Luxembourg in March, with Easter arriving early

Some years March is just a gap between winter and spring. In 2027 it isn’t. Easter arrives early, bringing a bank holiday, a fortnight of school holidays and Éimaischen, the clay whistle market, while the country starts to open up again after the winter. Here’s how I’d use it.

What’s the weather like?

March is when the change becomes obvious. MeteoLux gives Findel an average of 5.7°C (42°F), three and a half degrees up on February, and sunshine nearly doubles to 137.1 hours. Rainfall eases to 56.6 mm, fog drops to 4.3 days and black ice all but disappears, at 0.1 days on average.

It’s still a fickle month. On 6 March 1971 Findel fell to −14.4°C, and on 31 March 2021 it climbed to 23.5°C. I’d pack as if for winter and add a waterproof jacket. What March really gives you is time. With the sun out for well over four hours a day on average, a morning in the museums and an afternoon walk along the Pétrusse or the Alzette no longer feel like a race against the dark, which is the main reason I’d take March over February for a first visit to the capital. How March compares with the rest of the year is in Luxembourg weather.

Lent, pretzels and the Glacis flea market

Before Easter, Lent has its own custom. The fourth Sunday is Bretzelsonndeg, when, as the capital’s tourist office tells it, a man gives a glazed puff-pastry pretzel with almonds to the woman he’s keen on; she replies at Easter with an egg, or an empty basket if she isn’t interested. In leap years the roles are reversed. The 2027 date is muddled, since the capital’s calendar puts it on 28 February while the rule would place it in March; I untangle that, along with the tradition itself, in Bretzelsonndeg in Luxembourg.

March also sees the return of the Glacismaart, a flea market on the Glacis held on the third Sunday of every month from March to November, except August, between 10:00 and 17:00, selling flowers, fruit, clothes and local produce.

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Easter, Luxembourg style

Easter customs are among the liveliest in the country. Once the bells go quiet on Maundy Thursday, the government portal explains, children take to the streets with wooden rattles, the Klibberen, and their Easter chant. On Good Friday Vianden holds its Jaudes, and banks close even though it isn’t a public holiday. Easter wouldn’t be complete without Técken, the egg-knocking contest.

Easter Monday, 29 March 2027, is a bank holiday. Shops can open on Sunday hours, from 5:00 to 19:00 at most, and Luxembourg’s schools will already be two days into a break that lasts until 11 April.

Éimaischen on Easter Monday

That Monday the old town fills with stalls. Éimaischen is a crafts market centred on pottery, recorded since at least 1827 and run by the City of Luxembourg with the Comité Alstad in the streets around the Marché-aux-Poissons, at the heart of the old town. The stars are the Péckvillercher, clay birds that whistle, different every year and sold only on the day. Collectors turn up at dawn, and if I wanted one, so would I. Nospelt, west of the capital, holds its own. Folk music and food stalls fill the gaps between the potters, so even without buying anything it makes a good couple of hours in the old town. Streets, timings and getting there are all in Éimaischen.

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The first reopenings, and getting there

March starts the season, if only slowly. Echternach’s Roman villa reopens on 27 March 2027, free to enter. In 2026 The Family of Man began its season at Clervaux Castle on 18 March; the 2027 date wasn’t out by late September. The Vianden chairlift and Grevenmacher’s butterfly garden wait until April, opening on the 4th and the 1st respectively in 2026.

Grevenmacher’s Maacher Wäimoart, a winegrowers’ market, takes place on the Friday after Easter, according to the Moselle tourist office. Getting around is easy without a car, since buses, trams and second-class trains are free inside the country. From the UK you can fly into Findel (Luxair publishes a London City route) and ride the tram into town for free, or travel by train through Brussels or Paris. Either way, as a non-Schengen visitor you’ll register with the EES at the border.

I’d plan a week straddling late March and early April, with the capital and Éimaischen first and the Mullerthal afterwards as the days lengthen. April follows in Luxembourg in April, with the Octave of Our Lady from the 17th. For carnival, go back to Luxembourg in February. The whole season is in Luxembourg in spring, and the months compared are in the best time to visit Luxembourg.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in Luxembourg and pick one that fits your day.

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