Les Prés d'Orval et la vallée cistercienne

From the abbey car park, follow the green markers into the valley of Orval, past the boards on the bats of the old Cistercian valley and on the Prés d'Orval nature reserve. A track runs up the valley beside the meadows, where Visit Ardenne says walkers may meet Highland cattle, to a picnic site and a board on the Vallée Cistercienne at the far end, close to mapped charcoal-burning platforms. The loop comes back down the other side of the valley to the abbey.

It is 5.7 km round with 76 m of ascent; allow about 1½ hours. The grade is Easy: 85% of the way is track, with a little road and path. Visit Ardenne and the abbey's page on the reserve give the walk as 5.5 km and 1 hour, and the Maison du Tourisme de Gaume's listing gives 4.5 km in one place and 5.5 km in another.

The Prés d'Orval are a nature reserve created by the Walloon government on the abbey's land: its creating order limits public access to the paths and places that are signposted, so keep to the way and leave the meadows to the cattle. For beater hunts, hunters can ask for movement in woods and forests to be banned on the days and in the places where hunting is dangerous; the Walloon government's page on forest use says official posters with a red background mark the ban at the ends of public paths and tracks, and asks walkers to keep dogs on a lead and make no fire. The government's ChasseOnWeb map, normally updated daily, listed hunts with closure of public paths at the north end of this loop on 11 October 2026, and others without closure near the start; the notice gives the dates, and only the posters at the forest entrances have legal force.

The start is the mapped car park of the abbey, shown as free in OpenStreetMap; the walk begins at the abbey, whose ruins and church are outside the walk. The abbey's page on how to reach Orval gives the train to Florenville, and puts Orval 8 km from Florenville.

Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.