r/travel • u/AutoModerator • Jul 04 '19
Advice r/travel Region of the Week: 'Wallonia'
Hey travellers!
In this new series of weekly threads we want to focus on regions that have a lot to offer to travellers: the towns, nature, and other interesting places whether they are lesser or more known. If more known provide more in depth suggestions like tours, things to do, places to eat, etc.
Please contribute all and any questions / thoughts / suggestions / ideas / stories / highlights about this travel destination, whether it be places you want to see or experiences you have had.
This post will be archived on our wiki destinations page and linked in the sidebar for future reference, so please direct any of the more repetitive questions there. Please cick here for list and dates of future destinations.
Only guideline: If you link to an external site, make sure it's relevant to helping someone travel to this city. Please include adequate text with the link explaining what it is about and describing the content from a helpful travel perspective.
Example: We really enjoyed the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. It was $35 each, but there's enough to keep you entertained for whole day. Bear in mind that parking on site is quite pricey, but if you go up the hill about 200m there are three $15/all day car parks. Monterey Aquarium
Unhelpful: Read my blog here!!!
Helpful: My favourite part of driving down the PCH was the wayside parks. I wrote a blog post about some of the best places to stop, including Battle Rock, Newport and the Tillamook Valley Cheese Factory (try the fudge and ice cream!).
Unhelpful: Eat all the curry! [picture of a curry].
Helpful: The best food we tried in Myanmar was at the Karawek Cafe in Mandalay, a street-side restaurant outside the City Hotel. The surprisingly young kids that run the place stew the pork curry[curry pic] for 8 hours before serving [menu pic]. They'll also do your laundry in 3 hours, and much cheaper than the hotel.
Undescriptive I went to Mandalay. Here's my photos/video.
As the purpose of these is to create a reference guide to answer some of the most repetitive questions, please do keep the content on topic. If comments are off-topic any particularly long and irrelevant comment threads may need to be removed to keep the guide tidy - start a new post instead. Please report content that is:
Completely off topic
Unhelpful, wrong or possibly harmful advice
Against the rules in the sidebar (blogspam/memes/referrals/sales links etc)
4
u/belgian_here Jul 04 '19
I'm from there, feel free to ask any kind of questions about our beautiful region 🙂
3
u/travel_ali Engländer in der Schweiz Jul 04 '19
What do you recommend? Especially anything that isn't well known.
2
Jul 04 '19
What nature/scenery/outdoorsy stuff is interesting in this area?
3
u/CheeseWheels38 CAN --> FRA/KAZ Jul 05 '19
Kayaking on rivers, amazing cycling and some places to hike. The Belgian Ardennes are rolling hills so there's no alpine peaks but it's still quite a beautiful region.
1
u/ComprehensiveSurgery Jul 06 '19
We visited the maredsous monastery and loved the hike up there. Are there any other monasteries that you would recommend visiting (something with a hike preferably).
Any other hikes or water sports (canoeing) in he region that you suggest?
Thanks !
1
u/CrrackTheSkye Jul 08 '19
I'm from Flanders, but very familiar with the region, so I can also help answer questions if necessary :)
1
u/CrrackTheSkye Jul 08 '19
Wallonia is indeed the most beautiful part of our country (I live in Flanders, so no bias). The top comment has a bunch of very nice information, I'd like to add that Bouillon and the region around it is my favourite part of the region. Le tombeau du geant is especially wonderful for hiking and biking.
1
u/kimsgh Jul 09 '19
Just went hiking in the Ninglinspo Valley in Aywaille on sunday. It's like only an hour drive from my place in Flanders. Really love Wallonia since there are so many hiking options but also really nice little villages to discover.
1
u/ImYaDawg Jul 10 '19
I’ve been to Bouillon recently, which is the perfect region if you’re into medieval castles and kayaking!
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u/CheeseWheels38 CAN --> FRA/KAZ Jul 04 '19
I bet at least a few people are wondering "so... where is Wallonia"? It's basically the southern/generally-French speaking part of Belgium that is bordered by France, Luxembourg, Germany and the Netherlands (link to imgur album). Sorry Flanders (the northern/generally-Flemish speaking part), but Wallonia is also where the more interesting physical geography in Belgium lies ;)
If you like beer, wafflesthere's no such thing as a "Belgian Waffle", chocolates and WWII history then it's a great place to visit. There are nice citadels in Namur, Huy and Dinant that can make for good day trips and Durbuy is a candiate as well. When I went back last summer we visited a couple abbeys (where they brew their own beer and make their own cheese) and the triple point between Belgium/the Netherlands/Germany (only a few meters from the highest point in the Netherlands).
I studied for a year in Liège, easily reachable from Paris/Brussels/Amsterdam/Luxembourg. It's clearly not as popular as Paris but it was awesome to live there and I quite enjoyed a trip back last summer. There's a nice Christmas Market in December (open until almost New Year's) and a good number of things going on in the area. I've had a lot of beer in a lot of bars around the world, but the best experience by far is a Belgian beer, served in a freshly rinsed glass meant for that beer, along with some cheese (often from the same place as the beer). Fun fact, the Cointe Observatory in Liège looks a hell of a lot like the Planet Express headquarters.
You can find the Wallonia Tourism Office here and the cities will all have tourism websites as well.