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Why no Luxembourg?

Posted by on

Rick & Co have done a zillion shows and books, seemingly covering every country and region, but nothing on Luxembourg. Why not? One of the early DVDs had "Benelux" in the title, but still only had Belgium and Netherlands.

We went to Luxembourg last year, and it was amazing! The city of Luxembourg is an incredible historical site, going back over 1000 years, with a cast of characters including Napoleon and William of Orange. And the whole area is full of WWII history - Patton is buried in Luxembourg city, and the Allies pushed back the Germans at Diekirch at the "Battle of the Bulge." There's a remarkable memorial there, "To our American liberators..."

I sent an email to rick@ricksteves.com with this question, but got no answer, so I'm trying the forum.

Full disclosure: I became a dual citizen of Luxembourg & USA last year. Turns out that some of my "German" ancestors were actually Luxembourgers, from a rural farming village near Diekirch. Like many others across Europe during the famine years (it wasn't just Ireland that had a potato famine) they immigrated to the USA. Now, several generations later, we want to move back...

Posted by
8372 posts

Congrats on your dual citizenship. Not easy to acquire!

You should not feel slighted.RS guidebooks routinely leave out entire sections of countries. Lots of great detail in what is covered, but then just “nothing” for entire areas.

Posted by
435 posts

I hiked through Lux. for a few days back in the 80s. All too brief a visit but I was impressed.
RS is in the business of selling books, tours and TV shows to predominantly Americans. I guess he figures Lux would be a bit "obscure" for most of them. A bit of a "Backdoor" perhaps rather than the very popular tourist destinations he focuses on.

Posted by
1443 posts

RS has an episode that covers several tiny countries: Monaco, Vatican City, San Marino, etc. Not sure if Luxembourg is included.

Posted by
10218 posts

We will be in Luxembourg for a few days at the end of October and will fly home from there. I'm looking forward to seeing it. So far I haven't made any specific plans, so any advice or tips would be welcome.

Posted by
7661 posts

General George Patton is buried in Luxembourg.

The country is small, but not so tiny. It is 99 square miles.

Posted by
7027 posts

RS has an episode that covers several tiny countries: Monaco, Vatican City, San Marino, etc. Not sure if Luxembourg is included.

Nope, not included. It's a small country but not one of the five tiny countries.

Posted by
2126 posts

Things to do in Luxembourg:

  1. Visit the amazing WWII museum in Diekirch. It’s a remarkable collection of items left behind in the fields after the Battle of the Bulge, then carefully aggregated here. Tanks, parachutes, uniforms, weapons, medical supplies, rations. Everything imaginable. Several lifesize dioramas. Especially interesting are the letters from American soldiers, some with photos. I loved the story of how Diekirch citizens cut up Nazi flags in order to piece together US flags to welcome their American liberators.

  2. See the Family of Man photo exhibit in Clervaux. These famous photos have toured the world and are now on permanent display here.

  3. Visit Vianden to see the castle. There’s a chairlift halfway up, which helps.

We visited Luxembourg in 2014 primarily to trace my husband’s roots. His ancestors were born in Diekirch (where we stayed) and in the small villages of Niederfeulen and Vichten, which we visited by bus. A car would have been helpful but Luxembourg has a wonderful public transportation system. At the time you could ride all day, on trains and/or buses, for just 4 euros.

All of our day trips connected through the lovely town of Ettelbruck, which would have made a better base from which to explore Luxembourg. It had a picturesque market square lined with restaurants & shops (including good gelato!) and a Farmers Market on Friday.

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