A Brummie Home and Abroad Guide to Luxembourg City
I’m not going to beat around the bush. Luxembourg City is tiny. So tiny that you can see it all in half a day. Or one day with a stop in a bar or two to eke out your time. So how did we fill our three full days in Luxembourg?
Arrival Day and Day One in Luxembourg City
Mr Fletche and I get our first taste of the public transport system straight off the plane, easily purchasing two short-trip €2 tickets from the machine outside and locating our bus stop. The No 29 bus takes us to within just a couple of minutes walk from our AirBnB on Rue des Trevires. It’s not long before we’re back out of the apartment when we realise we have forgotten our travel adaptor and have several mobile devices that need charging. Rookie error.
We trundle off to the local Monoprix, where we find one universal travel adaptor and plenty of other supplies. Including beer and bananas, which if you’ve read my Croatia blogs you’ll know are our staple holiday requirements. Dinner consists of a gin and tonic from Scott’s Pub and a ham and cheese sarnie in our apartment.
Exploring Luxembourg City. Once. Twice. And once more for good luck.
It’s a bright morning, but not particularly warm considering it’s the end of June. Today has been earmarked as a day for exploring all that the capital has to offer. Already we’re wondering how we’re going to fill the next two and a half days. However, our day looks something like this:
Barrio Grund
We ascend the steep cobbled path of Montee de la Petrusse towards the Grund. This borough of Luxembourg City is nestled alongside the Petrusse and Alzette river, at the base of Montee de Clausen. Cobbled streets, stone bridges and UNESCO listed buildings such as Abbaye de Neumunster make this a charming and pleasant place to walk. As long as you realise that that long steep walk down makes for a long steep walk back up*. There’s also an abundance of bars and restaurants, including the aforementioned Scott’s Pub.
(*I have since discovered that there is an elevator down to (and more importantly, up from) this area.)
Les Rives de Clausen
It’s a pleasant walk along the riverside to les Rives de Clausen, location of the old Mousel brewery. Now it’s a nightlife hotspot, with bars, clubs and restaurants. Although it’s not really hopping at 10:30am on a Friday morning.
Place Guillaume II
We clamber up Montee de Clausen, out of the Luxembourg City gorge into the upper town. We pass Casemates du Bock (more on that later), the 10th century Église Saint-Michel, the Grand Ducal Palace – official residence of the Grand Duke et sa famille – and on to Place Guillaume II. Which is currently half a building site thanks to the construction of an underground car park. Luxembourg City is full of construction. It’s like Copenhagen all over again. Or the centre of Birmingham.
Still, it’s a pleasant place to grab a quick al-fresco hot beverage from Kaempff-Kohler, which appears to be part coffee shop, part cafe, part deli and part patisserie.
Place D’Armes
A passageway from Place Guillaume II leads us to another square. This one is tree-lined, has a jazz band playing on a bandstand and is surrounded by cafes and restaurants. Two of which are the ubiquitous McDonalds and Pizza Hut. There are more people in this area, and the surrounding shopping streets then anywhere else we’ve seen in the city so far. We have lunch at the popular Downtown cafe on Rue Chimay.
Casemates du Bock
if you’re compiling a list of “things to do” in Luxembourg City then it’s safe to say that this UNESCO World Heritage site will be pretty near the top of that list. 17km of tunnels remain within the Bock promontory, all that’s left of Count Siegfrid’s fortified 10th century castle. The tunnels have been used as shelter during both world wars; as stables, kitchens and a slaughterhouse; but now it’s mostly full of tourists pretending to fire cannons and cursing when another narrow spiral staircase leads to another dead end. (6,00€ each, or 12,00€ for a guided tour)
Le Chemin De La Corniche
Once you’ve emerged from the cool, dark tunnels, you can take in the views across the Grund from the ramparts on this walkway which has been called “Europe’s most beautiful balcony”. I think fans of Mönchsberg in Salzburg may beg to differ. This path will take you all the way back down to the lower parts of town…meaning another hike to clamber out.
Parcs de la Petrusse
After Friday night fish and chips at Oscars, we decide to walk across to town via Parcs de la Petrusse. It’s a beautiful walk through the lush green valley nestling against the bottom of the cliffs, from Passerelle Viaduct down to Adolphe Bridge. There a great skate park and outdoor gym if you’re into that sort of thing too.
It’s only when we get to Adolphe Bridge that we realise that due to the construction work taking place on the bridge we can’t exit the park. We find ourselves retracing our steps before finally finding a staircase which will bring us out next to Place de la Constitution.
City Skyliner (summer 2017 only)
Usually the Gëlle Fra monument is the star of Place de la Constitution, but this summer she is eclipsed by the giant mobile observation tower that is the City Skyliner. 81m tall and offering 360° views over the capital, it’s a seven minute journey into the sky. The tower is on it’s own European tour at the moment and leaves Luxembourg City on 6th August (7,00€ each)
You can retrace our steps using this map!
Want to know what we did with the rest of our time in Luxembourg? Click here for Part 2!
2018 Update: Did you know you can now download this city guide through the GPSmyCity app on iOS and Android? For GPS-assisted travel directions to the attractions featured in this article, and other related city walks and tour guides, search for “Luxembourg”, or you can find all the Luxembourg content here!
*All photos are taken by myself or by CPF Photography (reproduced with permission) unless otherwise stated*
Great post Em, never been to Luxembourg, looks great though 🙂
It’s pretty, but I don’t think you’ve convinced me it’s worth a visit yet.
There’s plenty to see April, just not much to actually DO…worth a whistlestop tour 🙂
Looks like a great short stop destination!
For a day, it’s great!
🙂
I just looked at your Airbnb apartment again it looked amazing!
I have very exact standards for AirB&B rental Ritu…minimalistic, nothing frilly, coffee maker, rainforest shower 😀
Lol!!! Glad they can satisfy you!!@
You are funny April, and now the big question will Em take up the challenge 🙂 Though do enjoy your honesty! Would be fun to get a housesit there, not holding my breath as they are a bit like hen’s teeth!! Enjoyable post as usual Em 🙂
Thanks Suzanne! I’m not sure I’d get a job with the Luxembourg tourist office… “pretty but a bit boring” 😀
LOL, could be a fun angle to present to the Tourism Office, they might get it, well maybe not 🙂
What a cute apartment. I want to explore those tunnels!
The tunnels were great! One of the few “must-do’s” on the list 😉
Can you actually go into the Ducal Palace?? (I always have to visit the Royal Palaces if possible 😀 ) Luxembough City looks to be quieter, which I think is sometimes more enjoyable on a holiday- you can race around London, Paris, and Berlin until your feet fall off and only see a minuscule part of the city but in some cases, you just don’t feel like racing. Absolutely lovely pics, Em!!
I think you can during the summer when the duchy are on their summer hols 😁 We certainly felt like we could enjoy the city without having to rush around x
This looks like such a beautiful, if tiny city. What made you want to visit? I’ve heard only a little about Luxembourg overall but would love to learn more.
Cheap flights!
Wow! Love the pics! I love these posts about traveling. It makes me want to get out and do some traveling myself. Some day, when my kids are a little bit older. 🙂
Thanks Lisa, the world’s a big place and its not going anywhere!
That’s a good thing! 🙂
I know this is a bit off topic, but I loved your last Pinterest worthy image!
And aren’t those 1 day cities that you can stretch into several a blast? Sometimes it’s great not to pack itineraries to bursting and hope that the photos you snagged will jog the memory a few weeks later when you have time to relax and “enjoy” the vacation.
Thanks Gabe 😊 And you’re right, it is nice to “slow-travel” some time rather than rush around just ticking things off the to-do list 😁
O what a cute little city!
It is…and very easy to see it all in just one day 😁
It looks beautiful. I’ve never been but it’s on my list if places to visit! I’ll Pin it to my board of places I’d like to visit!
Plan either a one day visit – or use the opportunity to explore the rest of the country!
Never thought about wanting to go to Luxembourg, but now I might have to reconsider.
It’s not generally on most people’s radars so glad I can inspire thoughts of a potential visit 😃
You did for me.
I have never been but I definitely want to. I like that it is small.
It’s nice to be able to feel you’ve seen a city or country without having to make a return visit…so many places are still on the “need to revisit” list…
That is also true!
I had a brief stop at a service station somewhere in Luxembourg en route to Italy once, but it was 1am and all I can remember is it was dark, I was drinking apple juice and was really tired! This is certainly somewhere I’d like to properly visit now!!!
Ha, there’s probably not much more to see 😂
Looks marvelous! I had a penpal from Luxembourg when I was in about fourth grade. Long time ago! By the way, what’s a brummie? 😀
Hi Allison, a Brummie is a native of Birmingham in the UK 😄
Wow! I’d love to go to Luxembourg! I’ve never known much about it but your post sold me on it.
Aww, thanks Phil! I should be employed by the Luxembourg tourist board, sending all these people their way 😀
I think it’s good that you didn’t know about the elevator! This way you get to be smug about all your climbing…and you can eat more yummy food without feeling guilty!
Luxembourg looks lovely! What a pretty place to wander. 🙂
Agreed, but we would definitely have spent more time wandering if we’d realised there was an easier option!
Despite living in one of its neighbouring countries, I have never visited Lux. It’s about time I did, and your post will be the perfect guide! Thanks!
Thanks Denzil 😆
This just popped up in the related on your Lisbon post so I had to give it a read – I’m off to Luxembourg next month! I was relieved to see that it’s coverable in less than a day, because I basically have 24 hours there (arrive lunchtime, leave lunchtime the next day). Sounds like it shouldn’t be rushed, which is nice!
Oh, it’s tiny – you can go around the city twice in that time!