Vaalserberg#Three-Country Point

{{Short description|Highest point in mainland Netherlands and tripoint with Belgium and Germany}}

{{Infobox mountain

| name = Vaalserberg

| photo = File:Ac vaalserberg.JPG

| photo_caption = The Vaalserberg seen from Aachen

| elevation_m = 322.4

| elevation_ref = NAP

| prominence =

| map = Netherlands#Belgium#Germany North Rhine-Westphalia

| map_caption = Location in the Netherlands##Location in Belgium##Location in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany)

| label_position = top

| translation = Vaals' Mountain

| language = English

| location = Limburg, Netherlands

| range =

| coordinates = {{coord|50|45|17|N|6|01|15|E|type:mountain_region:NL_scale:100000|format=dms|display=inline,title}}

| range_coordinates =

| coordinates_ref =

| first_ascent =

| easiest_route =

}}

The Vaalserberg ({{IPA|nl|ˈvaːlsərˌbɛr(ə)x}}; {{langx|li|Vaolserberg}} {{IPA|li|ˈvɒː˦˨lsəʀˌbæː˦˨˧ʀəx||}}) is a mountain with a height of {{convert|322.4|m}}{{in lang|nl}} J.A. te Pas, Nederland van laag tot hoog, NGT Geodesia 1987 nr. 7/8 pp. 273-275 above NAP and is 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, near the town of Vaals (after which it is named).

The Vaalserberg was the highest point anywhere in the Netherlands until the Caribbean island of Saba, with its {{convert|887|m|ft|abbr=off|adj=mid|-high}} volcano, was incorporated into the country as a "special municipality" in 2010.

Three-country point

File:2017-05 Vaalserberg 13.jpg

File:GemmenicherTunnel01.JPG

The Vaalserberg is also the location of the tripoint between Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands and so its summit is called the Drielandenpunt ("three country point") in Dutch, Dreiländereck ("three country corner") in German and Trois Frontières ("three borders") or Trois Bornes ("three border stones") in French.

File:Dreiländereck Baudouinturm.JPG

On the Belgian side, the tripoint borders the region of Wallonia, including both the regular French-speaking area and the smaller German-speaking area. The German side falls within the city limits of Aachen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Between 1830 and 1919, the summit was a quadripoint, also bordering Neutral Moresnet, which is now part of Belgium's German-speaking area.

image:Moresnet.png}} {{legend|yellow|(2) Belgian (previously United Dutch) Liège Province}} {{legend|lightblue|(3) Neutral Moresnet}} {{legend|lightgreen|(4) Prussian Rhine Province}}]]

File:2017-05 Vaalserberg 07.jpg

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

The border intersection has made the Vaalserberg a well-known tourist attraction in the Netherlands, with a {{convert|50|m}} tower on the Belgian side ({{langx|nl|Boudewijntoren}}; {{langx|fr|Tour Baudouin}}; {{langx|de|Balduin-Turm}}), opened in 1994 to replace the previous {{convert|33|m}} tower, built in 1970. It offers a grand panorama of the surrounding landscape.

{{convert|140|m}} south of the point, a railway crosses the German-Belgian border in the Gemmenicher Tunnel. It is the freight-only railway between Tongeren and Aachen.

Four-borders road

The road leading up to this point on the Dutch side is called the Viergrenzenweg ("four borders way"), probably because of the former territory of Neutral Moresnet. The names of the roads in Belgium (Route des Trois Bornes) and Germany (Dreiländerweg) refer to the present three bordering countries.See [https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=aachen&ie=UTF8&ll=50.755504,6.02113&spn=0.006272,0.020084&t=h&z=16&om=1 Google Maps showing street names]

Along the road on the Dutch side is the {{convert|35|m}} {{ill|Wilhelminatoren, Vaals|nl|Wilhelminatoren (Vaals)|lt=Wilhelminatoren}} observation tower, with a restaurant and forest trails. The present tower officially opened on 7 October 2011 and features a lift and a glass floor. The first tower at the site was built in 1905 during the reign of its namesake, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, and was demolished in 1945. The second {{convert|20|m}} tower opened on 11 August 1951 and was demolished over the winter of 2010–2011 because of its poor condition and high maintenance requirements.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

Road cycling

The Vaalserberg is often used in the Amstel Gold Race and is climbed halfway through the race. The climb is named in the roadbook of the Gold Race as Drielandenpunt and crosses the border with Belgium and followed after is the Gemmenich climb to go into the Netherlands again.

The Belgian climb part (or descent) is called Côte des Trois bornes or Côte des Trois Frontières and includes two hairpin bends. It starts from Gemmenich with the roadname Route des Trois Bornes.