Things to Do in Ardennes

Kayak descent of the Semois from Bouillon

You push off beneath Bouillon's crumbling feudal castle, the current tugging gently at the kayak while herons flap off between poplars mirrored in the tea-brown water. Mid-river gravel banks appear like private islands, smelling of hot pine needles. By late afternoon the water turns golden and you hear nothing but dragonfly wings and your paddle slicing.

La Roche-en-Ardenne battlefield walk

The 1944 foxholes are still visible in the beech roots above town. When the guide lifts a rusted ration tin you catch a faint whiff of old petrol. Suddenly a stag barks in the neighbouring thicket, the same sound that kept exhausted GI's awake in their icy trenches.

Durbuy's topiary labyrinth at twilight

From the cliff walk you look down on box hedges clipped into chess pieces, their green sharp against the red sandstone of the smallest city on earth. Cicadas hum overhead while the Ourthe river glints below like hammered copper. Getting deliberately lost among the shoulder-high walls smells of clipped boxwood and warm earth.

Rochehaut viewpoint over the Semois loop

Stone steps climb past a wayside calvary. At the top the whole river coils below like a dropped ribbon, the spruce hills rolling into France. Hang around until the church bells of neighbouring villages start answering each other in stereo, carried on air that feels cool even in July.

Chimay Trappist brewery cellar tour

Cistercian monks have brewed here since 1862; descending the trapdoor you feel cold stone breath and smell fermenting grain sweet as wet cereal. In the tasting room the ale arrives cloudy, tasting of dark bread and orchard fruit, while the cheese - washed in the same beer - oozes mushroom and caramel.

Bouillon old town - riverside lanes where cafés leave deckchairs out until midnight

La Roche-en-Ardenne hillside - timber chalets with forest decks and morning squirrel raids

Durbuy centre - cobbled lanes inside the city walls, handy for Friday night market

Hotton cliffs - converted farmhouses above the limestone crags, cheaper than the river towns

Chimay countryside - abbey-adjacent guest rooms where breakfast cheese comes still dripping

Saint-Hubert forest - former hunting lodge turned eco-lodge, deer outside the window