Where to practice an individual sport Welkenraedt

Welcome to the roof of Belgium! Standing proudly at 694 meters, the Signal de Botrange and its tower are the high points of this cross-border park with Germany. It's also the starting (or finishing) point for hikes on the Hautes-Fagnes plateau. Walking on duckboards, you'll discover an open peat bog landscape which, when it's foggy, is even more mysterious. But the park also boasts fir forests, rivers and lakes, bike trails and even an alpine ski resort at Ovifat!

This verdant setting is a real eye-catcher. It's the ideal place for relaxation, conviviality and sport. At the beginning of the season, free introductory lessons are organized, and a range of courses is available for those who wish to go further. Next to the green, you'll be amazed by the cuisine at Birdie Avernas: an excellent brasserie offering a balanced menu of fish, seafood and tasty meats, with a terrace for summer evenings. Françoise takes care of everything and always welcomes you with a smile.

Here's an easy 10-kilometre walk from the lower town of Eupen itself! As you leave the town, you enter a beautiful forest, first of deciduous trees, then of pines, following the course of the Vesdre. Soak up the sounds of nature and the rushing water. The Vesdre, which flows through lower Eupen, is one of three rivers that feed the Eupen dam and artificial lake, the country's third-largest drinking water reserve, which supplies Eupen, the Pays de Herve and even part of Liège.

The dam, which you can drive over (even drive your car over) and observe from both sides (reservoir side and lake side), is truly impressive. It's a veritable wall of stone, holding back an astronomical quantity of water. It took 12 years to complete (the dam was inaugurated in 1950). If you look at the lake side, you can see the gentle relief of the Hautes-Fagnes, covered with conifers that appear more black than green. Are we still in Belgium or have we been transported to Canada? A landscape that can be appreciated even better from the terrace of the Besucherzentrum Wesertalsperre, a panoramic restaurant high above the dam. Now's the time to take a break, wolf down some schnitzels, boulets liégeois or a nice waffle, before returning to Eupen via another path, which is part educational trail, between forest and countryside. The trail is very well signposted, so you won't get lost.