Breathtaking photos of the bluebells at the Hallerbos in Belgium

Every year in April, tourists and locals alike flock to the Hallerbos in Belgium as if the forest can only be visited two weeks a year. Of course that’s not the case, but it is so that for only two weeks a year (give or take a day or two), the Hallerbos turns into the a blue forest with grounds covered in bluebells.
 

Spotting bluebells at the Hallerbos

The best time to visit the Hallerbos to catch the bluebells is different every year and depends on the weather. The sooner the temperature rises, the sooner the flowers bloom. But it’s a race against time as warmer weather also means that the trees get their leaves back, depriving the bluebells of sunlight, which makes them turn greyish.

When the season approaches, the website of the Hallerbos posts daily updates (during the week) about the condition of the bluebells. That way photographers and other visitors know whether it’s still too early to go, or whether they should hurry up. In general, the 10 days following the bluebells bloom are the best to go.

There are different walking paths spread throughout the Hallerbos and visitors are urged not to stray from them, so that the flowers are protected. People who want to film or organize a photo shoot during the bluebells’ bloom need to ask permission to do so, but it’s no problem if you just want to take your camera (and tripod) to get some shots of the flowers.

I hadn’t really planned a route when I went there last year and just drove to the parking ground that was easiest for me to get to. At every parking ground, there’s an information sign indicating the walking routes through the Hallerbos, but if you want to follow the bluebells route, you need to download it from the website. That route combines parts of the other walking routes to talk you along the places where most of the bluebells can be seen, but you can spot bluebells in other parts of the Hallerbos as well.

I parked at P1 and walked toward P8 where the bluebells walk started. I took a different route on the way there than on the way back and both times spotted quite a bit of bluebells. These photos were taken on in a part of the blue forest that didn’t even include the bluebells route:

As you can see, there were plenty of bluebells to spot even off the route and so I took my time. I think I spent over an hour just walking from P1 to P8 photographing the bluebells along the way and diving into different paths. I’ll link to that map at the bottom of the post because it is really handy to have with you. I saved it on my phone and found it much easier to navigate using the map than depending on the info signs. I also saw a bunch of people who’d printed this map, or who’d gotten a walking map of the Hallerbos at the Tourism Office of Halle.
 

When to go

If you can, I suggest you visit the Hallerbos during the week and preferably not on a Wednesday afternoon (kids don’t have school then). As the blooming period of the bluebells is so short, lots of people visit the blue forest during the same two weekends. That’s not a huge deal if you just want to go to watch the flowers and walk, but it can be problematic if you want to get some photos without people in them. I went on a Wednesday morning/noon and while there were already lots of cars when I arrived, it wasn’t too busy in the Hallerbos. The blue forest is 552 ha big, so it’s not as if everyone is walking in the same little area.

The best time of day to go is in the early morning so you can catch the sunrise through the trees, or in the evening when the sun goes down again. I actually visited at the worst time possible, as I arrived mid-morning and took most of my photos around noon when the light was the harshest.

The thing in Belgium is that you have to take into account traffic and when I drive to the Hallerbos, I need to go along the busiest piece of highway we have where there are traffic jams practically all day, so I knew that if I’d go early in the morning or in the evening, I’d be stuck in traffic for over two hours whereas the drive now “only” took me little over an hour.
 

The bluebells route

But back to the bluebells! I obviously also took some photos on the bluebells route that I’d like to share with you.

 

 

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