Venntrilogie

The Venntrilogie runs about 109 kilometres in six stages from the Drielandenpunt at Vaalserberg, where Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany meet, to Lake Bütgenbach in the Belgian Eifel. The daily stages are long but honest: roughly 10 to 25 kilometres per day, with the biggest single climb saved for the crossing of the High Fenn plateau, where the trail reaches Signal de Botrange at 694 metres, the highest point of Belgium. Expect around 2,800 metres of accumulated ascent over the whole route.

The character changes with every stage. The first two wind through rolling border country between the three countries, past mine history in Kelmis and a string of castles around Raeren, before dropping into Eupen, the main town of the German-speaking community. From there the trail climbs onto the High Fenn: open peat bog, wooden walkways, spruce and heather, with boardwalks over the wettest sections and a weather station at the summit that tells you why you brought a rain shell. The second half descends through the Warche valley past the Bayehon waterfall and the medieval Château de Reinhardstein to the lakes at Bütgenbach and Worriken.

The trail is fully waymarked with its own logo signs and the navigation is straightforward, but the plateau sections deserve respect in poor visibility. Accommodation logic is town-based: Eupen has the widest choice of hotels and a youth hostel, Malmedy and the Ovifat area serve the middle days, and the route finishes at the lakeside campsite and hotels of Bütgenbach. Book the High Fenn stage end and the Reinhardstein valley nights ahead in summer. Spring brings moorland flowering, early autumn the clearest views; book Eupen and Malmedy weekends early. By train, Eupen is the practical entry point via Liège, with local buses to the Vaalserberg trailhead and from Bütgenbach back.