Luxembourg.

I had booked the trip to Luxembourg with the hope of relaxing for a couple of days before a fast-paced trip to Italy only 5 days ahead of me. I understand that to most people, me included, travelling for 10 days is not long enough to get burnt out or need a break, but as I was still so early on I wanted to get into the process of looking after myself, and for someone who had never stayed in a hostel until 2 weeks earlier the lack of personal space was starting to have an effect. I had found a bungalow in the countryside, around 20km outside of the capital (which is also called Luxembourg), for £50 per night which was not too bad for what is said to be a very expensive country. So I made the booking, thinking that two nights would be more than enough to decompress while also not enough to massively impact the budget.

On the morning of Day 11, I woke up at about 6am, packed and began the 30 minute walk to the bus station. The bus was a bit late which normally would not have bothered me, but after my experience in Antwerp and due to the fact there were no other buses to Luxembourg that day, I was desperately hoping that this was not turning into another future FlixBus complaint. But no, this time it did turn up and I was on my way only slightly later than expected. The route the bus took was indirect, which in the end meant I had been in 4 different countries before 11:30am (Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg). I know that is very easy in Europe, but it still felt pretty cool.

Before and even after booking my accommodation, I did not really know anything about Luxembourg as a country. I had a picture in my head of castles, small towns and countryside, but the majority of what I had heard was actually from a youtube video that said it was the unfriendliest place the person had ever been to. However, when I arrived in the capital and got one of the free trains (all public transport is free), almost instantly someone began speaking to me, asking where I was going, why I was in Luxembourg etc. ; it was a very friendly interaction which was quite the opposite of what I had expected. Eventually after a few more transport connections I arrived in the small town of Larochette, which is where my bungalow was. I was way too early to check in, but by this point I was getting sick of lugging my 30kg backpack around so I headed to the reception to drop it off. Unfortunately though the lugging would continue a short while longer as the bungalow was at the top of a pretty steep hill about 30 minutes away. Luckily, the unanticipated cardio was rewarded when they let me check in 3 hours early.

I was very hungry from the travel, so after a short break I grabbed my camera and headed down towards the town centre. It turned out that the town was basically just one road with a few shops on each side, a couple of restaurants, a church and, of course, a castle. It was really quite beautiful actually, and inspired me to get out and do something the next day.

For the time being however, the travel and lack of sleep were catching up with me so I headed back, ate some snacks and tried to enjoy the privacy that I had missed so badly. Despite it only being a short time since I had had my own room, I immediately appreciated the space a lot more than I had expected; I knew I had made the right decision to have a break. That night, after ticking off a film from my list (Trainspotting), I got an early night and didn’t set an alarm.

The following day I woke up naturally at about 9:30, went to grab some breakfast from the shop and took it back to the bungalow. I had a bit of a dilemma regarding onwards travel, but after sorting out the next couple of stops I headed down to the town.

Larochette is very close to Mullerthal, which I learned was a region famous for it’s mountain bike trails. This made it quite an easy decision to go and hire a mountain bike for the day. I planned a short route doing a circle of a few small towns, but after only a few kilometres, the scenery was so beautiful that I decided to try and go much further.

I cycled up hills, through forests and even across borders into a German town called Dillingen. It was only a quick trip, however, and I re-entered Luxembourg after about 40 minutes. Luxembourg is covered by hills which may not be particularly significant in terms of altitude but felt very difficult in terms of gradient, and by this point I was starting to feel my physicality wane. I had cycled around 25km in total so far but still had a long way to go. In the end, I opted to push the bike the majority of the way back, only getting on when the gradient was in my favour (which I have to say did not feel very often). The town of Beaufort was also conveniently placed on the most direct route back to Larochette, meaning I cycled past Beaufort castle (one of the most famous castles in Luxembourg) about half way between Germany and my accommodation.

I got back to the bungalow at 7pm, feeling exhausted but utterly fulfilled. In my head, Luxembourg only two days previously had been an unfriendly place without much to offer that I was simply using as rest stop before moving on. But by the time I got back, it was definitely the highlight of the trip so far for me. It felt totally unique to go to a region I had never heard of, see such amazing scenery, cycle across borders and visit these tiny towns of only a few buildings.

After arriving back at the bungalow and removing the last of the ticks that had stuck to me in the forest, I settled down for another cozy night, appreciating the comfort of the double bed even more than the previous night. Perhaps I got lucky in stumbling across such a beautiful part of the country, but based on my experience I would certainly recommend Luxembourg to anyone. It feels like the first hidden gem of the trip; I would definitely go back again. Overall, it was not at all like the vague reputation I had heard, nor was it overly expensive, and the quiet and calming nature of the towns was exactly the kind of relaxant I was looking for. For anyone at all who likes to hike, cycle or explore, Luxembourg (and Larochette in particular) should certainly be a new addition to the bucket list.

So Far:

Days: 12

Countries: 5

Stops: 7

Distance Travelled: 1134 miles/ 1824km