Groenendaal, from forest museum to the adventurous obstacle course

The Sonian Forest - A remnant of the once vast historical Coal Forest and a forest that has been standing near our Belgian capital for some time...

We start this educational yet recreational walk from the Arboretum Groenendaal and its Jan Van Ruusbroeck forest museum, which was once part of the Priorij Groenendaal.

In rainy weather, you can choose to start with the forest museum, which is completely free to access. Some stuffed animals that inhabit the Sonian Forest welcome you in this old priory farm.

For adults, there is certainly a lot to find about forest management, but also a section about the old priory and the Sonian Forest during WWI. Moreover, the end of the walk also passes by this museum, and you can certainly leave this forest museum for the end.

The adjacent arboretum offers lovely paths with bridges and boardwalks through a landscaped piece of forest with hundreds of stately trees, such as gigantic mammoth trees, the soft trunk of the sequoia, unique maple trees, and 'Fat Eugene' - a 6m thick fallen poplar.

Further along, a path takes us through a meadow with Scottish Highlanders... A long-haired breed of cow with huge horns that can be quite impressive for some of the smallest walkers. You can also spy on these 'historical' cows from the observation platform in the middle of this meadow.

We save the highlight for the end of the walk with two challenging adventure paths and a fun climbing playground. In particular, a rope over a wide ditch adds the necessary fun factor to this 3 km walk upward.