Anyone familiar with routes around Luxembourg?

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TwoInTow

Active Member
We are going to do the SaarLorLux route in August, but as usual with the family in tow, little legs and lots of luggage, I'm looking at the difficulty of the routes very carefully. The stretch in Luxembourg (roughly from Remich on the French border, into Luxembourg and then northeast into Trier) looks quite hilly.

I've now found that the Moselle route goes from Thionville to Trier, which would meet up again with the SaarLorLux route. This will be much easier, so I'm just wondering whether the Luxembourg stretch is worth pushing ourselves hard for, or whether the Moselle would be more scenic and less stressful.

Any advice?
 

mcr

Veteran
Location
North Bucks
I did the Trier-Thionville stretch a couple of weeks ago at the end of my German tour (see link in sig, though I still need to write up that last day). It is indeed a scenic and flat route and tarmacced the whole way (though I didn't enjoy it as much as I might given a powerful headwind on the day - you should statistically be better off heading downstream). The stretch from Berg-la-Moselle to Konz is the best, with wooded hills and vineyards crowding the river banks. To be honest, I found four days of the Moselle a bit samey, but that stretch (82km, according to my cycle computer) should be just the right length, and being largely in Germany the facilities for accommodation and refuelling are plentiful (lots of riverside campsites, though busy even in early July). And you'll enjoy the section along the Saar for the same reasons (and if you can face climbing 200m out of the valley, the viewpoint at Cloef over the Saarschleife is stunning).

I haven't cycled properly in Luxembourg (just a detour off the German Mosel route to pay tribute to the Schengen monument on the other side of the river), though everything I've seen and read about it suggests it's all very lumpy as you have to go across the grain of the terrain. Nor have I seen positive reports about cycling in and around Luxembourg city itself. If you want to see the city, you could always take a daytrip by train from either Thionville or Trier as a 'day off' (from Trier there's usually a very cheap excursion fare if you search for it on the ticket machine - all part of the local Euroregio cross-border integration).
 

snorri

Legendary Member
I cycled from Trier in to Luxembourg city last summer, it was hilly and unpleasant due to heavy motor traffic on the day I did it. Perhaps with a little research I could have avoided the traffic, but I can't imagine it would have been possible to avoid the hills, Luxembourg is a hilly country.
Just looking at my tour diary, the last line in which Lux. is mentioned reads "soon I will escape from Luxembourg forever", which summed up my feelings for the place!

Edit after reading post from mcr. After finding the hostel in Lux. city, I realised even the city was hilly, too hilly for me to even contemplate exploring it any further.:sad:
 

Ian Cooper

Expat Yorkshireman
It's nearly 30 years since I did that route, so I don't remember much about it, apart from the fact that it is hilly. Try to stick to streams and valleys. The Moselle/Mosel gets really nice farther to the northeast near Cochem. Burg Eltz is not too far away on a tributary to the Mosel - in my opinion, the most beautiful castle in Europe and well worth a visit even just to see the outside if it's closed for tourists.
 

mcr

Veteran
Location
North Bucks
Burg Eltz is not too far away on a tributary to the Mosel - in my opinion, the most beautiful castle in Europe and well worth a visit even just to see the outside if it's closed for tourists.

This might be a bit far off the SaarLorLux route, given the OP's children, luggage etc - it was the best part of 180km downstream from Trier at Moselkern. I stayed there with the express purpose of walking up the side valley to see the castle in the evening (about 45 mins each way) - well worth it if you happen to be in the area, but it would be a long detour. There are some nice castles in the Saarland, too, if not as spectacularly sited.
 
OP
OP
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TwoInTow

Active Member
Thanks for the detailed replies - definitely makes up my mind, then! We'll keep along the river and do Luxembourg as a daytrip by train if we feel the urge.

Don't think I'd ever get anywhere if it weren't for CycleChat!
 
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