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Due to climate change, global species distributions show latitudinal poleward and upslope shifts, as they try to keep up with the shifting climate. Species that did not possess the ability to adapt or to migrate at sufficient speed, have already gone extinct. Biodiversity and ecosystems degrade, which causes ecosystem services to be compromised. Landscapes can harbor areas with fine-scale temperature differences, microrefugia, which can reduce the extinction of plant species. Microrefugia are local microhabitats in which the environmental conditions are favorable and to which plant species can limit their habitat, in order to decouple from their distribution area that is affected by climate change. In this study, an attempt was made to recognize microrefugia in the surroundings of the Belgian Hoge Kempen National Park, based on environmental factors and modeled microclimate temperature. Potential microrefugia can best be detected by modeled maximum temperature values, instead of by visual assessment based on elevation, aspect and vegetation cover. Furthermore, it was concluded that the use of in-situ temperature measurements, instead of using modeled temperature values, would allow for better informed conclusions. Environmental variables such as total vegetation cover showed expected relationships with modeled maximum temperatures, which indicates that the study area has potential to harbor microrefugia. Potential microrefugia were compared with surrounding habitats in terms of abiotic variables, species richness and species composition. Significant differences in mean values for heat load, total vegetation cover, light intensity and modeled mean temperature were observed. Although a lower species richness was observed for higher modeled maximum temperatures, this variable could not be used to detect potential microrefugia. Microclimate did not affect the plant community composition, so it was concluded that microrefugia were not (yet) present in the study area. By indicating which variables influence microrefugia and by providing suggestions to locate microrefugia, this study aims to contribute to development of techniques to localize microrefugia. This may be relevant for research concerning Climate Change Integrated Conservation Strategies.