The Ardennes covers more than a third of Belgium. The hills here are not as high as the Alps, but they are ancient and heavily wooded, with oak, beech, and pine trees stretching for miles. Clear rivers like the Ourthe and the Semois cut through the valleys, perfect for kayaking and fishing.
The landscape is dotted with dramatic medieval castles built on rocky outcrops above the rivers. The castle of Bouillon, perched high above the town of the same name, is one of the oldest and most spectacular. Visitors can walk along its battlements and look down at the river looping below.
Animals thrive in the Ardennes because so much of it is still wild. Red deer, wild boar, roe deer, and foxes move through the forest. In the sky above, buzzards and red kites hunt. The Hautes Fagnes nature reserve in the north-east of the Ardennes is a vast boggy plateau where rare mosses, cotton grass, and bog heather grow.
In winter, the Ardennes hills get a proper covering of snow. Villages look like Christmas cards, and people go cross-country skiing along forest trails. The region is also famous for its local smoked hams and game p芒t茅s - the forests provide ingredients that have been turned into traditional recipes for centuries.