Koerich Castle, the one in the valley you can walk into free

Of the seven castles along the Eisch, only one lets you wander in whenever you like without paying, and this is it. The Gréiweschlass, the count’s castle, stands in the middle of Koerich, in the little valley of the Goeblange brook, and visitluxembourg calls it one of the most typical lowland castles in the country. If you’ve an hour to spare in western Luxembourg, this is where I’d spend it. With another hour, neighbouring Garnich has the graffiti-covered facades of Kahler.

A castle on the flat, not on a crag

Most Luxembourg castles cling to a rocky spur. Koerich doesn’t. It’s a lowland castle whose outer walls form an almost perfect square around a colossal keep. That keep, nicknamed the witches’ tower, measures 12 by 11.6 m at the base with walls 3 to 3.5 m thick. It’s only 11 m tall today, but visitluxembourg estimates it once rose 25 to 30 m, which made it one of the mightiest in the region. A moat 10 to 12 m wide surrounded it, crossed by a drawbridge.

The nickname has a grim origin. The commune explains that during the witch hunts accused women were locked up in the tower before going to the stake.

Who built it, and when

The sources disagree here, so I’ll give you both. visitluxembourg credits Wirich I, lord of Koerich and seneschal of Luxembourg, with building it in the late 12th or early 13th century, with the keep and outer walls in late Romanesque style. The commune mentions Wirich I in a text of 1259 and, based on excavations in the courtyard, dates the original castle to around 1338 under Godfrid II. They agree on what followed. A Gothic remodelling came around 1300, Gilles d’Autel-Koerich added a Gothic residence and two rectangular towers to the south between 1380 and 1385, and the south wing was made Baroque in 1728. Renaissance windows and a 1585 fireplace in the chapel tower survive too.

From the second half of the 18th century no lord lived there, and the castle became uninhabitable. Its last owner, P. Flammang, began consolidating it in 1950, and it now belongs to the state.

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

From near collapse to open doors

Not long ago parts of the castle were close to falling down. According to the commune, locals rallied and set up the Käercher Schlassfrënn association, and restoration work begun in 2009 was officially completed in September 2019. It has been open to everyone since. You reach the keep over a metal footbridge to its original entrance, and a large membrane stretched over the footprint of the old residence on the south side means events go ahead whatever the weather. At night the lighting makes the most of it.

Just 150 m away stood Koerich’s second castle, the Focken castle, owned by the Fock von Hübingen family in the 16th century and later by a branch of the Nassau-Vianden line. It has disappeared, remembered only by a street name and an information panel.

What a visit involves

It’s self-guided, 9am to 6pm every day, and Visit Guttland describes the site as accessible to people with reduced mobility. You explore the ruins, cellars, iron walkways and keep. For children, visitluxembourg has a downloadable PDF trail, The Mysterious Chest of Koerich, with puzzles in the guardhouse, on the walkways and in the cellars, and Visit Guttland offers an audio guide recorded in 2013. More family ideas are in Luxembourg with kids.

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

Is it worth it after Vianden?

They’re different experiences rather than rivals. Vianden is restored top to bottom, with a ticket desk and a €13 entry fee. Koerich is a consolidated ruin you roam at your own pace, where the fascination lies in the stonework and in working out how a castle with no rock beneath it defended itself. I like both, but on a tight budget or schedule Koerich gives you most of the thrill of a medieval fortress for nothing. Wear decent shoes, as there are stairs and walkways.

Getting there and nearby

The commune gives bus 255 to the Gemeng stop, and there’s parking in front of the entrance. Footpaths lead from the castle, and in an hour’s walk you reach the free Roman villa at Goeblange, covered under Koerich. By car, it’s the final stop on the valley of the seven castles, and to set it against the country’s big hitters, my ranking is in castles in Luxembourg.

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

A car frees you from timetables: search car hire in Luxembourg on DiscoverCars and compare companies.

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.