Luxembourg

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg occupies 2 586 square kilometres at the heart of Western Europe and, as of 2025, sustains a population of 681 973 residents. Nestled between Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east and France to the south, this sovereign grand duchy combines compact dimensions with outsized significance. Its capital, Luxembourg City, perches atop dramatic river valleys and serves as one of the principal seats of the European Union, hosting the Court of Justice of the European Union among other institutions. In its modest expanse, Luxembourg weaves together centuries of history, cultural currents drawn from its neighbours, and an economy that consistently ranks among the world’s most affluent by purchasing-power standards.

Luxembourg’s story begins in the High Middle Ages, when the County of Luxembourg emerged under the aegis of the Holy Roman Empire in the eleventh century. The ascent of its rulers culminated in the elevation of Henry VII to emperor in the early fourteenth century, setting a precedent for dynastic influence that extended beyond its borders. Habsburg dominion arrived in the fifteenth century, and, after passage through French annexation in the eighteenth century, the territory endured three successive partitions that chipped away at its territory. The Congress of Vienna in 1815 restored Luxembourg’s sovereignty, but it was only after the Luxembourg Crisis of 1867—when European powers stood on the brink of conflict over its fate—that full independence was guaranteed and its fortress town dismantled.

Topography divides the Grand Duchy into two contrasting realms. The northern third, known as the Éislek or Oesling, forms part of the Ardennes with its rolling hills and forested uplands. Here, villages cluster along narrow valleys and the highest elevations—Kneiff at 560 metres and Buurgplaatz at 559 metres—rise only just enough to command a view but not to isolate. By contrast, the southern two-thirds, the Guttland, reveal a gentler terrain and host the majority of the population. The sandstone plateau that cradles Luxembourg City gives way eastward to the craggy woodlands of “Little Switzerland,” while the Moselle valley to the southeast unfurls into vineyards. The Red Lands, once the throbbing heart of the steel industry, still house many of the nation’s larger towns.

This varied landscape is crossed by rivers that shape both border and identity. The Moselle, Sauer and Our rivers delineate the eastern frontier with Germany, their valleys carving routes for commerce and culture. Within the interior, tributaries such as the Alzette, Attert, Clerve and Wiltz carve valleys that once defined feudal lordships and today unite towns by road and rail. The mid-Sauer and Attert valleys also serve as a natural division between the forested north and the more populous south, where fertile soils encouraged settlement and industry.

Luxembourg’s multilingual character reflects its position between Romance and Germanic Europe. Luxembourgish—a Moselle Franconian dialect of High German—serves as the national language and symbol of local identity, while French holds exclusive status for legislation and both French and German share administrative duties. This linguistic trio permeates daily life: parents converse in Lëtzebuergesch at the market, civil servants trace laws in French, and the regional press alternates between German headlines and French captions. The result is a continuum of communication that mirrors centuries of shifting sovereignties and alliances.

Economically, the Grand Duchy defies its size. High-income, diversified and outward-looking, it ranks among the globe’s wealthiest on a per-capita basis. Strong financial services, an enduring steel heritage that has refashioned itself into high technology, and a host of European institutions undergird moderate growth and low inflation. Luxembourg also invests heavily in innovation: its Global Innovation Index position, quality of life ranking and human development indicators routinely place it near the top among both EU member states and OECD peers. Unemployment has remained traditionally low, though the nation has scarcely escaped the tremors of global downturns.

Transportation embodies Luxembourg’s commitment to connectivity and civic well-being. Road infrastructure crisscrosses the country, linking the capital with Brussels, Paris and Frankfurt in a matter of hours. Since December 2017, the reintroduction of a tram line has complemented a dense bus network and the national railway, CFL, whose lines fan out to every corner of the Grand Duchy and beyond. In a landmark reform on 29 February 2020, Luxembourg became the first nation to render its entire domestic public transport system free of charge, inviting residents and visitors alike to explore by bus, train or tram without ticket barriers.

That sense of openness extends to the nation’s capital. Luxembourg City’s old quarters, perched on cliffs where the Alzette and Pétrusse valleys converge, are imbued with a sense of layered time. Fortifications hewn from rock survived centuries of military contest and now form an intricate web of casemates and gates beneath the Bock promontory. Walking the Chemin de la Corniche, often called “Europe’s most beautiful balcony,” offers panoramic views of the lower town where Neumünster Abbey has found new life as a cultural hub. The Gothic spires of Notre-Dame Cathedral rise nearby, while the Grand Ducal Palace, with its austere façade and ceremonial guard, stands as testament to the world’s sole remaining sovereign grand duchy.

Beyond the capital, Luxembourg’s towns embody quieter rhythms and singular charms. Echternach, founded in the seventh century around a Benedictine abbey, still bears the basilica where Saint Willibrord rests. Its annual Whit Tuesday procession, a centuries-old custom of dance and pilgrimage through narrow streets, evokes both faith and communal memory. Vianden, at the northeastern edge, frames a soaring medieval castle above the Our river. Restored to its nineteenth-century grandeur, the fortress recalls the novels of Victor Hugo, who lodged nearby and found in its ramparts a muse for Romantic imagination. In the south, the Moselle wine route weaves through villages such as Remich, where slate-roofed houses cluster at the river’s edge and Riesling vines lace the slopes.

Luxembourg’s cultural life resonates beyond architecture and landscape. Museums in the capital range from the National Museum of History and Art, with its Roman mosaics and fine-art collections, to the Grand Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art (MU DAM), whose glass and concrete galleries overlook the Pétrusse valley. In Diekirch, the National Museum of Military History chronicles the Battle of the Bulge with scale models and oral histories, preserving the memory of sacrifice that shaped the twentieth century. Folk traditions, too, persist in rural festivals and brass-band concerts, reminders of a time when agriculture and rural craft prevailed.

Culinary traditions trace the same confluence of influences. Hearty folk dishes reflect rural heritage: judd mat gaardebounen, smoked pork collar with broad beans, remains the unofficial national plate, while gromperekichelcher—crisply fried potato cakes—appear at markets and fêtes. French-style bistros serve generous portions of coq au Riesling, and a legacy of Portuguese and Italian immigration is evident in pastéis de nata and thin-crust pizzas alongside Luxembourger beers such as Diekirch and Bofferding. The Moselle valley’s white wines—Riesling, Auxerrois, Pinot Gris and Elbling—accompany autumnal grape harvest festivals, when villages host ever-popular wine-tasting fairs.

While tourism plays a role, the Grand Duchy remains resolutely itself: a small country that matters. Its decision to abolish fares on public transport reflects a value placed not on visitor numbers but on civic access. Its commitment to multilingualism underscores a belief in dialogue rather than monologue. And its preservation of fortifications and old quarters reveals an understanding that heritage is not a commercial asset but a living dialogue between past and present.

Through centuries of changing dynasties and shifting borders, Luxembourg has forged an identity that transcends its size. It is neither Belgium, nor France, nor Germany, but a distinct realm shaped by all three. It is a grand duchy, a parliamentary democracy, a financial centre, a green network of forests and vineyards, a crossroads of languages and ideas. For the traveller who seeks more than mere sightseeing—a deeper sense of place—Luxembourg offers both intimacy and expanse: intimate as a village street warmed by midday sun, expansive as an idea of Europe itself, steeped in history and attentive to tomorrow.

In a continent defined by scale and superlatives, Luxembourg asserts its significance through balance and coherence. It demonstrates that richness may lie in human scale as much as in vastness: in cloistered abbeys and soaring viaducts, in whispered dialects and the rumble of high-speed trains, in miniature castles set against sweeping skies. Here is a land where borders converge not to divide but to interlace, where culture is not reduced to slogans but lives in the cadence of speech and the taste of a local wine. In its quiet way, Luxembourg invites reflection on what unity can mean—and how a small polity, in knowing itself, may illuminate the wider world.