Why this ride
A 182 km round trip from Liège - roughly 2 h 41 in the saddle. On the way it passes Béguinage de Tongeren, Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto, The Great Spa Towns of Europe and Spa.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Liege afternoon · Spa
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 182 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 41
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Belgian Ardennes Scenic Loop
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 24 km this is Belgian Ardennes Scenic Loop, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 24 km
- Named road
- Belgian Ardennes Scenic Loop
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Liege
Liège is a hard-working Walloon city on the Meuse, where steelworks once glowed along the river and the people have a reputation for warmth and bluntness. It has none of the polished prettiness of Bruges, and that is part of its appeal. The old centre is a tangle of lanes and courtyards under the hill called the Citadelle, with the grand Palace of the Prince-Bishops standing on a vast square, a reminder that this was an independent church state for nearly eight centuries.
Read the complete Liege write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Liege is where the day begins. Next is Béguinage de Tongeren.
2. Béguinage de Tongeren
Tongeren calls itself the oldest town in Belgium, and it has a Roman name, a Gallic hero and a weekly antiques market to back up the claim. Under the Romans it was Atuatuca Tungrorum, and in the main square stands a romantic nineteenth-century statue of Ambiorix, the chieftain who gave Julius Caesar a very bad winter. A few minutes' walk from all that pomp lies the béguinage, a quiet quarter of low brick houses, cobbled lanes and small gardens that once housed communities of beguines, religious women who lived a semi-independent life without taking the full vows of nuns.
Read the complete Béguinage de Tongeren write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Béguinage de Tongeren comes up 21 km in. Next is Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto.
3. Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto
Tongeren likes to remind you that it is the oldest town in Belgium, and it has a strong claim. The Romans founded a settlement here, Atuatuca Tungrorum, on the road between Cologne and Bavay, and the remains of its walls can still be seen around the town. Before that, the area was home to the Eburones, a Celtic tribe whose chieftain Ambiorix famously ambushed and destroyed a Roman legion in 54 BC. His statue, a heroic nineteenth-century figure with a winged helmet and a magnificent moustache, stands in the main square, the Grote Markt.
Read the complete Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
42 km in you reach Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto. Next is The Great Spa Towns of Europe.
4. The Great Spa Towns of Europe
Spa is the little town in the Belgian Ardennes that gave its name to every spa in the world, and the story goes back a long way. The mineral springs here were known to the Romans, and Pliny is often cited as mentioning them, and from the sixteenth century they drew the nobility of Europe. In 1717 Peter the Great of Russia came to take the waters, and the Pouhon Pierre-le-Grand, a handsome pavilion over the main spring, is named after him. The town built a grand casino, a thermal baths building and a promenade, and a century later it became known as the Café of Europe, a place where kings, writers and intriguers rubbed shoulders.
Read the complete The Great Spa Towns of Europe write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Great Spa Towns of Europe, about halfway. Next is Spa.
5. Spa
The word spa comes from this town, and that is the kind of claim that most places make and few can prove. Here it happens to be true: Spa, in the Ardennes foothills of eastern Belgium, has been a place for taking the waters since the Romans, who are said to have noted its iron-rich springs, and from the sixteenth century it was a fashionable resort. Visitors have included the Russian emperor Peter the Great, who came in 1717 to cure his stomach, and the town's central spring, the Pouhon Pierre-le-Grand, is named after him. The bottled water that bears the town's name is sold worldwide, and the little town has a quiet, slightly faded charm, with grand hotels, a thermal baths complex on the hill and a casino.
Read the complete Spa write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Spa sits at 83 km, about halfway. Next is back through The Great Spa Towns of Europe.
6. back through The Great Spa Towns of Europe
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Great Spa Towns of Europe write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through The Great Spa Towns of Europe comes up 104 km in. Next is back through Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto.
7. back through Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
125 km in you reach back through Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto. Next is back through Béguinage de Tongeren.
8. back through Béguinage de Tongeren
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Béguinage de Tongeren write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Béguinage de Tongeren, late in the day. Next is Liege.
9. Liege
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Liege write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 182 km.
Leg by leg
Liege to Béguinage de Tongeren
Liege → Béguinage de Tongeren is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto to The Great Spa Towns of Europe
Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto → The Great Spa Towns of Europe is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Great Spa Towns of Europe to back through Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto
back through The Great Spa Towns of Europe → back through Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Béguinage de Tongeren to Liege
back through Béguinage de Tongeren → Liege is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.