A big time in Luxembourg?

July 17, 2007 1:29 PM

Help me plan a last minute trip to Luxembourg.

My girlfriend and I (both monolingual Americans) are in Brussels and have decided on a whim to visit Luxembourg City for a night or two this weekend. Suggestions on places to stay, eat, soak up culture, dig the general luxembourgness of it all are welcome. Other tips on getting by welcome as well. We're up for almost anything but we are not drinkers. We're on a budget (damn Euro-dollar exchange rate) but not broke.

posted by Bookhouse to travel & transportation (6 comments total)

This Guardian article from February has some details on a weekend in Luxembourg, as does this New York Times article from April.
posted by mdonley at 1:57 PM on July 17, 2007

I rembember Luxembourg to be a beautiful mediaval town - but I didn't stay the night. Though I thinkt there's quite some hostels to b found when you arrive. Good luck - and do visit the old city kernel - it's good for a walk and talk.
posted by Rabarberofficer at 2:02 PM on July 17, 2007

I'm an expat Luxembourger so I may be able to answer specific practical questions (email in my profile) but I'm kinda falling short on "soaking up Luxembourgness" since Luxembourgness is what I ran away from (a while back too).

Definitely check out the medievalness tho - the Wenzelspad (link goes to guided tour thing but you can easily walk it on your own) as well as the Casematten (German Wikipedia pic to give you an idea. can give you directions if you're interested). The Petrus valley is also very pretty.

God, reading those articles is sooo weird. Marx is dominated by “older folks” — that is, people in their 30s and 40s - really? Marx used to be the "posh place for young'uns." I really should keep out of this thread. Ooh but do go to Giorgio's in the Rue du Nord for niiice Italian pizza!
posted by ClarissaWAM at 2:32 PM on July 17, 2007

Disregard that advice about Giorgio's. The pizzas they did were so bad that they closed some time ago. A good pizza can be found at Bacchus, near the palace.
posted by stereo at 4:32 PM on July 17, 2007

I went there on a day trip in 2001, and happened to be there during a religious festival, so we had an awesome time watching a pilgrim's parade and walking through a carnival/fair/bazaar in the center of town. It was about this time of year, so maybe you'll happen to see it. At the same place was a big white Catholic cathedral with very gaudy but impressive interiors. That might be fun to peek into if you see it.

The best part of the day was walking the fortifications along the valley (it must be the Wenzelspad everyone is recommending). It's really lovely and not a difficult walk.
posted by parkerjackson at 10:04 PM on July 17, 2007

Wow, Giorgio's has closed?!

My mum used to take me there in the early 80es. Don't think they would've survived 20 years if their pizzas were "so bad", and they were always full when I went, even early this century.
Bacchus on the other hand is overpriced for the quality of their food and totally devoid of character. I remember it mainly as a popular destination for school reunions.

But hey, opinions differ...

The religious festival parkerjackson refers to was probably the Octave.
posted by ClarissaWAM at 8:26 AM on July 18, 2007