Hamlet in the Geul valley · between Mechelen, Epen and Vijlen
It starts down by the River Geul and ends at the top of the hill. In between: half-timbered farmhouses, meadows, a stream and six holiday addresses where you can stay the night.
Where you are
Those in the know have long agreed: the finest corner of the South Limburg hill country is the triangle of Mechelen, Epen and Vijlen. Hurpesch sits right in the middle, close to half-timbered Mechelen, Epen with its springs and the hilltop village of Vijlen.
In those villages you will find everything that makes a holiday in Limburg so good: small shops with local produce, friendly pubs, sunny terraces and restaurants that know what they are serving. You walk there, and you are home again within half an hour.
And around the lane itself: a quiet nature reserve managed by Natuurmonumenten, with the Geul, the Klitserbeek stream and long views across the hills. Close the door behind you and you are on a footpath.
Holiday homes & hotel in Hurpesch
From a cottage for two to a group house for the whole family, and a hotel room if you would rather not cook. Every address has its own character and its own hosts. Click through for photos, prices and availability.
The big half-timbered house, on the spot where a castle once stood. Ten bedrooms, nine bathrooms, no two alike. Bake pizza together, then head for the sauna.
The whole neighbourhood once baked its bread and fruit flans here. Now a sustainably restored cottage behind the farmhouse, with a roll-top bath and a veranda you will not want to leave.
Everything on one level and cared for down to the last detail, halfway along the footpath from Mechelen to Epen. The terrace looks straight into the nature reserve.
A holiday under timber beams, on a farm that is still very much at work. Thick loam walls keep it wonderfully cool in summer. Private entrance, private terrace, space all around.
Two homes in an eighteenth-century timber-framed barn, refilled with real loam. High on the slope, so the view takes in the whole Geul valley. The Wimmers family welcomes you.
Once a smithy, since the 1960s the hotel of the Beenkens family. At the crossroads at the top of the lane, with a garden and a terrace where the sun lingers.
No address matches this choice.
The lane
The Hurpescherweg is less than a kilometre long. You start down by the water of the Geul, pass the hedgerows where the hazel dormouse lives, and a little later look out from the top towards the Vijlen forest, which stretches all the way to the Three-Country Point. The numbers match the addresses above.
What to do here
Along the Geul to Epen, up through sunken lanes to the Vijlen forest. Hiking and mountain-bike trails quite literally pass the house.
The St. Martinus wine estate is within walking distance, Domein Steenberg sits on top of the Schweiberg. Tasting is allowed, almost compulsory.
Terraces in Mechelen, trout at the Geulhof, a Limburg beer by the open fire at 't Hijgend Hert.
A two-kilometre walk for a big ice cream with fresh fruit at the ice-cream farm. Count cows and cross brooks on the way.
The story
Where the Klitserbeek flows into the Geul stood Hurpesch Castle in the Middle Ages: a fortified house on a round island some fifty metres across, with a moat around it. The stream running past the farmhouse is what remains of that moat.
The castle vanished, the farmers stayed. They built the way everyone here did: a frame of oak beams, filled with branches, straw and loam. Cheap, local and fully reusable. Sustainable building, three hundred years before the word existed.
Also in Hurpesch
Brainstorming with a view over the Geul valley. Half days or several days, with lunch, overnight stay and a cooking studio for afterwards.
Hoeve Hurpesch for business →An intimate ceremony in the garden, then one long table in the meadow. Not a party venue, but a day that is truly yours.
Weddings at the farmhouse →Breakfast with fresh sourdough, good coffee and local produce. Small-scale, Wednesday to Sunday, by reservation only.
Visit the Leemcafeetje →Frequently asked questions
Hurpesch (in Limburgish: Hurpesj) is a hamlet of Mechelen in the municipality of Gulpen-Wittem, in the Geul valley in South Limburg, the Netherlands. It lies in the middle of the triangle formed by Mechelen, Epen and Vijlen. Maastricht, Aachen and Liège are about half an hour away by car.
There are six addresses: Hoeve Hurpesch (the big half-timbered house), 't Bakhuisje van vrouw Holle, Hurpeschzegel, holiday home Hupperetz, holiday homes Thienen and hotel-apartments De Oude Hamer.
Yes. Hoeve Hurpesch is a half-timbered farmhouse for 10 to 26 guests, with ten bedrooms, nine bathrooms, a cooking studio, a wood-fired pizza oven and a sauna.
Yes. The footpaths through the Geul valley and up to the Vijlen forest run along the lane. Epen is a two-kilometre walk along the Geul, and mountain-bike and cycling routes through the hill country start at the door.
All year round. In May the hills are in blossom, September brings the grape harvest, and in winter the sunken lanes are quiet and a stove is burning everywhere.
Each address links to its own website, where you will find prices, availability and how to reserve.
Practical
Hurpesch is part of Mechelen, municipality of Gulpen-Wittem. Set your sat nav to Hurpescherweg, 6281 NL Mechelen, the Netherlands. The last stretch is narrow: take it slowly, there are walkers about.
In May everything is in blossom, in September the grape harvest is in the air. And in winter you have the sunken lanes to yourself and a stove is burning everywhere.
Each address links to its own website, where you will find prices, availability and how to reserve. Back to the addresses.