Stunning hike in Stoumont at Ambleve river and Chateau de froidcour (17 km)

Hiking in Stoumont offers you everything you’d expect of a typical Belgian hike. The hike follows the Amblève river, passes some beautiful viaducts and the highlight is definitely when you pass Chateau de froidcour. 

Stoumont is one of the many little villages located in the High Fens (Haute Fagnes). Just a few minutes away from the waterfalls of Coo (Cascades de Coo), which are probably the most famous waterfalls in Belgium.

Hike Description

Distance: The total distance for this hike is 17 kilometers (loop hike)
Elevation gain: The total incline was 545 meters
Moving time: According to Strava my moving time was 4 hours and 48 minutes.
Difficulty: I would rate this as an easy to intermediate hike. There are a few steeper climbs but they never last very long. Some single tracks have a bit of a dropoff but nothing scary at all. If you’re planning to do this hike between November and February the path next to the Amblève river might not be accessible due to the high water. At least that’s what I heard from other hikers. We did the hike mid April and didn’t have any issues at all.
Address parking: N633 25-21, 4987 Stoumont. If you insert Stoumont in your GPS you will end up at the church and the parking is right next to it and also the starting point of the hike. Parking is very limited here so you might have to find an alternative parking spot next to the road just like we had to do. 

I pinned the location on Google Maps for your convenience. Just click the pin and navigate straight to the trailhead.

How to get to Stoumont?

The starting point is at the church of Stoumont which is located at about 25 minutes driving from Malmedy which is a very popular tourism destination in the High Fens of Belgium.

The easiest way to get to Stoumont is with your own transportation. However if you don’t have a car you can get there with public transportation as well. The easiest way is to take a train to Aywaille and then take bus 142 to Stoumont Eglise. Make sure to check the bus schedule so you don’t get stuck there.

This could be a perfect active day trip from Brussels but make sure to leave early enough because it’s 1 hour and 30 minutes driving from the capital of Belgium.

What is the easiest way to hike in Stoumont along the Ambleve river and Chateau de froidcour?

Generally speaking for all hikes, the easiest way is to download a .gpx file that you can view on a gps device, a smartphone or smartwatch. It will tell you step-by-step how to walk. It also includes an elevation profile of the hike which can help you to decide if this hike is for you or not. All the hikes on this blog are being tracked on Strava (sports tracking smartphone application) and Wikiloc (community based hiking smartphone application).

I wouldn’t advise to hike this trail without using the .gpx file or at least a print of the route because it can get confusing sometimes. This route is based on a route from the website originelewandelingen.be.

Download the GPX file right here: hike-in-stoumont-along-ambleve-river-and-chateau-de-froidcou.gpx

More hiking inspiration in this region? Check out this article where I hiked around the beautiful Gileppe Lake at sunset!

How was the hike from Stoumont along the Ambleve river and Chateau de froidcour?

The starting point of the hike is at the church of Stoumont. You cross the road into the street called ‘Roua’ and immediately you will leave civilization and walk into the lush green fields of Stoumont.

After only about 15 minutes you will see Chateau de froidcour in the distance. You catch a quick glimpse but later into the hike you will be able to get a closer look from the other side!

At around 2 kilometers you will leave the open spaces and start hiking more and more into the forest where lots of little streams are forming small waterfalls. From about 2,8 kilometers up to around 4,5 kilometers you will gain about 100 meters elevation but as it’s spread out over 2 kilometers it doesn’t feel very steep.

For the next 4 kilometers (until around the 8 kilometer mark) you will slowly make your way into the valley of the Amblève river which in my opinion is where the hike really starts getting interesting! 

The Amblève river springs in the East-Belgian village Büllingen. Büllingen is in the German speaking region of Belgian and there the Amblève river is called the Amel river. The river flows for 93 kilometers until it flows out into the Ourthe river and after that it flows into the Meuse river in the city Liège.

We walked the Stoumont trail mid-April and the river was flowing pretty fast and the water was very high. From another hiker I heard that the water was even too high in the months of January / February which made it impossible to hike the trail next to the Amblève river. 

If you’re doing this hike in summer time I’m pretty sure you could take a swim in the Amblève river. There were definitely some spots that could serve as a beach to hang out and swim for a bit. I might actually go back in summertime to take a dip!

For over 3 kilometers you will walk along the beautiful Amblève river until you reach a pretty epic looking viaduct, this is also the point where you go left to start climbing out of the Amblève valley. In about 1 kilometer you’ll gain about 70 meters in elevation. Nothing extreme and you’ll have the view over the beautiful Chateau de froidcour as a reward. To be honest I didn’t know anything about this castle until I saw it on the hiking trail. It intrigued me so I started doing some research and apparently you can book a stay in the tower of the castle. This is the link to book a stay at Chateau de froidcour on Booking. Of course I can’t vouch for the service but according to the reviews it sounds pretty good and prices were not extremely expensive for a stay in a real castle. I’m sure it would make a great romantic getaway for you and yours. 

Now that you hiked in the scenic valley of the Amblève river, you saw the fairytale like castle Chateau de froidcour, it is now time for interesting single tracks. For the next few kilometers you will be hiking above the Amblève river surrounded by dense forest. At the start of this single track you will see a sign saying ‘Chemin Privé / Privé pad. Don’t worry if you read further it says that hikers are welcome from 9h00 till 18h30 which is most likely the time that you will pass there.

After hiking for a while we saw a sign that said ‘Le Congo – 236m’. The source of this hike was the website originelewandelingen.be and there the hike was called ‘Congo at the Amblève river’. Apparently the railway and tunnels were built by people brought here from Congo which was previously a Belgian colony hence the name.

At around 15 kilometers just after a short steep climb you will leave the forest and walk through a meadow that has some weird looking signs with numbers on them. We absolutely had no idea what they were until we saw that just below the number the name ‘Agro Golf’ was written. After doing some googling it seemed that there is an Agro Golf club in Stoumont called La Ferme Monville. Agro Golf is a spin off of real golf where a broom with a piece of wood attached to it is the golf club and instead of a golf ball they use a real ball. Must be interesting to see this one day! 

As you walk through the Agro Golf fields you will finally see some signs of civilization again. After a 4-hour hike we were greeted by some friendly cows. A few minutes later we were back in the town of Stoumont.

Congratulations, you reached the parking!

Should you hike in Stoumont along the Ambleve river and Chateau de Froidcour?

The hike from Stoumont in the valley of the Amblève was very rewarding on a beautiful early Spring day. I could definitely recommend this hike to anyone wanting to have an out of civilization experience. We barely saw anyone on this 17 kilometer hike.