Circular starting from Nothomb

Chapels to discover in the villages of Parette and Nothomb, a state-owned reserve in the Nothomb valley to cross, border marker 151 to find in the middle of the woods: this is what's on offer on this circular starting from the village of Nothomb.

Details

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  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 10.10 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 3h 35 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 253 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 253 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 466 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 311 m

Photos

Description of the walk

Parking on Rue Nicolas Roeltgen between the very modern church (don't look for a bell tower) of Nothomb and the school.

No signposts

(S/E) With your back to the church, walk up the street to the crossroads. Look for the path with a red barrier in front of the pedestrian crossing to the right of the house facing you. Cross the pedestrian crossing and take the path. At the end of the path, turn left. Go up to the fork and take the road on the right, which quickly becomes a dirt track. Follow the Lamicht stream.

(1) At the fork, turn right and continue to the road. Cross carefully and continue straight ahead. Ignore the path on the left before the bend and the next one. Continue to a fork and turn right.

(2) Then take the path on the right, cross the ford (dry at the end of July 2018) and go uphill.

(3) At the next junction, turn right. After 800 metres, the path leaves the forest, passes in front of a house and ends at the road. Turn left and walk a few dozen metres to see the Raveau Chapel. Retrace your steps and continue straight ahead. On your right, just before the junction with another road, you will see the Wilverts Chapel between two houses.

(4) At the junction with the other road, turn right and walk back to see the Chapelle Thommes chapel. Retrace your steps and continue straight ahead.

Blue rectangle signpost

(5) At the hiking sign after No. 104, turn right. Walk along the meadows, the path turns sharply and enters the forest. Go downhill, straight ahead at the crossroads. At the next intersection, continue straight ahead. After a little less than 1 km, the path turns sharply to the right.

(6) Now is the time to pay attention: look for the tree with the markings, stop and look into the ravine, where you will find border marker 151. It is over 1 m high and bears the coats of arms of Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. At the moment, it is not really highlighted. (A major update of points of interest is currently being carried out by the Val d'Attert tourist office).
Continue downhill and ignore the two paths on your right. Stay on the main path.

(7) At the crossroads with information boards about the nature reserve, continue on your left. Descend along the Nothomb. 300 metres further down, cross the footbridge on your right if the ford is too deep. A hairpin bend brings you back to your left. Walk to the open space on your right.

(8) Turn right and take the brand new duckboard crossing over the Nothomb and the State Nature Reserve. Go up the stairs and turn left. Follow the forest path up to the road.

(9) Cross carefully and take the path behind the bench. Climb the small Way of the Cross to the Grande Croix de Mission de 1949. Retrace your steps and take the road to Nothomb.

No markings

At the fork, keep left. Pass in front of the Zhalen Chapel, which is built into the wall of the old mill. Continue through the village and turn right at the next crossroads.

(10) At the end of the street, next to the last house on your right, you will see the Bettendorf Chapel. Continue straight ahead and take the left-hand road at the fork. Walk up towards the church, turn right at the intersection and head for the car park (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 330 m - Church car park
  2. 1 : km 1.13 - alt. 347 m - Right fork
  3. 2 : km 2.29 - alt. 381 m - Right-hand path
  4. 3 : km 2.68 - alt. 450 m - Path on the right
  5. 4 : km 4.26 - alt. 457 m - Right turn at the crossroads
  6. 5 : km 4.6 - alt. 459 m - Turn right after No. 104.
  7. 6 : km 6.27 - alt. 453 m - Border marker in ravine
  8. 7 : km 7.55 - alt. 351 m - See the information boards about the reserve on the left.
  9. 8 : km 8.51 - alt. 328 m - Entrance to the Nature Reserve
  10. 9 : km 9.39 - alt. 329 m - In the village on the right
  11. 10 : km 9.9 - alt. 315 m - Crossroads and chapel
  12. S/E : km 10.1 - alt. 330 m - Church car park

Notes

There is no water on the route or in the villages.
If you come across ceramics along the route, these are the work of Nadine Humblet.
From October to December, bear in mind the hunting season dates.

Worth a visit

During
In Parette:
Raveau Chapel: Our Lady of Lourdes
Wilverts Chapel: Notre-Dame du Sacré-Cœur
Thommes Chapel with Pietà: this calvary is exceptional. The Pietà is its main subject. Initially erected outside, it was probably incorporated into this chapel during the 20th century.

Border marker 151: one of 287 markers that mark the border between Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. What is its origin? In 1815, the Congress of Vienna redrew the map of the states, and the current Province of Luxembourg and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg became the personal property of William of Orange. But after the revolution of 1830, the London Conference of 1939 separated populations that had lived together for six centuries:
- Walloon Luxembourg and the Arlon region remained part of Belgium,
- German-speaking Luxembourg became a new sovereign state: the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
In 1843, the authorities decided to demarcate the two states, and so 287 boundary markers were placed along the border between the two Luxembourgs. They are all numbered and bear the coat of arms of Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

The Nothomb Valley State Reserve: originating in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Nothomb (or Nothomberbaach) river flows through a narrow north-south valley with steep slopes covered mainly by beech forests. The narrow alluvial bench is home to more or less abandoned hay meadows with a variety of summer flowers.

In Nothomb:
Zahlen Chapel, dating from 1764. Dedicated to the Sacred Heart, it protects the inhabitants from epidemics. It is built into the wall of the mill, which had been in existence since the 14th century as an oil mill (acorns, rapeseed, etc.) before becoming a flour mill in the 15th century. It ceased operations completely in 1927. The site has now been converted into private residences.

Bettendorf Chapel

Nearby

Arlon: its maitrank, its chips with cheese sauce.
Orval: its abbey, cheese and beer.

Reviews and comments

4.4 / 5
Based on 9 reviews

Reliability of the description
4.4 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.5 / 5
Route interest
4.4 / 5
David Caillat
David Caillat

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 29, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A lovely, varied walk between woods and town, where you can admire beautiful architecture.

Not too difficult, except for one steep hill 😉👍

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Abel Xoone
Abel Xoone

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 10, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A beautiful walk along the water. For maximum effect, I recommend doing it around mid-May because that's when the broom is in bloom. A third of the way along the route, you'll have the pleasure of crossing a "sea of fire" as the broom is so thick and you walk through the middle of this lush vegetation. Magnificent.
On your return, check that you don't have any ticks, as they are common in the area. Long trousers are essential, even in very hot weather.

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albinetdenise.lejeune29
albinetdenise.lejeune29

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 23, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A lovely walk with excellent commentary, a wonderful discovery. Thank you.

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Jean-Luc1012
Jean-Luc1012

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 07, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

We discovered this route through this application. A wonderful discovery. We recommend both the application and the route.

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lazzerini
lazzerini

Hello Jim1106,

As noted in the description, the start of the hike is not marked.
Could this be what confused you?

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Jim1106
Jim1106

Overall rating : 2 / 5

Date of your route : May 03, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing
Ease of following the route : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing
Route interest : Not used / Not applicable
Very busy route : No

The signage was terrible, no way to
do the hike properly.

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wolwertzpaul
wolwertzpaul

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 19, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

A very beautiful route with stunning views. But you have to work for them, as there are some steep hills.

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lazzerini
lazzerini

There you go, all you had to do was ask... The ceramics were made by Nadine Humblet, who lives in the Attert region.

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elise_be
elise_be

Great :-) These are just extra incentives, but otherwise thank you for the map!

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lazzerini
lazzerini

Hello elise_be,

In 2018, when I first spotted this trail, there were no duckboards yet for walking around the nature reserve!
They have only been there since May 2020.

Thanks for the info
I'll go back there sometime as I love duckboards and will look for information about the sculptures.

Looking forward to it!

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elise_be
elise_be
• Edited:

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 27, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very nice walk. We just changed the end of the route to go through the wetland area of the national nature reserve, because the footbridge caught our eye!
It might be worth mentioning in the description the ceramic sculptures dotted along a few hundred metres of the route: they were cute, and it was fun to keep an eye out to find them all!
We hardly saw anyone else on the path.

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spatzy
spatzy

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Nov 21, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Nice walk, but quite muddy in winter due to extensive forestry work.

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Guy Ney
Guy Ney

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 17, 2019
Reliability of the description : Not used / Not applicable
Ease of following the route : Not used / Not applicable
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

The section in the Nothomb Valley is very beautiful up to Parette. After that, you can hear the N4. In addition, forestry work has severely damaged the path. Slippery descent in the mud. We did the route in reverse. 15.06.2019

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