Nationaal Park Hoge Kempen

Belgium · Europe · Visited 27 October 2025 · Established 2006

Halfway through completing all six Belgian national parks in a single week, I arrived at Hoge Kempen with high expectations. It's Belgium's oldest national park, established in 2006 on the site of former coal mining land in Limburg, and at over 12,000 hectares it's comfortably the largest. I'd heard the heathland is spectacular when the heather blooms purple in late summer, and that the park's mix of pine forests, drifting sand dunes, and old gravel ponds gives it a character unlike anywhere else in the country.

I visited outside of wildflower season, and that may well be the difference. Without it, what I found was a very average walk in a park. Not bad, not unpleasant, but nothing that made me stop and think "this is special." The trails are well maintained and there's over 440 kilometres of walking and cycling paths, but the landscape felt flat and repetitive once the novelty of the pine forests wore off. Nothing jumped out as a standout moment or a must-see site.

Wildlife (or lack of it)

The park is very dog-friendly, and it shows. Dogs and runners were everywhere on the trails, and I suspect this has pushed most of the wildlife well out of sight. The park is supposed to be home to roe deer, raptors, and various heathland specialists, but I saw very little. For a national park, the wildlife experience was thin.

Practicalities

One thing that caught me out was how difficult it was to find somewhere to eat. The park sits between several towns on its outskirts (Genk, Maasmechelen, Lanaken, and others) and functions more as a green corridor between them than as a self-contained destination. There's not much in the way of facilities within the park, and the surrounding settlements didn't make finding a meal particularly easy either.

Who it's for

Hoge Kempen is a park I'd recommend visiting in season, specifically late August and September when the heather is in full bloom. Outside of that window, it's a pleasant enough walk but nothing more. If you're ticking off Belgian national parks, it's worth a stop, but I wouldn't go out of my way to return. It's the kind of place that works best as a local escape for people living nearby rather than a destination in its own right.