Hiking in Luxembourg's Little Switzerland

We'll be meeting in Echternach from 6pm. At the inn, over a convivial dinner, we'll meet our guide Thierry, a passionate and experienced mountain leader.

On the second day, we'll leave Echternach via the bridge over the river Sûre, and we'll be in Germany in no time! We'll then take the Mathiasweg, an old pilgrimage route that runs from Aachen to Trier, where the tomb of the apostle Saint Matthias is located. After a steep climb of around a kilometre, we come to the Liborius chapel, from where the view over the valley is superb. Nearby, we pass a small rocky hermitage where monks lived until the 18th century.

Next, we follow the impressive sandstone cliffs. This passageway has been used for centuries, as evidenced by a number of engravings, some of which date back to Roman times. Descending slightly, the path takes us to the superb Château Weilerbach, once the summer residence of the abbots of Echternach Abbey. Take a break in the magnificent castle grounds! Before the path climbs slightly back up to the plateau, a very old monument dedicated to Diana the Huntress will intrigue us. What happened to the upper part of this statue? We then reach Bollendorf, where we can have a picnic on the banks of the Sûre before returning to Luxembourg. We then reach Grundhof via a cycle path that follows the valley. A final climb takes us to the Beaufort youth hostel.

On this last day of our adventure, we start the day by discovering the two Beaufort castles, then make our way through the moss-covered rocks along the small Houpeschbach stream, which we follow to its confluence with the Ernz Noire. From here, a short climb takes us into the heart of Luxembourg's Little Switzerland, a truly incredible place of sandstone cliffs, some over a hundred metres high, with narrow fissures where you sometimes have to step aside to pass. The origin of these cliffs dates back to a distant time, 200 million years ago, when the region was covered by a shallow sea.

Along the way, we'll discover numerous rock formations with mysterious names, linked to tales and legends. The vegetation will also be very distinctive, with ferns and pines reminiscent of lands further south in Europe. There's no shortage of places to picnic with magnificent views over the valley of the Black Enrz.

There's something to see at every turn along the way! We then pass through the small village of Berdorf before descending to Hohlay, a former millstone from which millstones were extracted not so long ago. In a fairytale setting, the trail passes splendid spots such as the Labyrinth and Perekop, improbable rocky prominences. We then return to the calm of the path, which takes us to the Gorge du Loup, another magnificent sandstone cliff, but with a high concentration of limestone giving it a distinctive yellowish hue.

Finally, the trail takes us gently back to Echternach, where we bid farewell to this unique experience.