No, it doesn’t. But this pictoresque little town made me wonder, why can’t every town be this pretty and clean?

When one has a 2 week-old newborn at home, what better than booking a 2-night getaway in Monschau without asking the wife? Our son was on autumn break and we had half a week between guests.

From Brussels, it’s a swift 2 hour drive to Monschau. There are two routes to get there: The northern route by Aachen or southeast through Eupen and through Hautes Fagnes (High Fenns).

Since we’ve been going to the region a few times already, we decided to take the alternative via the motorway route past Aachen.

I had been to Monschau before, but alone and now I wanted to show the town to my family. We had been staying in Brussels all autumn and with autumn colours vivid, the region is very beautiful. We were visiting during the week which had a very positive effect on the hotel prices.

Monschau is a very popular weekend destination. During the Christmas market season, one has to be quick in order to get any reservation at all.

I booked us an apartment with two bedrooms and a kitchen. We’ve realised that kitchen is very essential when travelling with kids. Finding a suitable restaurant that is also open in some unconventional time whilst dragging along a hungry kid (or a wife) is no fun at all.

Two nights from Tuesday to Thursday cost us only 178 euros which we found very reasonable. Villadelux Elbershof is bang in the middle of Monschau, by the river Rur running through the town. The owner was a friendly Dutchman and everything went smoothly with him. The flat was also warm that is not something that can be taken for granted.

Monschau is a good destination for chilling out, walking or just sitting in a cafe watching the world go by. At the time we were living in Brussels and I was surprised by the lack of people.

The waitress in a cafe seemed a bit miffed when I asked her if it was some sort of a holiday week since the town seemed so empty.

For an active holidaymaker there is a lot to see. The area has many hiking routes in the nearby hills and valleys. In addition to the swarms of nordic walkers there are lots of cyclists due to an extensive cycle path network.

The centre of Monschau is pedestrianised and all the parking facilities are plotted around the centre, but only a kilometre away. However, on a weekday it didn’t feel that pedestrianised as there was a lot of delivery and residential traffic on those narrow streets.

For our 3-year-old, the best thing was the sightseeing train.  Us being the only passengers, there was no difficulty finding a good seat. The train route leaves the city centre and climbs up to the Monschau Castle and descend back into town another route.

The tour lasts about 45 minutes and is an experience for little boys and a good overview for those who can’t  walk through the whole town.

But most of all, Monschau is beautiful. This part of Germany (and Belgium) has lush forests, beautiful meadows, hills and a suitable distance from big cities.

Still, all the small villages are vibrant and each one has a bank, grocery store, bakery, cafe and pharmacy.