Lac de la Haute-Sûre, the eight-village commune on the lake's west shore

The name trips almost everyone up, so let me clear it up first. Lac de la Haute-Sûre isn’t the lake; it’s one of the communes around it, the one on the western shore, right up against Belgium. If you’re after the water, the beaches and the dam, they’re covered on the Upper Sûre lake page. Here I’m looking at the eight villages and what’s in them, which is more than you’d expect. At the head of the lake, in the far west of the country, sits Boulaide, with two viewpoints over the Sûre and the water.

A commune from 1979

The commune itself explains that it was born on 1 January 1979 from the merger of Harlange and Mecher, and that to the west the border separates it from Belgium’s own Luxembourg province. Its villages are Bavigne, the seat, Harlange, Kaundorf, Liefrange, Mecher, Nothum, Tarchamps and Watrange. STATEC gave it 2,320 residents on 1 January 2026 over 48.5 km². Nothum shares a parish with Berlé, just over the boundary in Winseler.

The Kaundorf bunker

This is what interests me most here. During the war, young men deserting from forced German conscription hid in bunkers buried in young spruce plantations, built from logs with a tin roof sealed with bitumen felt and covered in earth and leaves. The materials were moved at night in wheelbarrows and carts. The Kaundorf bunker was occupied by four resistance fighters from Whitsun 1944, and nobody knew about it until liberation.

It was restored in 1987 as a national monument and can only be reached on foot, along a signposted path of about a kilometre from the southern edge of the village. Right beside the bunker there’s a fine view over the lake. Kaundorf also has the Runtschelt viewpoint, listed by Visit Éislek.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Esch-sur-Sûre before prices climb.

The Schumannseck, the battle told in the woods

Near Nothum, the Schumannseck crossroads was one of the most brutal spots in Luxembourg during the winter of 1944-45, at the height of the Battle of the Bulge. Today a 2.8 km memorial trail takes about two hours, with 20 stations, silhouettes of soldiers and civilians cut from period photographs, surviving trenches and rebuilt shelters, and QR codes leading to eyewitness accounts. visitluxembourg lists it under neighbouring Wiltz and also mentions the Massegraf, where more than 160 German and some American soldiers were temporarily buried. For British visitors who’ve walked the Somme or Ypres memorial routes, it’s a much smaller but equally sobering site.

Liefrange and the Bavigne dam

Liefrange is the commune’s beach, one of the lake’s six monitored bathing areas, with a free car park and a bus stop at the water sports centre. It was rated ‘excellent’ in the 2025 assessment, and you can swim there from 1 May to 30 September; the 2026 season has closed and the next one opens on 1 May 2027. A floating bridge links it with Lultzhausen.

Upstream, the Bavigne dam, 23 metres high and built in the 1950s, stops logs, driftwood and sand from reaching the lake. Divers seek it out for what lies below, the old Loutschmillen mill, a couple of little bridges and a stretch of road. I go into it on the lake page.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Esch-sur-Sûre before prices climb.

Where to stay

According to STATEC, Lac de la Haute-Sûre had 3 campsites and no hotels in 2025. I’d sleep in Esch-sur-Sûre, where most of the accommodation is, and come here by day.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Esch-sur-Sûre 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.