Visit Holland - The Netherlands

Three-Country Point - Drielandenpunt Vaals

The Vaalserberg ("Mount Vaals") is a hill 322.7 metres (1,059 ft) in height and the highest point in the European part of the Netherlands.

The Vaalserberg is located in the province of Limburg, at the south-easternmost edge of the country in the municipality of Vaals, near the eponymous town, some three kilometres west of Aachen.

Before 10 October 2010, the Vaalserberg was the highest point in the Netherlands, until upon the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles when Mount Scenery on Saba (the highest point in the Kingdom of the Netherlands) became part of the Netherlands.

Hotels in Vaals

Three-Country Point
The Vaalserberg is also the location of the tripoint between Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands and its summit is therefore referred to as Drielandenpunt ("Three-Country Point") in Dutch, or Dreiländereck ("Three-Country Corner") in German, or Trois Frontières ("Three Borders") in French.

Between 1830 and 1919, the summit briefly was a quadripoint, bordering also Neutral Moresnet.
Legend:
  (1) Dutch Province of Limburg
  (2) Belgian (previously Dutch) Province of Liège
  (3) Neutral Moresnet
  (4) Prussian Rhine Province

The current Belgian-German-border is not the same as the former eastern border of Moresnet with Prussia; it lies a little more to the east. Therefore, five different borders came together at this point, however never more than four at one time - except possibly for the period 1917-1920, when the border situation was unclear and disputed.

This border intersection has made the Vaalserberg a well-known tourist attraction in the Netherlands with a tower on the Belgian side (Dutch: Boudewijntoren; French: Tour Baudouin) offering a grand panorama of the surrounding landscape. This tidy and urbanised development stands in marked contrast to the rough cinder parking area that makes up the Belgium sector and the wooded nature reserve on the German side.


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