The Asia Walk in the Tervuren Geographical Arboretum

A pleasant 4.6 km walk through the forests of Asia – in the Geographical Arboretum in Tervuren.

After having walked around the Mediterranean and West America recently, it’s time to Go East and explore the forests of Asia. All without getting on a plane, of course, as these are all areas of the wonderful Geographical Arboretum in Tervuren.

The walk begins at the southern end of Eikestraat, 3080 Tervuren. Here is a small car park, as well as a place to lock up your bike. By bus, De Lijn bus no. 317 stops at the Tervuren Eikestraat bus stop at the northern end of Eikestraat. You can get there from Kraainem metro station, which is easily accessible from the center of Brussels. From the other direction, bus 317 leaves Leuven station and goes directly to Tervuren Eikestraat. From there it’s a 7 minute (700 m) walk to the starting point.

The map below is basically the brown Asia walk, which is well-signed. I added a slight diversion. Coming back, the brown walk takes you straight along the Kapucijnendreef back to the starting point. I have added a more interesting diversion (at the 3.5 km marker on the map below) going north to the Reeweg and then following the footpath along the red Mediterranean Walk to the Kwekerijdreef. The whole walk is now 4.6 km so is ideal for a couple of hours of gentle strolling. You can download the map as a PDF, or get the GPX track for your device from my RouteYou page. You could also just stick to the Brown route through the forest.

This trail explores the forests of Hokkaido and Honshu in Japan, with its Manchurian walnuts, Japanese cedars, Japanese maples, Castor oil tree and the fragrant Torreya conifers.

However, as I have mentioned before, unless you are a tree expert, you don’t really know what you are looking at as the trees are on the whole not identified. Don’t let this put you off though. Just experience these wonderful, beautiful specimens of the tree world.

Later, the walk takes you to the Asian mainland of Mongolia, Russia and Kazakhstan with its various Siberian coniferous species. From there, it swings back towards Manchuria in northern China and then the heartland of China. Here are planted Dawn redwoods and the Maidenhair tree (Ginkgo).

Autumn of course is the season to keep one eye on the ground as you walk through the forests. This is because it’s fungi season. The recent wet weather has brought them out in good numbers. Here are few photos I took with my “fungus eye.”

So altogether, this is a another delightful walk through part of the Geographical Arboretum. As with the other two I have covered, this Asia Walk however is slightly off the beaten track so you should find it quite peaceful.

There’s also a few magnificent chestnut trees on the trail, so you might come back with a healthy, tasty snack!

Let me know how you get on, either in the comments below or by contacting me, also if you have any questions. I’ll leave you with some glorious autumn colors.