Spend day in Zell, Germany or Luxembourg City

Zell on the Mosel River? How did you come up with these two choices? They are dramatically different places! Zell is teeny-tiny and would require a fraction of the time you'd want for Luxembourg. Were you thinking of biking in the area? Visiting wineries? That said, there are many options for a fun-filled day in the Mosel region near Zell. Have you considered Trier? Cochem? Bernkastel? It's tricky to make any recommendations without knowing what your interests are or what other places you have on your itinerary. Date and mode (train? car?) of travel would help as well.

"optional full day tour to Luxembourg" sounds like it's a Mosel ship cruise with a stop in Zell and the option to buy a tour to Luxembourg. I'm with you, Russ. Zell is extremely small. Hard to make a full day visit to the town. Once you've seen the Schwarze Katz (statue), you just about seen it all. There are some wineries to tour.

Thanks.....I didn't see much on Zell in other travel postings....so, not surprised it is a small village with not much to see. I will probably take the optional tour of Luxembourg....view the American cemetery and old town. Looks like there is quite a bit of history in city.

Lux City is so small that you can see a lot in a day. I can't comment on the cemetery but the city has a fortress and 17th-century casemates which you can visit (I think the admission price is 2 euros for an adult - really reasonable). The modern art museum is also neat, but it's a bit outside the center. The city has 2 parts: Ville Haute (Upper City) and Ville Basse (Lower City). The center has the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin and the Palace of the Grand Dukes (when the Grand Duke is home, a flag is draped from a palace window).

In my opinion, stay away from Zell, Germany at all costs!!! Especially the hotel with the winery tour that is recommended by Rick Steves. He gives real good advise - but was way off on that one. Our family still jokingly refers to the town as "Hell" Germany. While I've never been to Luxembourg, I have to believe that it's a better place. We've traveled extensively thoughout Europe - France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Austria and have never encountered such a bad "anti-American" feeling in a hotel and small town. Before anyone else starts suggesting that maybe we were the problem - know this - whenever we travel we are very careful to avoid being "ugly" Americans and we seek out local experiences. To make a very long story short - we left the town and ended up staying in Cochem (right up the river)-where an innkeeper returned from his family holiday to open up his hotel for us. His kindness and generousity saved our trip. He was also a 3 star chef who cooked us an unbelievable meal in the restaurant of his hotel. We always return there when we travel in Germany. If you'd like the name of the hotel, send me a message.