Small But Perfect

Most people fly into Luxembourg for a business meeting and fly straight out again. But they are missing a treat, says William Cook

- William Cook

Each time I’m in Luxembourg, I ask myself the same question: am I the only Briton who travels here for fun? Lots of Brits come on business but most of them fly in for a few meetings and then fly straight out again. They don’t know what they’re missing, for as I’ve discovered in the course of several visits, Luxembourg City and its verdant hinterland are a splendid place to spend a long weekend. 

I first came here in 2006, to write about Luxembourg’s year as European Cultural Capital. The cultural programme didn’t really grab me but Luxembourg City bowled me over. I’d expected to find a boring tax haven full of bankers and bureaucrats. I had no idea this was one of Europe’s most dramatic cities – perched upon steep clifftops, surrounded by deep ravines. The bankers and bureaucrats were hidden away in high-rise offices on the outskirts. With hardly any sightseers to spoil the view, I had this historic citadel more or less to myself.

Luxembourg’s spectacular setting is central to its history. Its location at the heart of Europe made it strategically crucial, and its hilltop setting made it an awesome stronghold. Whoever controlled Luxembourg controlled the crossroads between France and Germany, and so the French and Germans squabbled over it for centuries, until Britain decreed that it should remain neutral for evermore. Hence, while most of the principalities of central Europe were gobbled up by Bismarck, little Luxembourg survived.