LUX: Europe's 'New York, New York'

20-21 January 2018 | *Airfare: £42 RT - British Airways | Hotel: Hilton Doubletree

Luxembourg is a tiny country nestled between Belgium, Germany and France, and I decided to visit because it's SO tiny, yet such an economically strong and diverse country with it's own language (Luxembourgish - say that 10x fast!). Most of the people I came across spoke French, and everything was written in French for the most part – at least in Luxembourg City. The majority of locals spoke English very well, which was helpful as my French is…well below average. I'm calling it Europe's 'NY NY' because of the nation's capital being called 'Luxembourg City'.

While the round trip flights were ridiculously cheap, the country itself is VERY expensive…I’m talking €40 for a 10 minute cab. Pictured below is the 10 minute, 5.6 mile journey from LUX Airport to the Doubletree.

That...was a blow to the funds, but there was no other way to get there from the airport. Oh well, lesson learned – at least it was a nice car!

My flight landed around 6pm, and I arrived at the hotel around 7pm - rather far from the city centre. While there were definitely better accommodation options, I used some Hilton points to get a cheaper stay – well worth it with the views I had walking to the closest rail station the next morning, which was about a mile or so away from the Doubletree. The walk was all downhill, but it was also -5℃ (20ºF)…so bring a heavy jacket if you’re as smart as me to visit in January! Honestly, I really don't think through the climates/time of year…I just find the cheap tickets and deal with the weather when I’m there. :) 

As far as sights to see in, the country itself is full of forest and nature trails, and Luxembourg City is a small (10 minute walk through the centre) standard European city, with a bus network and rail system that are clean and pretty easy to navigate. Again, as I've mentioned in other posts, Sunday’s are NOT the best days for exploring a European city, especially a very tiny one. Since I really only had from 10am – 4pm to wander about, I was able to visit the Bock Casemates – which is shown in the main photo for this post. This was the prettiest view of the city itself and conveniently located next to Amazon’s EU headquarters! On a side note, Luxembourg City is famous for its medieval old town surrounded by cliffs, so it was unique and definitely worth a day trip. I was also able to see the Grand Ducal Palace, Notre Dame Cathedral (yes, there’s another one), and the Place d’Armes. Overall, it's a beautiful and...expensive, country that's definitely worth the visit. I see it as kind of a hidden treasure of western Europe. The landscape was far different than other European countries, and the views were spectacular regardless of where you are.

*On a side note - I flew British Airways as they fly direct from London Heathrow Airport (LHR), but Luxembourg has it's own airline (Luxair), and flies direct to London City Airport (LCY) daily.