Hike in Terhills – Beautiful landscapes guaranteed!

This hike in Terhills, which is part of the National Park Hoge Kempen is in my opinion of the most beautiful hikes in Flanders. During this relative short distance nature walk you will see some of Flanders most unique landscapes. It actually feels like this isn’t Belgium!

Description of the hike in terhills

Distance: The total distance for this hike is 11 kilometers (loop hike)
Elevation gain: The total incline was 164 meters
Moving time: According to Strava my moving time was 2 hours and 30 minutes.
Difficulty: I would rate this as an easy hike. The path is quite easy to navigate. Except for some quick climbs the elevation gain is very limited. I could definitely recommend this to anyone with or without hiking experience.
Address parking: Zetellaan 54, 3630 Maasmechelen – Belgium
Price: Free

Or use the pinned location below so you can navigate straight to the parking where the hike starts. 

How to get to Terhills?

Getting to Terhills is easiest with your own car. From Brussels as it is only about 1 hour and 30 minutes driving.

It is also possible to get to Terhills with public transportation and that would take you about 2 hours and 10 minutes. First you take the train to Hasselt and then a 1 hour bus to Eisden Kunstacademie which is only a 2 minute walk away.

You could also combine this with some shopping at Maasmechelen Village that is only 5 minutes away.

How to hike in Terhills?

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 purple signs but with the new holiday park it’s sometimes tricky to find the way.

Download the GPX file right here: hike-terhills-purple-trail.gpx

What is Terhills in the National Park Hoge Kempen in Belgium?

Terhills is an old mining site that is transformed into a beautiful place for hiking and just relaxing in nature. From on top of the terrils there are beautiful views over the lakes. The 365 hectares area of Terhills lies at the border of Belgium’s only national park called Hoge Kempen.

Even though it looks very tempting, swimming in the lakes is not allowed except in the designated area that borders the Terhills Resort Center Parcs. Staying here for a weekend is probably very nice with kids. The only downside of this resort is that it spoils the view from on top of the terrils. I visited Terhills (previously Connecterra) several times and I was quite dissapointed when I saw the construction works of this resort. Nevertheless it’s a beautiful area to stay in.

By using gates you will have to pass through the resort while hiking. These gates closes at sunset so make sure you’re on time. We did this hike and were confronted with closed gates. Luckily a guard reopened it for us so we could pass. If you use my gpx file you will notice we did some detours because of this.

How is hiking in Terhills?

The hike starts in front of the visitor centre where you can see on your rights side the route explained on a sign. You could start the route in that direction (counter-clockwise). We followed the route clockwise.

After about 20 minutes you will reach the lake and immediately you’ll see how beautiful this area is. If you look around you will see the huge terrils (excavated gravel covered in bush and trees now). Later into the hike we will go on top of each of these terrils to witness the beautiful surroundings from up there.

Most of the paths are gravel roads that are easily walkable. Sometimes you will have to pass a single track but in general all paths are very easy to navigate.

Viewpoints in Terhills

I would describe the views in Terhills as the most beautiful viewpoints in Flanders. It doesn’t really feel like you’re in Belgium there.

When starting the hike in Terhills there’s an old mining tower that could server as a great viewpoint but sadly enough it was almost always closed in the last years. Only once when I went there it was open and I didn’t go up there. I hope they reopen it soon!

When following the same direction as we did, after passing the lake you will start climbing two terrils. One by one there are spectacular views from up there!

After passing through the resort you can climb the third terril which in my opinion gives the most scenic view over the area! When I tracked the GPX route I didn’t go up there as it was getting quite dark already. I have some photos and videos from the year before though.