… In luxembourg. A declaration of love and a secret tip
A small Grand Duchy in the middle of Europe. No coastline, particularly high mountains or exciting monuments like a Statue of Liberty, Elbphilharmonie or an Eiffel Tower. But: fabulously beautiful forests. A great cultural offer. A capital city where on the one hand you quickly feel at home. On the other hand, you can literally feel the heart of Europe beating here.
"We are going on a family vacation in Luxembourg this year!"This sentence got me 95% of these reactions: a lame "A-ha", a puzzled frown, and the more courageous ones asked: "Really?? Why?"I thought so, too, before I went there a few years ago (read more here). Since then, Luxembourg has been one of my absolute favorite destinations. I immediately get shining eyes and rosy cheeks, when I only think of Luxembourg! And it didn't disappoint me this year either – making the country my absolute insider tip no.1 I'll be happy to tell you – but only you:
Nice and cheap accommodation
"We sleep in the youth hostel" – who thinks of stuffy socks, snoring strangers and rose hip tea from tin cans when hearing this sentence?? You can forget everything. The youth hostels in Luxembourg are really great and just right when traveling with kids – nice enough for us parents to feel comfortable, but casual enough for the kids to have fun too. We stayed in Remerschen in the Mosel region, had there a large room with 5 beds and own bathroom, which had almost hotel level – only without TV. The dining room can be called a restaurant. Even locals come to have lunch or dinner here. There is a daily 3-course meal (ice cream for dessert!) and on Sundays always something extra fine, for example goose breast with spinach lozenges and vegetable julienne. The staff was super child friendly (Thanks again Elke, Kevin and all others!) and with 5, 7 and 9 years our children could already serve themselves at the buffet. They even always fetched us coffee from the fully automatic machine for breakfast – I've been eagerly waiting for this for 9 years!
By the way, behind the terrace is a playground, behind it the vineyards. We really enjoyed the evenings here.
Adventure and discovery
Luxembourg is the land of museums, exhibitions and adventures – it's incredible what you can experience here. Close to our youth hostel in the nature reserve Haff Reimech is the Biodiversum, an interactive nature exhibition. The building alone is interesting from the outside, the exhibition inside even more so. After learning EVERYTHING (as good as) about the local nature inside, we were allowed to borrow binoculars and go exploring for free. The winding, densely overgrown paths around the lake gave Emmy, Jasper and Eva a real adventurous feeling. From a wooden hut we could watch the water birds very closely – psssst, very quiet of course.
On foot with 3 children through 3 countries – that is Europe!
Speaking of nature – we love it. And in Luxembourg there are particularly beautiful landscapes, crisscrossed by excellent hiking trails. After we had explored the Mullerthal on our last visit, this time we wanted to stroll on the dream loop "Schengen grenzenlos" – and it was really dreamy. The route starts in the charming little village made famous by the signing of the "Schengen Agreement" in 1985. The hike leads from the European Museum to the Strombierg nature reserve and on to France to the environs of the winegrowing village of Contz-les-Bains. The path is even marked as a "Traumschleife Premium" – which means that certain requirements are met, for example no paths lead along roads or on tarred paths.
Once we were out of the village, we quickly entered a real fairy tale forest: moss-covered rocks, huge trees, narrow, enchanted paths. The children have made despite 35 ° C super with. It was also reasonably cool in the forest and the three of them crept up with sticks and cleared a path for us in the dense jungle ..
As soon as we were out of the forest, we came to a field of sunflowers, above which approx. 10-12 storks circling in the lightning blue sky … It was sooooo beautiful! Somewhere in there we also crossed the border between Luxembourg and France.
Arizona? No, Luxembourg – or France.
The way back took us past great rock formations that immediately make you feel like you're in a Wild West movie. Then a little bit through the forest before we walked the last kilometers between vineyards. From time to time we also nibbled – the sweet juice dripped all over our hands, so that we had to lick our fingers afterwards with pleasure. My carefree tip: On this hike you don't even come close to a restaurant or kiosk. Remember to take enough food with you, especially water. Our kids also had cookies and nibbles to give them strength and motivation for the almost 10 km long trail.
From the grape into the glass
Oh yes, the wine – you can't miss it here in the Mosel region. You are virtually always in the middle of it, which not only looks scenic, but also tastes very good. In Ehnen is a wine museum. You have to book a guided tour in advance (it's also quite expensive at 60€), but you can walk independently through the old, picturesque buildings and see everything that was ever used to make wine: Corking machines, shaking boards, picking baskets, even the first helicopter ever used in winemaking is on display here. And: You get a wine to taste – but not just any wine. There is a glass of Auxerrois from the state winery. You can't buy it anywhere, it is usually served at state receptions and gala dinners. So we enjoy this special drop in the Mediterranean courtyard of the museum, while the children are hunting lizards.
The most beautiful city in Europe
For me, at least, Luxembourg City belongs absolutely. So much is offered in a small space: An ancient monastery, underground passages, narrow, winding alleys. Then in the middle of the city again a lot of far view over the gorge across. Impressive churches and of course the palace of the Grand Duke are part of the cityscape as well as cozy, small restaurants and luxury stores, whose shop windows you can't get enough of.
Luxembourg is small enough that you can find your way around after a short time. And here again the heart of the EU beats – such different people, languages, influences … I just love to stroll through the city with open ears and eyes.
Outside is the cool Kirchberg with its modern bank and commercial buildings where the architects have outdone each other. Definitely worth a side trip!
Totally cool are also the casemates, which are caves and corridors carved into the rock. They were born from 17. Built in the 19th century as part of the Luxembourg Fortress. Today, it's adventurous roads that occasionally offer a great view of the city through barred windows. Especially our children found it super adventurous and exciting.
For children there is a city rally – just ask at the tourist office. We did it and passed all the important places. And a reward for the right answers is waiting in the treasure chest ..
Who sits in the glass house… can watch butterflies fluttering
In case of rain or just for fun I can recommend the butterfly garden in Grevenmacher. In the big glass house you feel like in the rain forest of Costa Rica: It is teeming with butterflies. Big, small, in all colors. We could even watch a butterfly hatch and spread its wings. The butterflies share their house with insects, a chameleon, geckos, great lush plants and ponds with huge koi carp in them.