With a flight from London to Luxembourg for a whopping £4 the ticket was immediately booked. Parks of living in Europe are the cheap plane tickets that we never get to experience back in Kiwi-land so you bet we are making the most of it!
And on that note, here we have it, country #23 of our European Adventure.
Luxembourg Visitors Tip: The Ultimate Price Hack
On arrival, purchase a Luxembourg Card. This gives you access to all the tourist attractions on offer including more than 60 museums. On top of this you can use the card to receive free public transport during your visit – doesn’t get much better than that. Travelling as a group of 4 our card came to £25 (so only £6.25 per person), Jarrod and I were shocked with how cheap it was, we are used to paying £15-£20 minimum for attractions when visiting new countries.
Luxembourg City Check List
Alzette River
After checking into our hotel we spent the afternoon walking along the Alzette River on route to The Grund. It was so nice to just stroll along and take in the nature which we are so scarce of in London Town. Along this river we also came across a skate park which was packed to the max, mini golf and a few playgrounds, lot’s of locals out and about making the most of the good weather which we love to see.
The Old Town
Along our river walk we soon reached the Grund and settled in at a Scotts Pub – It’s perched up on a little hill overlooking the river #absolutebliss. This was a stunning little old town located in the valley below the city centre. Very picturesque so get the camera ready – Jarrod enjoyed getting some great pics of the surroundings!
It’s definitely worth coming here for lunch/dinner or even just a drink. I can definitely see this place going off in summer and supposedly has great night life too (I’m a Nana so can’t personally vouch for this one yet!)
Ancient Caves
Explore the famous caves at Casemates du Bock. We spent a decent hour or so here walking through all the caves/tunnels at this historical Luxembourg site. Throughout the walk the caves have holes in the walls which overlook the whole city. You can use your Luxembourg Pass for this attraction so don’t need to pay anything!
Use the e-bikes!
We discovered the rest of the City on Electric Bikes – We saw these stacked up all through the city so decided rather than doing a walking tour like we normally would do it would be a fun to hire these and do our own. This was through Vel’OH and came to approx £3 per person. Once hopping onto the bikes we were able to tick off the following:
Luxembourg Sign
Another free attraction, we managed to find the Luxembourg sign hidden in one of the parks. If the weather had been a bit sunnier it would have been lovely to have a picnic here as well so keep this in mind for sure.
Notre-Dame Cathedral
Over 400 years old this is one of the most historical buildings to visit. You can even go into the crypt where remains go back as far as the 1300’s which totally crept me out. Opposite this Cathedral is the perfect viewing point for the sun setting which overlooks the river below.
Grand Duchal Palace
An elegant palace, with guards standing tall outside and flags flowing in the wind it was very charming. We were visiting in March so unfortunately the guided tours weren’t open to the public *if visiting between mid-July to August make the most of it and book a tour! You can eat/drink with a view of the palace at my next recommended stop…
HOT CHOC HEAVEN
Whether you are stopping in for breakfast, needing a sugar hit in the afternoon or simply want to warm up on a chilly winters day, The Chocolate house must be on the to do list. Hot chocolates are a fav of ours and here they have up to 50 different flavours to pick from.. what?!
These are served as a cup of hot milk and you plunge your (1 of 50 flavoured) chocolate spoons into the hot milk and stir away as it desolves. Go big or go home right, so we also ordered a cake to compliment our hot choccys – hand on heart, all the calories are worth the experience, truly delish.
The interior is just as glam, major princess vibes, especially with the cafe looking onto the Palace. (Also classic, two paragraphs just about a cafe, totally foodie)
Sunset
Cross the road from the Cathedral and you will be set for a beautiful sunset spot! This area was crowded as you got to see the sun slowly set behind the bridge and along the river!
Luxembourg’s most picturesque Castle
Travelling from Luxembourg City you can catch a train followed by a bus which takes you to the town of Vianden. This is where most tourists visit to see the charming, picturesque castle. Of-course the transport and access to the castle is free through the Luxembourg Card so you bet we were making the most of it.
Vianden Town
Vianden is such a gorgeous little town . Filled with cute restaurants, cafes and pubs all along the riverside and is a perfect foodie spot!
Before heading up to the castle we had lunch at DuPont, a cheap local restaurant on the river – I can only imagine how packed it would get here in summer. If you eat here get the Bittaballins as a side dish, they are delicious and a fav of ours since being in the Netherlands where we first discovered them!
Walk up to the Castle
From here you can catch a cable car up to the castle but the walk is only a 10-15 minutes and means you get to walk through the colourful little village which we preferred.
We spent approx. an hour and half making our way through the fairy-tale castle, it was surprisingly a lot bigger than we had originally thought. The castle offered great views of the town with many photo opportunities. As we were visiting end of March when it is still fairly cold we were lucky enough to have most of the castle to ourselves!
The interior of the castle is just as impressive which you get to see as they have all rooms open for viewing.
& That’s A Wrap
Our Time in Luxembourg flew by, an eventful weekend getaway for sure!
P&J xx
