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• Ardennes Mtn. Spring Beer Tour

The Ardennes Mountain Spring Beer Tour of Belgium
May 12-20, 2012 – Nine days, eight nights

To Beer Tours of Belgium


Arguably one of the most beautiful regions in Belgium, the Ardennes Mountains are rich with beer culture, scenery, gourmet cuisine (ham, trout, etc.), enchanting towns and history. It's where Belgians go on vacation.

Click here to see a short video of this tour!

On this tour we plan to visit the breweries of Achouffe, Caracole, Fantome, Rochefort, Chimay, Orval, Hoegaarden, Du Bocq, Des Fagnes, Bouillion, Trois Forquets and La Ferme Au Chene.We will also visit the
Abbey of Maredsous, visit a castle, have an opportunity to “rail bike,” tour the Gambrinus Drivers’ (beer truck) Museum, and visit the famous WWII Museum in
Bastogne, which chronicles the infamous “Battle of the Bulge."  We will also visit the Battlefield of Waterloo.  There will be plenty of time to explore, sightsee, shop, dine, discover beer cafés on your own and completely enjoy your vacation. Once you experience the
beauty and magic of the Ardennes you will appreciate the beers of the region even more through this experience of a lifetime.$2595 land only, $495 single supplement.* Deadline to sign up, April 12, 2012.

Click here to see a short video of this tour! 

Ardennes Mountain Spring Beer Tour of Belgium Itinerary

May 12-20, 2012

 

Day One: We meet mid morning at the Brussels International Airport (BRU) Arrivals Hall, where we immediately board our ground transportation to the city of Hoegaarden, where we will have lunch at the Niewhuys Brewpub & Museum.  Afterwards, we tour the famous Hoegaarden Brewery, where we will taste Belgium’s original wit ale at its source.  From there, we transfer to the scenic Ardennes Mountain town of Durbuy, pronounced, “Dubwee,” where we will spend the first two nights of the tour.  Afternoon is free to explore this picturesque medieval village.  This evening we meet for our Welcome Dinner at one of my favorite Durbuy restaurants, where one of the specialties of the house is the Ardennes Mountain trout.  Evening is free to discover the many beer cafés hidden around each turn of Durbuy’s cobble-stoned streets.

(Lunch & Dinner)

 

Day Two:  Morning is free to explore Durbuy, also known as the “smallest town in Belgium.” Late morning, we head to the nearby town Gouvy, to have lunch at the Trois Fourquets brewpub.  Just down the road from there, we will tour the Achouffe Brewery and have dinner at the Achouffe Tavern, where you will be able to taste all their beers including the house specialty beer, the McChouffe Royal, which is their brown ale with a shot of Port in it!  Afterwards, we return to our hotel Durbuy where the evening is free.

(Breakfast, lunch & dinner)

 

Day Three: After breakfast, we visit the Ferme au Chene brewpub, walking-distance from hour hotel.  We have a quick tour and beer (hey, it’s five o’clock somewhere).  Next, we say au revoir to the enchanting Durby and drive south through the deep valleys and vast forests of the scenic Ardennes to Ange Gardien (Guardian Angel), Orval’s brewery tap, where we will lunch and enjoy fresh Orval.   Depending on the schedule of the brewery and their ability to accommodate us, we may or may not be able to tour it. Orval Brewery is not open to the general public.  But thanks to an inside connection there, a tour may be possible.  At the very least we will be able to tour the grounds and ruins of the ancient Abbey of Orval.  The newer abbey, we will only see from the outside.  Great photo opportunities abound at Orval.

Near Orval, is the historic village of Bouillon, where we will tour the towering Castle of Bouillon and check into the Hotel La Porte de France.  Dinner is on your own in one of Bouillon’s many romantic cafés.  As much fun as it is dining with fellow beer enthusiasts, it’s also nice to have some time away from the group and experience some solitude and this is precisely why BBM! Tours are designed for this sense of freedom.

(Breakfast & Lunch)

 

Day Four: Morning is free and you are on your own to scout a place for lunch on your own.  After lunch, we depart Bouillon and head to Philippville and the Gambrinus (Beer Truck) Driver’s Museum, where they have an amazing collection of antique vehicles and Belgian breweriana.  And, yes, they do serve beer!  Our next stop is just down the road at the rustic and intimate Carcole Brewery, Belgium’s only wood-fired brewery, where we will take a tour, meet the brewer and taste all their beers in their stone-walled hospitality room.  You will want to stock up on Caracole styles not available in the United States.  For some of you, this will be your favorite brewery visit of the tour.  It is amazing to me how brewers, such as Francois here, take their time and share their beers one-on-one, slowly with no sense of being rushed.  It is truly representative of their name, Caracole, which means snail in Spanish.  Hospitality is not dead.  It is alive and well at Caracole!

Afterwards, we transfer to Hotel de L’ Auberpine in nearby Beauraing, where we will stay for the next two nights.  You are on your own for dinner in Beauraing.  There are several fine restaurants in easy walking distance of the hotel, or you may choose to eat in the hotel restaurant, which as a nice selection of beers, too.

(Breakfast)

 

Day Five: Some years ago, I stumbled across the conveniently-located village of Beauraing while scouting beer tours and discovered purely by accident why it is so famous.  Turns out it is a pilgrimage site with a fascinating history, no matter what your religious preferences.  This morning, there is an optional visit to Our Lady of Beauraing Chapel, where according to local legend, in 1932 & 1933 the “Blessed Virgin appeared to a group of children.”  It’s an intriguing, engaging and well-documented story.

Next, we head to the picturesque village of Rochefort, near the Trappist Abbey of St. Remy, for lunch at Relais St.-Remy café.  Here, you will be able to taste the full line of Rochefort of beers as close to the source as most will ever get.  After lunch, we will stop by the abbey and you will be able to view the exterior and take some photos.  There is a possibility we may be able to tour the brewery, but even with special connections, requests are at the discretion of the monks and their schedule.  So…maybe.

Continuing on we head to Soy, where we will tour the diminutive and esoteric Fantome farmhouse brewery and enjoy their hospitality room.  Brewer Danny Prignon is world-renown for his farmhouse ales and his spirited character.

From there, we head west to Purnode, to tour the du Bocq Brewery, brewers of many fine beers not available in the United States.  If you’ve never heard of them, no worries, you will come to know and love their beers.  This, also, is a really nice brewery tour.

Tonight we dine at the Leffe Café in Dinant, and time and light permitting, will visit the Abbey of Leffé.  After dinner, we return to our hotel in Beauraing for a much- needed rest after a long day of incredible beer hunting in Belgium!

(Breakfast)

 

Day Six: Today, we take it easier with a lighter schedule than yesterday.  We pull up stakes in Beauraing and relocate to the historic city of Bastogne, where we will spend the night and  have an optional tour the famous WWII museum.  Lunch and dinner are on your own in Bastogne, which has many great and atmospheric restaurants from which to choose.  You may opt out of the museum tour and spend the day shopping and exploring Bastogne, if you desire.  I encourage you to go, though, as the museum chronicles the Battle of the Bulge (known in Belgium as the Battle of the Ardennes) and the Battle of Bastogne, and is extremely fascinating to both the student of history and the casual visitor alike.  To really appreciate Belgium, it is important to know and feel the history of this great beer nation.  The evening in Bastogne is free to do as you please.

(Breakfast)

 

Day Seven: Morning is free to experience Bastogne.  At 10 a.m., we depart for Brasserie De Fagnes, home of Super Des Fagnes beer.   Here again, if you’ve never heard of it, no worries, you are going to like it.  With the word “super” in the title, you know it’s going to be good!  We’ll have lunch here before moving on to visit Chimay’s magnificent Trappist Abbey Notre Dame de Scourmont, where you will be able to go into the church, tour the gardens and the cemetery.  Afterward, we’ll move a stone’s throw down the road to the official Chimay brewery tap and hotel, Auberge de Poteaurpre, where we will enjoy dinner, Chimay cheeses and beers.  We will overnight here, too, so you just need to be able to walk to your room a short distance away.  What a perfect end to a perfect day!  For many Americans, Chimay is their first exposure to Belgian beer, so to be able to experience the terroir and origins of this famous and life-altering beer is very satisfying and special.

(Breakfast)

 

Day Eight: After breakfast, while enjoying the view of the bucolic, impossibly-green countryside, we head north to the majestic Abbey of Maredsous, where you will be able to tour the grounds and enjoy some Maredsous beers.  While the beer is contract-brewed elsewhere, it is still notable to experience these fine abbey ales on the grounds of their namesake abbey.  Time permitting; you may have the option of rail biking on a closed section of track in the picturesque valley of molignée near the abbey.  There is a short 6 km version of this ride, where you ride to a café, have a beer on the patio, then turn around and come back.  They say it takes 90 minutes.  For non-peddlers, there is a bench seat on which you can ride and enjoy the scenery or do some beer hunting at the café.  This is one of those quirky, uniquely Belgian activities that are a lot of fun. 

Somewhere in here, we will take lunch before heading to Waterloo, where in 1815 10,000 troops were killed in the Battle of Waterloo and Napoleon was defeated.  We will visit the battlefield and its accompanying exhibits including a movie spectacular that is worth seeing.  How fitting is it that Napoleon’s Waterloo is also ours as our beer tour begins to draw to a slow and gentle close?  On the bright side, though, tonight we have our Farewell Dinner here in the atmosphere of a Napoleonic tavern called Bivouac de l’Empereur with the servers dressed in period attire! 

Afterwards, we journey a short distance to our hotel near the Brussels International Airport (BRU) for a good-night’s sleep, while visions of fine Belgian beer dance in our heads…

(Breakfast & dinner)

 

Day Nine: Breakfast concludes this amazing Ardennes Mountain Spring Beer Tour of Belgium.  Shuttle to the airport or continue on your own in Europe.  You may also catch trains at the airport to anywhere in Europe.  Thank you for traveling with Belgian Beer Me! Tours.

 * Itinerary subject to change.

* Prices based on double occupancy, per person, U.S. dollars, land only. Single room supplements apply (SS).  We can also work with you to pair you with other single travelers to avoid the single supplement. Better yet, recruit a friend to come, too! Unless, of course, like Rick Steves says, you prefer to “snore alone.”

We require a minimum number of guests for each tour to be guaranteed to go, so it’s important to sign up ASAP, as opposed to waiting until the deadline. Also, tours can fill rapidly and suddenly, so signing up early ensures that you will go and not be disappointed. Please spread the word about BBM! tours to fellow Belgian beer enthusiasts, your friends in general, and encourage them to join the fun!