Border Triangle: Germany – Belgium – Netherlands

As it was Yannick’s last year of University, we decided to explore Aachen and its surroundings a little bit more. Basically he wanted to show me the famous border triangle or tripoint between Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. So let’s start the adventure.

We got up early, put our hiking stuff on and started our way to the beginning of the hiking trail. First of all we had to walk trough whole Aachen to get to our starting point, which was the forest. I have to admit, that the way to the forest was a little bit steep and so I was already a little bit exhausted and afraid that I will not make it to the border triangle. But I continued my way.

After a walk in the forest, we reached the border to Belgium, which was marked by a small wooden sign. It is really unusual to just cross a border without a car. As the weather was really nice, we really enjoyed our walk.

At some point, we reached the well-known place, the border triangle (in German Dreiländerecke or French trois frontières). First, there is a memorial corner for Pierre Roiseux who was a soldier in the WWII.

Then you’re crossing a big tower, the Balduin Tower, who is named after the King Boudewijntoren. It is located on the Belgium territory, but only 6 meters from Germany and 20 meters from the Netherlands. You can get to the top of it either by foot or by elevator. You’ll have an amazing view over Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. As we were very early, this tower had not open yet.

Once you’ve passed this tower, you reach the real border stone. In the middle of the three borders, there is a grey stone and so you can walk around it and passing through 3 countries at one time. It is a real fun thing. In summer, there are also the flags of the three countries, but in winter, they take them in, which was very sad, because it probably made this scenery more real.

This border triangle not always had been a three border point, but from 1830 to 1919, it was a quadripoint, with four borders. At that time, it borders also Neutral Moresnet. The actual border between Germany and Belgium is not the same as the former eastern border of Moresnet with Prussia. At this point, there were five different borders who came together, but never more than four at one time. From 1917 to 1920, the border situation was very unclear, until Neutral Moresnet became a part of Belgium.

Apart from the border triangle, this place is also famous for the Vaalserberg, which is a hill in the Netherlands. With its height of 322,7 meters, it is the highest point in the mainlands of the Netherlands.

When you walk a little further, you’ll reach the second tower, the Wilhelmina tower, which is also accessible by elevator. This one is located on the territory of the Netherlands and it is 353,5 meters high. Even if you don’t have such a view over all the countries as on the other tower, you’ll have a skywalk, which floor consists of milk glass. As we were really lucky with the weather, it was pretty cool to stand on the skywalk with such an amazing view around you!

To complete this beautiful hiking day, we ate at a restaurant near the Wilhelmina tower (where you can also buy the coins to get up to that tower), which I can really recommend you. I was a little bit embarrassed, because I entered the restaurant with shoes full of mud and so the place where I sit was also not that clean after I ate there. But I was ok with it.

Basically, when you’re in Aachen and you want to discover something else as the city life, go for that hike to the border triangle. It’s a really nice walk with the highlight of the border triangle.