Culture & sights

Top 10 things to do in Luxembourg City, ranked

5 min read

View over the Grund from the Chemin de la Corniche walkway

The top five, no hedging

1. Walk the Chemin de la Corniche — the so-called "most beautiful balcony in Europe" gives you the Grund, the Alzette and the old fortifications in one sweep. 2. Bock Casemates — the tunnels drilled into the promontory where the city was founded in 963, dark and cold and worth the €8. 3. The Grund itself — descend by the free Pfaffenthal lift or the Montée du Grund and drink a Bofferding by the water. 4. Notre-Dame Cathedral crypt with the grand-ducal tombs. 5. Place d’Armes at aperitif hour, when the terraces fill and the buskers start.

Six through ten

6. MUDAM on the Kirchberg plateau — I.M. Pei's last museum, built on Fort Thüngen's ramparts. 7. The Pfaffenthal panoramic lift, free and vertigo-inducing. 8. Musée National d’Histoire et d’Art on Marché-aux-Poissons, strong on Roman-era Luxembourg. 9. Villa Vauban's small but sharp Dutch and French collection in a leafy park. 10. The Wenzel Walk, a 100-minute loop through 1,000 years of fortification history. Skip the Grand Ducal Palace tour unless you’re here in July or August when it opens — it's the only window.

Frequently asked questions

Can you do all ten in two days?

Comfortably, if you stay central. Day one: Corniche, Casemates, Cathedral, Grund, Place d’Armes. Day two: Kirchberg for MUDAM, Pfaffenthal lift, MNHA, Villa Vauban, Wenzel Walk at dusk.

Which one would you cut if pressed for time?

Villa Vauban. It's lovely but the collection is modest and the park matters more than the paintings — you can get the same green-space fix in the Pétrusse valley for free.