Hike Gileppe Lake in Jalhay, Belgium (15 km)

In this article I will explain how to hike at Gileppe Lake that is located not far from the High Fens in Belgium. Because of the many viewpoints along the way this rather easy and short hike is definitely recommended! Also in this article I will explain how to find the best sunset spot around the Gileppe lake.

Description of the hike

Distance: The total distance for this hike is 15 kilometers (loop hike)
Elevation gain: The total incline was 237 meters
Moving time: According to Strava my moving time was 3 hours and 2 minutes.
Difficulty: I would rate this as an easy hike. The path is very easy to navigate and there is almost no elevation gain. I could definitely recommend this to anyone with or without hiking experience.
Address parking: Route de la Gileppe 55A, 4845 Jalhay – Belgium

If you tap ‘Lac de la Gileppe’ or use the pinned location below so you can navigate straight to the parking where the hike starts. 

How to get to Gileppe lake?

As this is a small town in the countryside of the Belgian Ardennes the best way to get to the Gileppe lake in Jalhay is by using your own car. It could be a perfect half day trip from Brussels as it is only about 1 hour and 30 minutes driving. If you go in the late afternoon, like I did, you have the chance to witness a beautiful sunset.

How to hike around the Lake?

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).

For this route in particular it’s rather easy, you can just follow the green rectangular signs, sometimes there are also signs that say ‘Tour du Lac’.

Download the GPX file right here: hike-around-lac-de-la-gileppe.gpx

WHAT CAN YOU DO AT THE GILEPPE LAKE IN JALHAY, BELGIUM?

On several occasions I had already visited this lake but each time there wasn’t enough time to really hike all around it. Mostly I just went there to enjoy the beautiful view over the lake. Actually you don’t even need to go very far to see how spectacular the lake actually is. When arriving at Gileppe Lake, the viewpoint is just next to the parking lot. 

Of course if you want the whole experience, it is better to go down to the dam where there is a watch tower where you can go up to 78 meters with an elevator giving you a stunning panoramic view over the whole Gileppe lake. The entrance is free and there’s a bar/restaurant on top of the tower. Another bar / restaurant can be found next to the lake where you can enjoy a fresh drink while sitting on the terrace and enjoying the views. 

If you’re not into hiking there is also a possibility to rent a (electric) bike or segway to follow almost the same route as you would do while hiking.

As I love hiking I decided to walk all around the lake. Also it’s much easier to take photos while hiking!

HOW WAS HIKING AROUND THE LAKE?

The hike at the Gileppe Lake is pretty straightforward as you just follow the green rectangular signs all around. Sometimes there are also signs with ‘Tour du Lac’ on them so you really can’t miss. If however you’re a bit of a control freak like myself and you prefer to use a hiking application, feel free to follow my tracked route on Wikiloc.

In general this hike is not really challenging, the distance is about 15 kilometers with an elevation gain of about 237 meters. In combination with easily accessible walking paths the hike around the lake can be done in about 3 hours.

If you’re looking for a hike in the region you might like this one as well: Stunning hike in Stoumont along the Ambleve river and Chateau de froidcour (17 km)

Now that we have the details out of the way let’s focus on what you can see during the hike at Gileppe lake.

WHAT TO SEE WHILE HIKING AROUND THE LAKE?

You could either hike clockwise or counterclockwise around the lake. The official way and the ‘Tour du Lac’ signs point you in the clockwise direction but I chose differently because of the sunset that I wanted to see.

If you start hiking clockwise you start on the side of the bar and need to follow an asphalted road to start with. I actually made a mistake and started hiking closer to the lake and had to climb a bit through the forest (nothing hard) to get to the official trail after about 250 meters. So best is to start on the asphalted road immediately.

During the hike at Gileppe Lake you will be on and off asphalted roads with once in a while a smaller offroad track or a wooden bridge that crosses a river that flows into the lake. Seeing how small these rivers that flow into the lake were I wondered how long it took to fill up that whole lake many years ago. Let’s see if I can find the answer on Google.

When following counterclockwise the first nice view that you get is only after about 2 kilometers and to be honest that was not the most interesting view. It was worth a photo however.

There was a picnic spot around 5 kilometers into the hike where you can eat your own snacks or something. Further down the road at around 7 kilometers, which is pretty much halfway there’s a bivouac camping place where you also have some tables and quite a lot of space to pitch your tent for the night. Be aware that cars are not allowed there. So this is only for bikers or hikers. There are no toilets or anything around. There is however a small river that runs next to the camping spot where you could get some water to refresh. As the Gileppe lake is providing Eupen, parts of the Liege region and Verviers with drinking water it obviously makes sense to keep that water as clean as possible so please respect that.

After passing the bivouac spot the real beautiful viewpoints start to show. Once in a while there are some benches. As the golden hour was slowly starting I had my packed lunch on one of the benches. It was lovely to enjoy some of that, pretty rare this year, sunlight in Belgium on a late April day.

The most interesting viewpoint is actually at around 8,5 kilometer into the hike. To really get a good view of the lake you do have to leave the official path a bit. It was clear that most people check out that spot because there was clearly a path into that direction and back. If you follow for maybe 50 meters you will have an amazing view over the lake from on top of a cliff that is probably about 10 meters high. Although normally swimming isn’t allowed in the Gileppe lake for obvious reasons it looked a bit like a cliff jumping spot. Not sure though.

In between 8 kilometers and pretty much the end of the hike there are a lot of nice viewpoints over the lake.

My goal specifically was to witness the sunset so I tried finding the perfect spot.

AN AMAZING SUNSET AT GILEPPE LAKE!

The best sunset spots are around the 10 kilometer mark if you walk counterclockwise around the lake or at around 5 kilometers if you do the hike clockwise. I actually marked a waypoint on my Wikiloc entry where I watched the sunset. To witness the sunset from a nice spot around the lake, timing is pretty important. So I would say if you hike counterclockwise like I did, leave 3 hours before sunset. If you do it clockwise you should leave about 2 hours before sunset. You would arrive approximately when the golden hour starts and have about 1 hour to enjoy the sunset. And when I was there it was truly epic. There were some clouds reflecting on the lake and after sunset the sky turned pink which made it even more worth the wait. 

Of course sunset mission equals walking back in the dark, so I walked mostly in the dark for about 1h. Just before arriving at the dam I took another shot of the Gileppe dam at night. Also cool to see!

IS IT WORTH IT TO HIKE AROUND THE GILEPPE LAKE IN JALHAY BELGIUM?

If you’re only into adventurous hikes I wouldn’t recommend doing this. However if you feel like hiking mostly for the views and it is definitely worth it. If you consider the timing like I did you could be treated with a spectacular sunset. Do check the weather predictions because it won’t always be like the day I went.

In general I would recommend this as an afternoon activity and it can easily be done with kids and/or your dog.