Lasauvage, a miners' village at the end of the tunnel

Lasauvage is one of those places where the journey matters as much as the destination. You can come by bus, of course, but the way I’d choose is the miners’ way, on a train that emerges from the ground after nearly a kilometre and a half of gallery. When it does, a village appears at the bottom of a narrow valley, with its church, its workers’ houses and a handful of museums that open on Sundays.

An iron village since the 17th century

Lasauvage belongs to the commune of Differdange and sits tight in the Crosnière valley on the French border. The Minett Park explains that a forge worked here from around 1625, one of the oldest ironworks in the country. The spot was chosen because it had the three things iron-making needed, ore, wood from the forests to burn and river water for power.

Later the village became an ore-mining centre, from the last quarter of the 19th century until 1978, when extraction stopped. visitluxembourg describes it as the only French-speaking village in the country to be declared a pilot village for preserving and restoring its industrial housing.

St Barbara’s church

The neo-Gothic church was built by Count Fernand de Saintignon, the ironmaster behind the forge. It’s dedicated, naturally, to the patron saint of miners, but with a detail I find the most curious thing in the village. Traditionally St Barbara carries a tower in her hands or has one at her feet. Here she stands inside the tower. You can see it all year round.

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The Sunday museums

The Minett Park runs several small spaces in Lasauvage that open on Sundays from May to September, 2pm to 6pm, free of charge. The museum space is housed in a former priory of the Count of Saintignon and tells the story of the village and of a group of young Luxembourgers who hid in a mine near Niederkorn during the Second World War to avoid wearing Wehrmacht uniform.

The Eugène Pesch museum shows the fossil and mineral collection that this Differdange man built up over many years, alongside a reconstructed mine gallery and a display on the harsh working conditions of the early 1900s. The salle des pendus, the hanging room, was the miners’ changing room. Each man hoisted his clothes to the ceiling on a chain with a padlock, because they dried faster that way and the floor was easier to clean. And in the mine yard, the surface buildings of the mine, you’ll find the train platform. If you’re left wanting more science, Differdange has the Luxembourg Science Center, with over 100 hands-on stations.

The mine train

The Minièresbunn leaves Fond-de-Gras, passes the Doihl mine yard and dives underground through an old 1,400-metre haulage gallery. It surfaces in the oldest part of the workings, dating from 1908, and pulls into Lasauvage. The full line carries on to Saulnes in France.

On Sundays in spring and autumn there are departures from Fond-de-Gras at 3pm, 4pm and 5pm, returning from Lasauvage at 4pm, 5pm and 6pm. On summer Sundays an extra train leaves at 11.05am. Tickets are €10 for adults and €8 for ages 5 to 11 and can only be bought at the station on the day, and underground the thermometer sits at 10 to 12 degrees whatever the season, so a jumper earns its place even in August.

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Walking, eating and sleeping

Outside Sundays in season the village is still worth a wander, even with the museums shut. The Minett Park suggests a 3.7 km nature trail along the Crosnière and a 2.4 km circuit around the village. For food it lists the Presbytère and Chez Flavia, and for a bed, a gîte and the An der Schoul inn. Bus line 6 comes in every day from Differdange, stopping at Kajibi, Kierch and Schoul. And on rue de la Crosnière visitluxembourg places the Kiemerchen, Scheiergronn and Groussebësch nature reserve, one more among the many reserves of the south.

For the rest of the region, the Minett guide pulls it all together.

So you do not lose the morning at the ticket office, browse tickets and tours in Esch-sur-Alzette on GetYourGuide.

If you would rather go at your own pace, see the car hire deals in Luxembourg: the earlier you book, the more cars are left to choose from.

Before you fix your dates, compare tickets to Luxembourg: the same journey can cost very different amounts from one day to the next.