The Warredal forest is home to Belgium’s most unique treehouses. Besides modern tiny houses high up among the trees, this forest park also has fairytale cabins with wood and robust shapes. After already spending a few nights at the modern tiny houses back in 2020, we also stayed at one of those fairytale treehouses. We fell in love again with the unique forest cabins and peaceful forest area during our second visit. Read more about this special overnight stay in Belgium and about our time in a fairytale treehouse with sauna!
Read more: these are the 10 best treehouses in Belgium.
Cosy Cabins and Cosy Houses
What started more than twenty years ago as an equestrian center has expanded into a recreational area with a climbing park, mini-golf, swimming pond, petting zoo and special cabins to stay in the woods. As travellers, those unique forest cabins especially catch our eye and brought us to this part of Belgium twice already.
Hidden in the forest, Warredal offers two types of forest cabins. It has dozens of modern tiny houses made of natural materials, large windows with a forest view and a cosy atmosphere. The Cosy Cabins are presented by Warredal as back to nature, off the grid and glamping. But you don’t have to compromise on comfort! There is a fully equipped kitchen, a wood-burning stove keeps the cottage warm in winter and the bathroom has hot water. There are forest cabins for two people, but the largest cabins can accommodate five guests. If you’re looking for a treehouse experience, choose one of the three Treetop Cabins. During our first stay at Warredal. we stayed in a Treetop Cabin and it was a magical experience.
Another part of the forest is home to fairytale hobbit houses and treehouses. Those are the Cosy Houses, as they are called by Warredal. We had to chance to stay a second time at Warredal to try out these unique wooden houses as well. We stayed for three days at a fairytale treehouse with sauna and loved every second of it!
Fairytale houses in the Warredal forest
At the end of a long journey with our camper van, we visit Warredal for a second time. After six months on the road, we exchange our van for one of the newest additions to the forest park: a uniquely designed treehouse with a sauna!
We park our bus in the parking lot and are taken to our forest cabin in a golf cart. The forest is car-free to make sure guests can enjoy a quiet forest environment at their cabin. Last time we slept in one of the Cosy Cabins, but now we see a completely different part of the forest park. While we drive past two other tree houses in the golf cart, we also see the two hobbit houses between the trees. They are all fairytale creations with round shapes, robust wood and playful lines. Anyone who has visited the Dutch theme park De Efteling will understand why these magical houses remind us of that.
Treehouse with sauna and pizza oven
We stay in Tree House 3. This treehouse is touted by Warredal herself as the prettiest in her forest. Where the other four fairytale houses have a hot tub, our treehouse has the luxury of its own wood-fired sauna. We had already read that we would have a large covered terrace with a pizza oven and barbecue at our cabin, so we already went grocery shopping and brought the ingredients for a pizza night. The first evening we immediately light the outdoor stove – the wood and starter pack are already there – to bake our pizzas and have dinner on the terrace between the trees in the spring sun.
Other luxuries of our cabin? This is one of the cabins with drinking water from the tap and we don’t have a cool box here but a small fridge. This cabin also has quite a lot of power sockets, as most Warredal cabins do not have them or only very few. It is all part of the Warredal concept to help you connect with nature instead of the internet. It is the perfect place to enjoy a digital detox without phones and wifi. With a pizza oven, sauna, barbecue, games at the reception, a climbing park, petting zoo and nature reserve within walking distance, you don’t have enough time to use your phone anyways.
Forest bathing in Belgian Limburg
Our travel family is now a party of three, as we had our baby girl Linde last year. We can clearly see how our focus changed when we started travelling with a baby. During our first time at Warredal, we hadn’t even noticed that it has a petting zoo with ponies, goats and sheep. Now we walk there every day for Linde’s first experience with these animals.
What we did do the first time and now love doing again, is enjoy the forest environment. You can walk around the forest park itself, but the park is also near the Hoge Kempen National Park. The northernmost tip of this national park is the Bergerven nature reserve, which is directly next to Warredal. Next to the climbing forest is a gate to the forest area next to Warredal. There is an information board with a map showing you the different walking routes in the area. We took the long route, leading you walk all the way around the forest lake.
With Linde sleeping comfortably in the sling or cheerfully on her father’s neck, it is also very easy to spend some time enjoying nature. On the way back we buy chocolate milk from the grocery machine at the parking lot to heat up in our cabin. After a long walk, we love curling up in our treehouse by the cold stove with some hot chocolate!
