Clervaux Abbey, the Benedictines of Saint-Maurice above the valley

Most people’s first picture of Clervaux is the white castle at the bottom of the valley, but what really commands the town from above are the red roofs of the abbey of Saint-Maurice. It’s a working Benedictine monastery, home to about twelve monks according to visitluxembourg, and that shapes how you visit. It isn’t a museum, so you go in on its terms.

An abbey born in exile

The story starts in France. The abbey traces its origins to Saint-Maur de Glanfeuil on the Loire, restored by the monks of Solesmes in 1890. In 1901 those Benedictines had to leave France, and in 1910 they founded the abbey at Clervaux. The neo-Romanesque building went up in 1909 and 1910, and the abbey’s own timeline also mentions a period of exile in Belgium, at Chanly, Scy and Rochefort.

What you see today is an early 20th-century complex with the air of a Romanesque abbey and the red roofs that make it recognisable from the castle and the station.

How do you get in?

visitluxembourg is clear that the abbey isn’t open to visitors. The way in is the morning Mass, held every day at 10am in the abbey church, where the monks sing Gregorian chant and anyone may attend. As far as I’m concerned, nothing beats it. Nearly an hour of plainchant, since Mass ends around 11am, in a building made for exactly that, with the respect a religious service deserves.

The monks gather seven times a day for the offices. According to the abbey’s website, the day begins with Vigils at 5.15am and ends with Compline at 8.30pm, with Vespers at 6pm on weekdays and 5pm at weekends and on feast days.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Clervaux before prices climb.

The tour with a monk

The Tourist Center Clervaux arranges a special visit on the first Monday of each month. It starts straight after the 10am Mass, at around 11am, when a monk shows visitors round the church and crypt for about an hour. The crypt holds a photographic exhibition on the life and work of the Benedictines. You need to book by phone with the tourist office, and the remaining 2026 dates hadn’t been published by September, so it’s worth asking ahead.

Worth knowing before you go

It’s a Mass, not a concert. I’d arrive a few minutes before 10am, sit towards the back and put the phone away, with no photos during the service. If you’re unsure when to stand or sit, just follow the people in front. And with small children bear in mind it’s close to an hour of silence and singing; the first-Monday tour may suit them better, because a monk explains what they’re seeing and they can ask questions.

The walk up from the centre is short but uphill, so with a pushchair or limited mobility it’s worth driving up to place de l’Abbaye.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Clervaux before prices climb.

The shop and the apple juice

Next to the abbey is a shop selling books, all kinds of craft items and apple juice made on the premises. It opens Monday to Friday from 2.30pm to 5.30pm, and on Saturdays and Sundays also from 11.30am to 12.30pm before the lunch break. If you’re taking home just one souvenir from northern Luxembourg, this strikes me as one of the most genuine.

Fitting it in with the rest of Clervaux

My order would be this. Mass at the abbey at 10am, down into the centre, lunch and, from midday, The Family of Man at the castle. On a Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday, the battle museum in Clervaux Castle is open in the afternoon too.

The tourist office also describes the commune’s other religious buildings. The church of Sts Cosmas and Damian, built between 1901 and 1911, is open daily, and the baroque Loretto chapel opposite the station, named after a Virgin venerated at Loreto in Italy, opens only for organised visits. visitluxembourg describes an afternoon guided walk to the chapel on the first Monday of the month, from 2.30pm to 4pm, leaving from the Tourist Center, and presents it as the natural complement to the abbey church visit that same morning. Done together, they make a full day of Clervaux’s religious heritage. For the rest of the town, see the Clervaux guide, and for a bed, hotels in Clervaux.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Clervaux Abbey and choose by the reviews.

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So you do not pay over the odds, look at trains, coaches and flights to Luxembourg on Omio and pick the one that suits you.