Kirchberg, the plateau that went from farmland to EU capital

If the Grund is the city as it always was, Kirchberg is the city as it is now. Around sixty years ago this plateau was still farmland, the tourist office reminds us, and today it’s the financial district, home to most of the EU institutions based in the city and a showcase of contemporary architecture. It isn’t love at first sight, I’ll admit that freely. Still, it has three visits I wouldn’t miss and a way of getting there that’s a treat in itself.

Getting there for nothing

There are two ways in. The obvious one is across the Red Bridge on the T1 tram, which has run along Avenue John F. Kennedy since 10 December 2017 and now goes from the airport to the Cloche d’Or stadium via the central station. The one I prefer is to drop into Pfaffenthal on the panoramic lift and ride the Kirchberg funicular, which climbs 40 metres in 63 seconds with views over the valley. Both are free, like all public transport in the country.

Europe in a district

Together with Brussels and Strasbourg, Luxembourg City hosts the EU’s institutions, and almost everything it has sits on this plateau. The Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors work here, as do the European Investment Bank, the Parliament’s General Secretariat and several Commission directorates-general, employing more than 14,000 people, according to the government portal. The third Court of Justice tower, from 2019, is the tallest building in the country, while the Alcide de Gasperi tower of 1966 was its first high-rise. There’s more in EU institutions in Luxembourg.

For visitors, the front door is the Europa Experience, the European Parliament’s centre at 17 Avenue J. F. Kennedy. It opens Monday to Saturday, 10:00 to 18:00, is free and includes a 360-degree immersive show. Bring a passport or ID card, and note it closes over Christmas and New Year, from 24 December 2026 to 2 January 2027. For British visitors, it’s a neat way to see how the Union works from the inside, whatever your view of it.

Two open-air stops complete the European side, and both are free. Place de l’Europe is a black-paved triangle designed by Ricardo Bofill in 2004 on what used to be a car park at the foot of the Alcide De Gasperi tower, reached by a broad flight of steps from Avenue Kennedy. Around it stand the Philharmonie, the tower itself, the conference centre and, a little further on, Mudam and the Dräi Eechelen. At the Schuman roundabout, as you enter the district, is Robert Lentz’s 1966 Robert Schuman monument. Three steel girders end in six spikes, one for each founding state of the Coal and Steel Community, and the stone carries an extract from the speech of 9 May 1950. For me it’s the Kirchberg photo that explains why Europe ended up here.

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What is there to see in Kirchberg?

The best of it is clustered in Dräi Eechelen Park, at the end of the district facing the old town. There stands Mudam, the modern art museum by I. M. Pei, architect of the Louvre pyramid, built on an old Vauban fort. A few steps away, Fort Thüngen’s round towers are home to the Dräi Eechelen Museum, devoted to the fortress and to national identity. And across the way, on Place de l’Europe, sits Christian de Portzamparc’s Philharmonie, wrapped in more than 800 white columns.

If architecture is your thing, the tourist office runs a guided walk on architecture and public art in Kirchberg, bookable for groups. Another building with a story is d’Coque by Roger Taillibert, an Olympic pool from 1982 with a shell-shaped prestressed concrete roof, extended in 2002 with an 8,000-seat arena. Its hours and prices, and those of other swimming pools in Luxembourg, are on their own page. And outside the Commission’s building there’s an original of the “Non-violence” sculpture, the revolver with the knotted barrel that Luxembourg gave to the UN in 1988.

Parks, and a district still growing

The city lists Central Park, Réimerwee Park and Trois Eechelen Park with Fort Obergrünewald among the district’s green spaces. It counted 9,714 residents in late 2023, while the tourist office expects some 7,000 new homes over the coming years, with more parks and gardens to soften the scale of the office blocks. It’s a work in progress, and you’ll likely see cranes and hoardings; the Philharmonie itself warns of building works around Place de l’Europe and a partly closed car park.

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When to go and where to stay

On weekdays Kirchberg is full of office workers, and after about seven in the evening it empties out noticeably. I’d visit on a Wednesday, when Mudam is free from 18:00 to 21:00 and Dräi Eechelen from 17:30 to 20:00. The ING Night Marathon of Saturday 8 May 2027 is based in Kirchberg and at Luxexpo and also runs through the centre.

As for beds, hotels in Kirchberg make sense for work, a trade fair or an early flight, since the tram runs to the airport. For a sightseeing break, I’d stay closer to the old town.

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

Where the bus does not go, a car does: compare car hire in Luxembourg before you arrive rather than at the desk.

If you still need a way in, check the best ticket deals to Luxembourg from where you are.