Luxembourg is probably not the typical destination that comes to mind when you are looking for ideas for your next vacation or getaway. Honestly, I had never considered visiting it until now, but due to its proximity (to the Netherlands) I decided to visit it for a weekend.

The visit did not disappoint, Luxembourg is green and mountainous, full of charming little villages in many of which you can visit a castle, and when you leave the capital of Luxembourg almost all the highlights are old castles. Finally, Luxembourg capital, it is beautiful and on a sunny day you will not be able to stop kicking it up and down.

Everything you need to know to prepare your trip to Luxembourg:

1. Best time of year to visit Luxembourg
2. Basic tips for Luxembourg
3. What to visit in Luxembourg
4. Luxembourg daily budget
5. Where to stay in Luxembourg

Official exchange rate 1EUR = 1EUR

Best time of year to visit Luxembourg

Like most countries in Northern Europe and as green as it is, it usually receives a lot of rain for much of the year and the winters, being a mountainous country and at the same time humid, are cold and harsh.

My recommendation to visit these regions is always from Easter and after summer (April – June and September – October), temperatures are much more relaxed and with fewer tourists than in summer and high season.

Basic tips for Luxembourg

• Transportation is free: It is one of the few countries in the world, the only one I know of, that has free public transportation throughout the country. This includes buses, trains and funiculars.
• Transport is slow: It has been a long time since it took so long to travel such short distances, public transport is free, but the frequencies are in my opinion quite limited. Most lines outside of Luxembourg only run once an hour. That made it take you about 2 hours to go see a castle to cover 35km of distance.
• Getting to Luxembourg: It is quite well connected by bus with Flixbus. If you come from neighboring countries, the prices are quite competitive: €20 (from Amsterdam), since it is a somewhat expensive destination to fly to depending on your country of origin.

What to visit in Luxembourg

Luxembourg is a very small country, to give you an idea its size is only 0.52% of the total area of Spain in km2, that is, it can fit 192 times in Spain. Despite this, it has some very interesting places to visit, but don’t plan too much time for your visit either, as it looks fast.

For this same reason I planned one day for Luxembourg city and one day to do a daytrip in this case to Vianden castle.

If you arrive by plane at Luxembourg airport, it is quite well connected to the center of Luxembourg through buses that run 24 hours a day and usually go to Hamilius where you can connect to any part of the city. If you come by bus you will most likely stop at P+R Bouillon which also connects to Hamilius.

The first day I went to visit the Vianden Castle located in the Northeast of Luxembourg a few meters from the border with Germany. The journey takes about 2 hours and you will have to take a couple of buses, probably the 10 to Ettelbruck and then change to the 570 towards Vianden.

Vianden is a picturesque little town, much prettier than the rest I passed through on the way to Vianden. It is well worth spending some time walking it, observing the river that divides the town in two and leaves the impressive Vianden castle on its north bank.

This castle dates from Roman times, but has gone through different stages of construction, modification and destruction in recent centuries. The biggest change was in the 13th century when it was expanded, they built new towers and raised more floors, to give it a structure similar to the current one (rehabilitated).

In 2019 Vianden Castle was chosen as one of the 21 most beautiful castles in the world.

This visit practically ate up more than half a day, back in Luxembourg I stayed to eat at Vianden and later I went to Luxembourg to have some beers and have dinner with some friends who were in the city.

The second day with much better weather than the first (no snow), I dedicated myself to exploring Luxembourg city with quite sunny and relatively pleasant weather.

Luxembourg is separated by the Alzette River which divides the city into upper and lower parts.

The lower part, Grund, is for me the most charming, practically all pedestrian. Starting at the Eisebunnsbreck and going around the lower area along the meanders of the Alzette until you reach Rham-Plateau, an old ruined fortress on the Grund. Until you reach rue Münster where you will find for me the second best “postcard” of Luxembourg with its picturesque little houses above the Alzette river.

I recommend that you continue around the river heading north through the Neumunster Abbey where if you have sun you can stop to rest for a while and observe the upper city from the banks of the river and its gardens.

Once you have regained your strength you will have to go up to the upper part of Luxembourg, there are usually elevators everywhere, but I did not find any in this area so you will have to walk up the hill.

You will get the best view of Luxembourg from the balcony of the archaeological crypt, with a spectacular view of Grund and the upper part of Luxembourg hanging from the hill with the Alzette river dividing both parts of the city. Also known as the most beautiful balcony in Europe.

Continue along the Chemin de la Corniche and discover the historic center where the Bock de Casamates, Notre Dame Cathedral, Place d’Armes and the Ducal Palace are located.

Luxembourg daily budget

Difficult to assess compared to other trips that I usually take, since I was there for a short time and it was a bit atypical. But here’s my estimate:

• Transportation: Free, there are few or no taxis (I only saw a couple at the station) and public transport is good in the capital and acceptable outside it.
• Accommodation: There is only one hostel in the whole country and it is €28/night with breakfast included, basic hotels from €60 and up, many of them near the airport.
• Food: For €20 you can eat at any mid-range restaurant per meal. So calculate around 40-50 a day with a good meal and another more normal. Although you can reduce that figure with snacks and other alternatives.
• Leisure: You can’t enter most of the tourist places and you can only see them from the outside, or your ticket is usually quite affordable at around €5 for Notre Dame Cathedral and €10 for Vianden Castle. The prices of alcohol/beers are usually around €3-4, quite correct for being Luxembourg.

In general, it is not an expensive country to visit, the expensive thing about Luxembourg is living in it due to the disproportionate prices of housing, but visiting it is cheaper than going to the Netherlands or other neighboring countries.

Donde alojarte en Luxemburgo

Where to stay in Luxembourg

• Youth Hostel Luxembourg // Luxembourg City: Relatively large, clean and comfortable. You have to pay for towels (I forgot mine at home) and there is no soap in the showers. It includes breakfast although a little scarce and of poor quality and there is no toaster for bread! …Overall I’d give it a 7 because it doesn’t have a backpacking vibe, but it’s functional enough.

The rest of the budget hotels are located on the outskirts near the airport and cost around €60. Mid-high range hotels are located in the most modern area of the city in the upper part.