Hautes Fagnes
Hautes Fagnes
Twenty-one kilometers (13 miles) northeast of Spa sits Eupen, the gateway town for the Hautes Fagnes (High Fens). Here, in the heart of the German-speaking part of Belgium, is a marvelous 45-square-km (17-square-mile) ecological expanse of peat bogs, heath, and marshland—the western part of the German-Belgian Hautes Fagnes-Eifel natural park. This is Belgium’s largest area of protected wilderness, and it also happens to be the country’s wettest, coldest, and most bizarre terrain. Foggy mists, sometimes dense, make navigating a path through the park’s wilderness difficult. The saturated bogs hide quagmires just waiting to pull down unsuspecting feet—thus, explorations are confined to wooden boardwalks. Don’t let the somewhat forbidding circumstances deter you; the Hautes Fagnes is one of...
Read MoreTwenty-one kilometers (13 miles) northeast of Spa sits Eupen, the gateway town for the Hautes Fagnes (High Fens). Here, in the heart of the German-speaking part of Belgium, is a marvelous 45-square-km (17-square-mile) ecological expanse of peat bogs, heath, and marshland—the western part of the German-Belgian Hautes Fagnes-Eifel natural park. This is Belgium’s largest area of protected wilderness, and it also happens to be the country’s wettest, coldest, and most bizarre terrain. Foggy mists, sometimes dense, make navigating a path through the park’s wilderness difficult. The saturated bogs hide quagmires just waiting to pull down unsuspecting feet—thus, explorations are confined to wooden boardwalks. Don’t let the somewhat forbidding circumstances deter you; the Hautes Fagnes is one of Belgium’s natural wonders.
