Houffalize sits deep in a valley carved by the river Ourthe, in the heart of the Belgian Ardennes, and has hosted rounds of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup since 1992 — one of the longest-running relationships between any town and the series.
The valley setting makes for a natural amphitheatre: courses climb and descend repeatedly through the tight terrain surrounding the town centre, with tens of thousands of fans filling the streets on race weekends to watch. Past winners on the Houffalize track include Olympic and World Cup champion Julien Absalon.
Beyond the World Cup circuit itself, the town maintains seven permanent signposted mountain bike loops threading out from the centre, alongside a stretch of the RAVeL network — over 1,300 kilometres of former railway lines converted to car-free cycling and walking paths across Wallonia.
For road riders, Houffalize's Ardennes setting rewards a slower pace: steep, forested valley walls, quiet river roads, and a town whose entire cycling identity was built off-road, in the mud, rather than on the tarmac climbs more associated with Belgian racing further north.
