Hike Ninglinspo and Chefna – Wild rivers in Belgium

For some the Ninglinspo trail might be a bit short. Combined with the Chefna you have a walking route from about 15 kilometers in one of the most beautiful regions in Belgium.

Description of the Ninglinspo and Chefna hike

Distance: The total distance for this hike is 14.4 kilometers (loop hike)
Elevation gain: The total incline was 444 meters
Moving time: According to Strava my moving time was 3 hours and 6 minutes.
Difficulty: I would rate this as an easy/intermediate hike. The path next to the river can be quite slippery so hiking shoes with decent grip are a must. Elevation gain is pretty limited.
Address start: N633, 4920 Aywaille – Belgium
Price: Free

There’s a parking right at the trail head but as the Ninglinspo is one of Belgium’s most popular hikes it gets full pretty quickly. I went in December around noon and there was exactly one spot left. In the surrounding neighborhood you could probably find a spot next to the street.

Use the pinned location below so you can navigate straight to where the hike starts. 

Attention: because of covid the mayor of Aywaille decided to limit this hike to inhabitants of the surrounding villages Aywaille, Stoumont or Theux. If you’re staying in one of these villages you’re allowed to do the Ninglinspo hike.

How to get to the Ninglinspo parking?

To get to the starting point of this hike it is absolutely recommended to use your own transportation. From Brussels to the trail head it’s about 1 hour and 20 minutes driving.

A quick Google search teaches me that it’s about 3 hours with the train to get there. You would have to take a train to Verviers and then 2 more buses.

An alternative hike to this one not too far away could be this one: STUNNING HIKE IN STOUMONT AT AMBLEVE RIVER AND CHATEAU DE FROIDCOUR (17 KM)

How to hike at Ninglinspo and Chefna in belgium?

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. Most hikes on this blog are being tracked on Strava (sports tracking smartphone application) and/or Wikiloc (community based hiking smartphone application).

Download the GPX file right here: Hike-Ninglinspo-and-Chefna.gpx

HIKING Along the Ninglinspo river

The advantage of doing a popular hike like this one is that there is a dedicated parking (details above) and this also exactly where the hike starts. Left from the parking there’s a trail that starts and pretty soon you will have to cross the Ninglingspo river for the first time.

I did this hike in the winter and therefore the waterlevel was a bit higher than in other seasons (I guess?). Because of this sometimes you actually have to walk through the river so waterproof shoes are a must. I’m used to hiking with trail run shoes: Mizuno Men’s Wave Daichi 6 GTX Trail Running Shoe and luckily they have Goretex, otherwise pretty soon into this hike I would’ve had wet feet. If you’re doing this in the winter I would suggest to wear proper waterproof hiking boots, it gets very muddy and slippery. To my surprise I saw lots of people with white sneakers. It’s not a fashion show. It might look good on Instagram but do yourself a favor and wear decent hiking boots! When the river gets very deep there’s usually a bridge.

Pretty much in the beginning, after a few hundred meters, there’s already a waterfall ‘Cascade de La Chaudière’ which is according to Belgian standards pretty impressive. This waterfall is formed by the river ‘la chaudière’ that joins the Ninglinspo. After I saw this so early into the hike I was getting excited for the rest of it!

If you’re a bit of a waterfall lover like myself I would suggest to check out this hike as well: WATERFALL HIKE IN THE HIGH FENS IN BELGIUM

For the next 2,5 kilometers you will hike next to the Ninglinspo river and cross it several times via wooden bridges. Sometimes I was doubting which way exactly to take as there was a path on both sides of the river but usually both paths merge again so basically if you follow the Ninglingspo upstream you can’t do anything wrong. Also most likely there will be other hikers around that you can follow.

While hiking the first portion you will pass by several water pools called ‘baths’ that were made by erosion of the fast flowing Ninglinspo river. These names were given by the local lawyer Laurent-François Dethier in the 18th century. Names of the baths are: Bain des Naïades, Bain d’Hermes, Bain de La Loutre, Bain du Cerf, Bain de Diane and Bain de Venus.

At around 3 kilometers the stream ‘La Ruisseau des Blanches Pierre’ (Stream of white rocks) joins the Ninglinspo and you will walk next to this stream for a few hundred meters. It’s at this point that you take a left and leave the Ninglinspo hiking trail (blue rectangles / number 21) behind.

When leaving the Ninglinspo trail you will have to hike up for a bit before reaching a plain. There’s an alternative entrance to the Ninglinspo hike as well that you will pass. After this there’s a portion of the trail that is a bit boring. For about 4 kilometers you will hike on muddy gravel roads until you make your way to the start of the Chefna hike.

HIKING Along the Chefna river

At pretty much exactly 7,5 kilometers you reach the trail head of the Chefna hike. The next 4 kilometers you will walk next to the Chefna river and the good thing is that you will be descending slowy but surely so the hiking experience is pretty chill, you can really take in the beautiful surroundings!

Because the Chefna trail is way less popular than the Ninglinspo there will be a lot less people on this portion of the hike. Having a trail for yourself always adds to the magic of the beautiful nature that you see around you.

For the last 3 kilometers of this walk you will be walking on asphalted roads mostly. The nice thing is that there are some beautiful typical Ardennes houses along the road.

When you finally reach the valley of the Ambleve river it feels almost like you aren’t in Belgium. The river is surrounded by a huge hill that makes the landscapes look spectacular.

For the very last part of this route you can choose to hike next to the Ambleve river or on the main road. As it was pretty dark already I chose for the latter and rushed it back to the parking while dodging the speeding cars.

Ninglingspo River

Often called the only mountain river in Belgium but that’s just marketing. It is however a very beautiful mountain river in Belgium. The Ninglinspo river is formed by some other smaller streams like La Ruisseau des Blanches Pierre, La Ruisseau du Hornay, La Chaudiere and several more. Eventually after about 3,5 kilometers it ends up in the Ambleve river. The Ninglinspo descends from 385 meter until 140 meter and this is one of the reasons that the current is so strong. It’s also that strong current that created the beautiful rock formations and pools along its 3,5 kilometer route downwards.

Chefna River

Similar to the Ninglinspo the Chefna river flows for about 5 kilometers, while descending from 490 meters to 170 meters, and ends up in the Ambleve. The hike along the Chefna is a great alternative to the Ninglinspo walk, less people but equally, if not even more, scenic.

Something really cool I discovered while hiking along the Chefna river is the fact that there was once, long time ago, a gold mine in Belgium!

Gold mine in Belgium?

In the beginning of the 19th century there was a gold rush in Belgium. A region of about 30 kilometers long and 4 kilometers wide was called the gold-bearing region. Some dreamers went on to search for gold along the Ambleve river. Because the output of gold was so low the miners gave up. It seemed that our ancesters from the pre-roman period mined most of the gold already.

For who is this hike?

This hike passes along the Ninglinspo and the Chefna which are amongst the most beautiful rivers in Belgium. Because you hike mostly in the shade it gets cold and in the winter muddy and wet. Nonetheless if you call yourself a hiker you should have done this route at least once.

When it comes to difficulty I would suggest at least a basic fitness level. Sometimes you walk on the edge of the carved out rocks and they do get quite slippery so wear decent hiking boots with enough grip.

If you followed this route let me know! I’m always glad to hear from you!