The Ardennes is the Belgium that most visitors never find — a landscape of dense forest, river valleys and medieval castles that extends across the south of the country and into Luxembourg and France.

Bouillon is the most beautiful of the Ardennes towns — a medieval castle on a rocky spur above the Semois river, with the town below and the forest stretching in every direction. The castle of Godfrey of Bouillon, who led the First Crusade in 1096, is one of the best-preserved medieval fortresses in Belgium.

The Semois valley is the most beautiful in the Ardennes — a river that winds through the forest in a series of extraordinary meanders, with the towns of Bouillon, Alle-sur-Semois and Vresse-sur-Semois on its banks. The walking trails along the river are among the finest in Belgium.

The food of the Ardennes is a cuisine of the forest and the river: wild boar, venison, trout, crayfish and the Ardennes ham that is one of the great charcuterie products of Belgium. The Trappist abbey of Orval, in the south of the province, produces one of the finest beers in the world. Bella Via designs Ardennes itineraries that combine the landscape with the food culture and the medieval history of the region.

The Ardennes rewards those who arrive with time and leave with a deeper understanding of what Belgium looks like when the cities are left behind.