Is the Kempen quietly becoming Flanders' favourite slow-travel escape?
The Kempen — Campine, the belt of heath, pine forest and sandy soil across northern Antwerp province and Limburg — is enjoying a tourism upswing, according to a report by the Flemish outlet 7sur7.
In 30 seconds
- The Kempen (Campine) spans the north of Antwerp province and the Limburg Kempen, centred on the Nationaal Park Hoge Kempen near Genk.
- Limburg pioneered the numbered-node cycling network (knooppunten) on former mining land; it is now the backbone of the region's tourism.
- Signature draws include Fietsen door het Water (Bokrijk), Fietsen door de Bomen (Pijnven/Bosland) and Fietsen door de Heide (Hoge Kempen).
- Turnhout, Mol, Herentals, Genk and Hasselt are reachable directly by NMBS train, with Blue-bike and local rentals at the stations.
The Kempen (French: Campine) is a low-lying region of heathland, pine forest and sandy soil in the northeast of Flanders, spanning the north of Antwerp province (Turnhout, Mol, Geel, Herentals, Hoogstraten) and the Limburg Kempen around Genk and Hasselt. Its tourism draw centres on the Nationaal Park Hoge Kempen near Genk — long Belgium's only national park — and on Limburg's numbered-node cycling network (fietsroutenetwerk / knooppunten), pioneered locally on former coal-mining land. Signature attractions include the engineered cycling experiences Fietsen door het Water (Bokrijk), Fietsen door de Bomen (Pijnven, Bosland) and Fietsen door de Heide (Hoge Kempen). Regional tourism is promoted by Visit Limburg and Toerisme Provincie Antwerpen under the wider Toerisme Vlaanderen strategy.
Background
The Kempen was long dismissed as poor, infertile country; its coal-mining era in Limburg (roughly the early-to-mid 20th century) reshaped the landscape and later left reclaimed terrain that became the Nationaal Park Hoge Kempen and the seedbed for Limburg's node-based cycling network. That network — numbering junctions so riders assemble their own routes — was a Limburg innovation later copied across Europe, and it underpins the region's modern reinvention as a slow-travel destination promoted by Toerisme Vlaanderen's push to spread visitors beyond the saturated art cities.
What to do
Reach the Kempen by NMBS train to Turnhout, Mol, Herentals, Genk or Hasselt, then use a station Blue-bike or local fietsverhuur to join the knooppunten network; treat it as a full day or overnight, book spring and autumn weekends early, check current prices and opening details on Visit Limburg and the Hoge Kempen park site, and remember this is Dutch-speaking Flanders.
Impact
Regional — A sustained visitor increase channels spending into Kempen towns that have seen decades of outmigration, supporting cafés, bike-rental businesses and small hotels. It also raises pressure on the Hoge Kempen national park's fragile heath and on weekend train and bus capacity, making mobility and habitat management the region's central challenges.
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