Welcome back to my blog! Today, I will share with you one of Belgium’s most famous forests: Hallerbos, also known as The Blue Forest in Belgium. This enchanting forest is located just outside of Brussels, next to the small town of Halle which gives it its name since Hallerbos translates into English as Halle’s forest.
This beautiful forest is famous for the Hyacinths that every year, bloom during springtime creating the illusion of a blue flower carpet in the woods. It will feel like you have entered one of those fairytales we used to be told as kids.
Are you also looking to discover this enchanted forest? Then keep reading this blog to find out everything there is to know about this little gem near Brussels.
hallerbos
Hallerbos is mostly known for its beautiful Hyacinths that bloom every spring, but here are some other interesting facts that you might not know:
- Hallerbos is often called the Bluebell Forest, but the flowers that make it so magic are not bluebells but hyacinths. They do look similar but they are not related.
- The forest has an area of approximately 5,35 square kilometers and is home to many other plant and animal species. The trees in Hallerbos include oak, ash, pine, beech, giant sequoias, and larch. Among the animals, there are foxes, deer, rabbits, and polecats that live there.
- Nearly all the trees of Hallerbos were cut down by the Germans during World War I.
- It used to be part of an ancient forest that marked the border between the Roman Empire and the Germanic tribes that lived in the northern part of Europe.
- Hallerbos is the most famous forest with this phenomenon but it is also common in the woods in the UK and Ireland.
getting to hallerbos
By Car
The easiest way to get to Hallerbos is by car.
- Just take Ring R0 (E19 Brussels-Bergen) and take exit 21 (Halle).
- After you exit, first go left and then left again to follow N28 towards Nivelles.
- There are several different Parking where you can leave your car. Just remember that during the hyacinth blooming season P2 and P8 are closed.
In the map below you can see the different parkings and you can choose the one you like the most. I parked the car in the one with a red P and walked to Parking 8 which is where the forest begins.
By Public Transport
If you don’t have a car but you still want to visit this beautiful forest, it is also possible to reach it by public transport. To do so, you will have to do the following:
- Take a train from Brussels to Halle. You can check timetables and prices at SNCB.be.
- From Halle Train Station, take DeLijn bus 155 until Essenbeek Hallerbosstraat and then walk for 9 minutes until you reach Hallerbos. Both Halle Train Station and Essenbeek bus stop are also marked in the map above.
Practical information about hallerbos
Best time to visit Hallerbos
If you want to visit this beautiful enchanted forest, the first thing you should know is that it doesn’t look like this all the time. The famous blue carpet of hyacinths only appears in springtime between the months of April and May.
The exact weeks may change depending on the weather conditions each year. However, a safe bet is usually the last two weeks of April.
The official website Hallerbos.be, usually posts regularly the blooming process of these little blue flowers so that you can see when they are at their peak. Unfortunately, it is only in Dutch but the videos are self-explanatory.
Walking Routes
During the hyacinth season, there are usually people at the different parking giving visitors a map with the different walking routes you can take along the forest (same as the image below). Otherwise, you can also download it from here by clicking on Wandelkaart Hallerbos Downloaden.
Alternatively, you can also turn your visit to Hallerbos into a short hike as we did and follow the Hallerbos trail route from the All Trails app.
Protect the Forest
Hyacinths are a protected species in Belgium. Visitors to Hallerbos are requested to not pull the flowers or step on them. Once you step on the flowers, they get permanently damaged and they will not bloom ever again.
Please be very respectful of nature if you visit this magical place so that it can continue to exist as it is right now.
Some of the photos in this blog may look like I am stepping on the flowers, but I just used a little Photoshop magic to make it look like I am in the middle of the flowers.
Equipment needed
Hallerbos is quite a popular place to visit during the springtime so most walking ways are quite adapted so that you don’t need any specific equipment. You will most probably see people around there with jeans and regular sneakers.
However, if you happen to go on a rainy day like us, I do recommend the following things. I wore these three things when I visited Hallerbos and I didn’t get wet despite walking in the rain for almost 3 hours.
- Waterproof walking boots. I have the Vakuum Lady Ultra GTX boots and I promise you, these were very handy on the muddy parts.
- A waterproof jacket. My waterproof jacket is from The North Face but it is not available anymore. I have linked the newest version available.
- Rain pants.
My experience in hallerbos
Hike Summary
- Trail Start/End: P8 Parking
- Distance: 8,7 km
- Elevation Gain: 164 m
- Route Type: Circular Route
- Time Needed: 3 hours with plenty of stops to take photos
Discovering Hallerbos: The Blue Forest in Belgium
Our day did not begin in the best way. First of all, we had planned to park at Parking 8 in Hallerbos but this parking is closed to cars during peak season. Instead, we had to park more or less 1 km away from the parking and walk until there.
To make things a bit more interesting, just as we arrived in Hallerbos it started raining… However, we had already anticipated this possibility so we put on our water-resistant clothes and decided to make the best of our day.
Soon enough we were inside the forest and started to see the beautiful blue flowers everywhere we looked. This made us forget about the rain and enjoy what we had in front of us. Since it was a rainy day, the forest was not that crowded although there were many more people than I had thought there would be.
We kept following our route and as soon as we got further into the forest, fewer people were around us and we were alone for most of the hike.
As the day went by, the rain started to stop and we could enjoy the forest a little bit more. We were really happy we decided to not let the rain stop us and enjoy it to the maximum.
We also got to see other parts of the forest that didn’t have blue flowers but were pretty as well.
Hallerbos on a non-rainy day
If you’re lucky to visit Hallerbos on a non-rainy day, the forest is even more pretty. I was able to visit this forest in 2017 and 2019 with better weather conditions and it was just magical.
And that’s it for my blog about Hallerbos. Thank you for reading and I hope you liked it and found it useful.
Do you have any questions? Let me know in the comments section below and I will be more than happy to answer it!
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