The Chemin de la Corniche, a balcony over the Grund

If I could keep just one place in Luxembourg City, it would be this one, and it costs nothing. The Chemin de la Corniche is a walk along the ramparts on the eastern edge of the old town, with the Grund and the river directly below. There’s no ticket office and no closing time, and this is where the capital stops looking like a pretty shopping district and reminds you it was a fortress. Here’s how I’d do it.

A walk on 17th-century ramparts

The city tourist office explains that the Corniche runs along ramparts the Spanish and the French built in the 17th century. It follows the Alzette valley from the Bock rock to the lower part of the Holy Spirit citadel, a stretch known as the «rondelles». It’s a piece of the great defensive ring that UNESCO describes as one of Europe’s largest fortified sites until 1867.

The odd thing is that the view we enjoy today didn’t exist while the wall was doing its job. Until 1870 some of its slopes had steps, which were only levelled after the fortress was dismantled. At the same time much of the battlements came down, and that is what opened the panorama over the Alzette, the Grund and the Rham plateau. The wall became a balcony once it stopped being a wall, and I rather like that.

Why the most beautiful balcony in Europe?

The phrase belongs to the Luxembourgish writer Batty Weber, and the tourist office still repeats it. It’s the sort of exaggeration you forgive. What makes the Corniche special isn’t a single monument but the fact that you see the city on both its levels at once. Above, the houses of the upper town on their rock; below, the rooftops of the Grund, Neumünster Abbey and the river; opposite, the towers of the Rham plateau.

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How I’d walk it

I’d start at the northern end, on the Bock rock, where you’ll find the Bock Casemates and the Bockkasematten bus stop. From there I’d head south with the valley on my left, stopping every time the wall opens a gap. The walk ends at the Holy Spirit citadel, which began as a convent founded in 1234, was drawn into the defences with the third town wall in the 14th century and took its final shape between 1685 and 1687, when Vauban strengthened its bastions. Today the Cité judiciaire, the heart of the Luxembourg justice system, stands on top. The citadel also holds the archaeological crypt of the old Poor Clares convent, with about 300 burials, but the tourist office only opens it for occasional guided tours, so I wouldn’t count on seeing it.

If you’re coming from the other direction, look for rue du Saint-Esprit on any street map. The lower bastions of the citadel, the Rondellen, mark the southern end, and the Saint-Esprit plateau sits right above them. From that plateau a public lift runs down to the Grund, and it’s my favourite way to finish. Down you go, lunch by the river, and back up by another route. If you’d rather walk it with more history attached, the Wenzel walk uses the Corniche as its first leg before heading down beside the medieval wall.

When is the best time to go?

As it’s a public walk, whenever suits you. If I were staying in the old town I’d go twice. Once in the morning, paired with the casemates and the Grund, and again at dusk to see it in another light. There’s no need to wait for a particular season, though in autumn the trees in the valley change the picture.

What I would do is wear comfortable shoes. Going down to the Grund or coming back from the river means slopes and steps, and the official page for the Wenzel walk, which passes this way, warns that parts of its route aren’t suitable for pushchairs or wheelchairs.

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What’s close by

The Corniche is surrounded by places with their own tourist office pages. Nearby are the Jacob tower and the gate called «Dinselpuert», and between the walk and the centre, the Chamber of Deputies and Place de Clairefontaine. Down in the Grund are the statue of Melusina, the mermaid of the founding legend, and on rue Münster the national natural history museum and St John’s church. If you’re doing the capital in a day, my page on Luxembourg City shows how it all fits together.

The best part is that the whole rampart walk, the view and the lift down to the river cost nothing, like almost everything in the old town apart from the casemates, which is one reason I’d send any first-time visitor here before anywhere else. I weigh it against the country’s other views in best viewpoints in Luxembourg.

So you do not lose the morning at the ticket office, browse tickets and tours in Chemin de la Corniche on GetYourGuide.

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