The 6 Things We Loved About Luxembourg City
If you had asked me 5 years ago if I would ever be traveling to Luxembourg, I probably would have said no. Actually, I probably would of asked where that was. It’s slightly embarrassing to even admit that before moving to Europe, I had never even heard of Luxembourg. But, here I am in 2019 having spent 48 amazing hours in Luxembourg City with a desire to return as soon as I can.
Luxembourg City was the second stop on our big Europe trip. We took an early bus from Brussels so that we could take full advantage of the little time we had in Luxembourg.
Read on for the 6 things you have to do in Luxembourg City.
1. Visit the Grand Ducal Palace
The official residence of the Grand Duke is only available for visits in the summertime but it’s well worth the visit if you happen to be in the area during this time. The hour-long tour takes you around the interior of the palace and also provides some great historical information about the past Grand Dukes.
2. Explore Underground Tunnels at the Casemates du Bock
This was definitely the highlight of Luxembourg City for us. The Casemates du Bock is a series of underground tunnels originating in 1644. Since their creation, the 23 km of tunnels located in the Casemates have been used by the Spanish, the French, and the Austrians. In 1867, Luxembourg was ordered to destroy the Casemates in the Treaty of London due to neutrality of Luxembourg. However, 17km of the tunnels were not able to be destroyed because they would affect other structures in the city and therefore it was opened as a tourist attraction and marked a UNESCO World Heritage site.
There are two options for visitors at the Casemates. You can do a self-guided tour and explore the Casemates on your own terms. Or, you can hop onto a guided tour which are offered in multiple languages. We decided to join the guided tour and I highly suggest this. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and provided deeper insight into the uses of the casemates and the history of Luxembourg in general. We definitely learned way more on the guided tour than we would have had we just walked around the tunnels on our own.
Bonus, the Casemates also offer some pretty awesome views of the city!
3. Learn More About Luxembourg at the Luxembourg City History Museum
If you’re the type of traveller who loves to learn about the city then this is the place for you! The Luxembourg City History Museum is located in the city centre and is filled with four floors and thousands of years’ worth of history.
Usually it’s €5 per person but on Wednesday nights it’s open late with free entry from 6:00pm until 8:00pm.
4. Drink Wine
Did you know that Luxembourg is a big wine producing country? Luxembourgish wines are absolutely delicious and it’s well worth it to visit one of the many wine bars that the city has to offer.
We tried two of the wine bars located in city centre: Dipso and Vinoteca. I personally preferred Dipso, they were much friendlier to us and more hands-on in suggesting certain wines. They also had a long list of delicious cheese and meat platters to choose from which is always a bonus to me. However, Vinoteca was still nice and had a cute outdoor patio overlooking the city.
5. Take a Day Trip to Vianden
Luxembourg is a really, really small country so it makes for great day trips out of the city. While there are a lot of good options, we decided to make the trip out to the small town of Vianden. We chose Vianden mainly because of Vianden Castle which overlooks the town but we also found that the town itself is fun to walk through and has a lot of great options for restaurants and cafes.
6. Just Explore
Luxembourg is a great walking city with streets looking like they came out of a fairy tale book. We decided to spend some time just walking around both the city centre but also the outskirts. Make sure to spend some time along the river and head over to the Pfaffenthal Lift for a great view of the city (and a free ride up the giant hill).