Day Trips from Luxembourg

The restored Vianden Castle rises above the Our Valley like something from a medieval manuscript, complete with working drawbridge and Knights' Hall where you can almost hear armor clanking. The cobbled village below serves up riverside cafés and the Victor Hugo house museum.

Luxembourg's 'Little Switzerland' delivers moss-covered sandstone formations you can scramble through, plus forest trails where the only sounds are woodpeckers and trickling streams. Berdorf's rock labyrinths feel like nature's playground.

From Remich's riverside promenade to Grevenmacher's wine cellars, the Moselle Valley serves up Riesling tastings in family-run wineries where the winemaker might pull out bottles from his grandfather's vintage.

Luxembourg's oldest town combines Benedictine abbey ruins with a hopping procession tradition (UNESCO listed) and the tranquil Lake Echternach where swans glide past riverside restaurants serving trout from the Sûre River.

The castle's white towers rise above the Clerve Valley, housing Edward Steichen's photography exhibition that'll make you pause, 503 photos from 68 countries that somehow feel more relevant each viewing.

Where three countries meet at the Moselle, you'll find the European Museum built into Schengen's wine cellars, the very spot where passport-free travel was born in 1985, now marked by floating pontoons and riverside sculpture.

Two castles for the price of one, medieval ruins dripping with ivy, plus a Renaissance château where you can taste blackcurrant liqueur made from berries grown in the castle gardens.