Belgium · Wallonia · Premium route guide
Wallonia Ardennes loop
400 kilometres through the Belgian Ardennes — Bouillon on the Semois, up through Bastogne and La Roche, on to Spa (yes, that Spa), and back via the Saint-Hubert forest. Forest sweepers, riverside roads, easy touring pace, and the best food-per-kilometre ratio in the low countries.
- Distance
- 406.8 km
- Peak elevation
- 574 m
- Elevation gain
- 3,860 m
- Best months
- Mar–Nov
The route
A loop out of Bouillon on the French border: north-east via Bertrix and Neufchâteau to Bastogne, then La Roche and Houffalize in the heart of the Ardennes, up to Spa via Vielsalm and Stavelot, and back through Durbuy, Marche-en-Famenne and Saint-Hubert. Pins are motorcycle-friendly stays other riders have vetted.
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Works with Garmin, TomTom, BMW Navigator, Calimoto, Kurviger, komoot, MyRouteApp. Import as a track to ride the exact line. Road data from OpenStreetMap (ODbL); elevation from SRTM.
Track vs. route — how to load this into your GPS
What you're downloading is a GPX track — a dense, road-snapped breadcrumb of the exact line, with elevation on every point. It's not a GPX route (a short list of turn waypoints your device re-plans between). Tracks preserve our road choice; routes let the device pick its own way and can send you down a boring motorway shortcut.
How to use it on your navigator:
- BMW Navigator / Garmin Zumo / zūmo XT: import as a track, then Convert to Route (or Trip Planner → new trip from track) if you want turn-by-turn prompts. Keep Recalculation off so it stays on our line.
- TomTom Rider: import the GPX in MyDrive — it loads as a track / itinerary. Enable Follow the exact route so it doesn't re-plan.
- Calimoto: open the GPX and choose Import as tour — Calimoto follows the track line.
- Kurviger / komoot / MyRouteApp: open the GPX and pick Import as track to keep the road choice. Only choose Import as route if you want the app to re-plan for your bike profile.
- Google Maps / Apple Maps: these don't read GPX. Use the map on this page for turn cues, or import the file into a GPX-capable app first.
Rule of thumb: if your device asks "track or route?", pick track to ride our exact line — pick route only if you want the device to re-plan.
Elevation profile
From ~77 m at the base to 574 m at the top — 3,860 m of total climbing across the route.
This is a full day at a comfortable pace or a lazy weekend if you want to stop and eat. The Ardennes isn't dramatic in the way the Alps are — top elevation is around 650 m and the highest "pass" is a road across an open plateau — but it's the densest network of good motorcycling roads in the Benelux. Forest, river valleys, small stone villages, an inn every 20 km.
The classic anchor is Bouillon — walled town in a hairpin of the river Semois, castle on a rock above it, and a well-established rider base with hotels that expect bike gear at breakfast.
The road, honestly
The Ardennes gets under-rated because it isn't tall. What you get instead is variety in a small space: cambered river roads along the Semois and Ourthe, forest sweepers across the Saint-Hubert plateau, and the tight technical stuff between La Roche and Houffalize. All within 260 km of each other. It's the best training ground in northern Europe for the roads you'll ride further south.
Bastogne is a war site — the American cemetery, the Mardasson memorial, the museum — and worth an hour if you've never been. La Roche is the tourist-y bit: castle above a river bend, cafés and kayak hire on the water, and a great riverside overnight.
Where to eat, seriously
Wallonia takes food personally. Any village inn with a couple of local number plates outside will do you a plate of Ardennes ham, a local beer (Chimay, Rochefort, Orval — all Trappist, all within a day's ride of each other) and probably game if it's in season. La Roche and Durbuy are the two riverside towns where you can't order a bad lunch. The Trappist monastery brewery at Orval also runs a beer garden, and Orval is on the western edge of the loop — worth a detour.
Spa (yes, that Spa)
The town of Spa is where the word came from, and the circuit — Spa-Francorchamps — is 8 km away on the road out. You can ride the circuit's public road (the old part of the layout) most of the year. Combined with the town itself (thermal baths, café-lined main square), it's a full afternoon.
Weather, tolls and fuel
Rideable most of the year — the Ardennes is a shoulder-season paradise when the Alps are still closed. Snow is possible December–February on the higher forest sections (Baraque Fraiture, Baraque de Fraiture crossroads). No tolls anywhere on the loop. Fuel is easy — this is Belgium, stations every 20 km.
What to see along the way
- Bouillon — Walled town in a bend of the Semois, castle on the rock above it. The natural start and finish.
- Bastogne — Battle of the Bulge memorial and museum. Worth an hour even if military history isn't your thing.
- La Roche-en-Ardenne — Riverside town, castle on the ridge, kayaks on the Ourthe. Best lunch stop on the loop.
- Baraque Fraiture (652 m) — Highest crossroads in the Ardennes. Windswept, open, a café that's been there forever.
- Stavelot & Spa — Stavelot for the Latin abbey, Spa for the circuit and the town that gave its name to every hot bath in the world.
- Durbuy — "Smallest town in the world" — riverside, medieval, absurdly photogenic. Coffee stop.
Rent a bike
Rent a motorcycle or scooter for Wallonia Ardennes loop
Flying in? Pick up a bike near the start of the route. We've pre-filled the pick-up city with Bouillon / La Roche-en-Ardenne — change it if you're basing elsewhere.
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Rider-verified stays within 30 km
Automatically selected by proximity to the traced route — no editorial cherry-picking. Sorted by how close they are to the road.
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