It felt like we were very close to nature, living a simple life nestled in the the woods. But with all modern amenities. The vacation park was managed by a company and had many facilities including an indoor pool. We loved our stay there, waking up to the chirping of birds. And eating our meals in the outdoors, under the trees. Even though it was summer and very hot during the day, the mornings and evenings got a bit chilly. But we still ate outside every time, to just enjoy the nature all around.


Day out in Durbury

Walk to Durbury

Our first day, we walked about 4kms from our bungalow park to the town of Durbury. It was a sunny day and so was fun to be in nature and the countryside. We walked through an adventure valley and then along a small river all the way to Durbury. There was such a vibrant green colour all around, every turn was just picture perfect.

Durbury

The city was small and quaint. Most of the houses were built of a grey coloured stone and had an eerie look to it. Once at the city, we walked through the main street, past a castle to a waterfall. And spent some time there. There were a few food festivals going on and loads of people enjoying the summer everywhere. It was just so idyllic, we just spent some time walking around and exploring the place. The heat got to us though, and we rested the rest of the day in our chalet.

Durbury along the river

Our bungalow park did not have an electric charging point. So in the evening we drove around a bit looking for one and found one next to a random restaurant along the road. While waiting for the car to be charged, we walked to the neighbouring village of Petite Han, and took a walk in the village. Even that was such a surprise. There were these huge palacious houses in that village, most of which looked empty. Still it was impressive to see a random village somewhere like this offer such luxurious living.


Day out in Luxembourg

Radhadesh

Some of our friends lived in Luxembourg and we thought of visiting them during the day, covering another country too 😀. On our way to Luxembourg, we first stopped at Radhadesh, the European headquarters of the Hare Rama Hare Krishna mission. It was located right next to our bungalow park. We had seen the boards earlier and somehow couldn’t believe it, so went for a visit anyways. Radhadesh is a huge castle type chalet located atop a small hill, with green grounds all around, and some houses in the neighbouring area for people to stay.

Radhadesh

We had breakfast there which was simple tasty Indian food. And free. The volunteers were cooking and serving us food. It was quite a nice experience. After that we went into the castle which was decorated like a Hindu temple. They had photos of Indian gods and their teachings on the walls. There were a few other places to see nearby, so we explored it for a bit. It was quite a surprise to run into such a place in the middle of nowhere in Belgium.

Terrace of Europe

After that, we were on our way to Luxembourg. It was a 2 hour drive through forests, hills and charming villages everywhere. And then we were in Luxembourg. It is a very small but extremely rich country. You can sense it as soon as you enter it, the roads and infrastructure all around is much better. Also all public transport in the country is free – buses, trains, everything. All public transport is also electric.

Luxembourg City

The capital city of Luxembourg, called Luxembourg City is spread out all along a valley with steep cliffs on both sides. The old city with its grand buildings are all along this valley, the rest is spread out on the top. After lunch at our friend’s, we took the local bus into town which apparently is also the scenic route bus. The entry into the city is impressive, you go down a valley and see the whole city spread out in front of you. The first view is quite spectacular and rich. All the buildings are grand and well maintained. And you can see a few castles all around.

Shopping street

We got off at the main bridge, and walked towards the city centre. We explored some of the shopping streets and the main market square. It was clear from the stuff being sold in the flea market, that this was a rich country. As was visible from the other shops too, they had a lot of good expensive stuff.

 

Adolphe bridge

We crossed the Adolphe Bridge to the other side of the valley and took another bus, no 13, and then tram no 1, from one end of town to the other. The city was pretty actually, simple and pretty. There were grand houses all the way. And the bus at the end goes into charging after every trip. It almost felt like we were in a toy city. We stopped at a park for a bit too, to rest from the sun.

We walked past a few of the places listed on the to-dos for Luxembourg City - Terrace of Europe, Grand Ducal palace, Place de Armes, Golden Lady (Monument of remembrance) and Notre Dame cathedral (which was closed) - but to be honest nothing was striking. And thus the trip to this country was over.


Driving back, through Maastricht

Maastricht along the river

While driving back, the weather was better and we saw gorgeous Belgium without a thunderstorm ruining our view. We stopped in the student town of Maastricht for a break but were unimpressed with the town. We visited the market square and did some local shopping. Then walked along the river and saw loads of churches everywhere. There wasn’t a lot more else to do there actually.

So we didn’t stop there long. And kept driving back to Amsterdam. On the way, we stopped at a random place on the way for lunch, at a lake called Strand in s-Hertogenbosch. It was full of people enjoying the sun, swimming and just enjoying the good weather. And this is what I will miss about the Netherlands the most – the Dutch know how to enjoy good weather, by being active and in nature. After the stop, we drove on towards Amsterdam. The rest of the drive was the same old, flat Netherlands.

Living in nature

Overall, I loved our trip to the Ardennes, the simplicity of nature it offers. Definitely a place I would recommend for weekend trips from the Netherlands.