Lintgen, an Alzette village on record since 896

Lintgen is one of those villages you glimpse from the train between the capital and Mersch, with the Alzette alongside and wooded hills all round. The commune makes much of that setting, and it has one very specific reason to get off the train that you won’t find anywhere else in Luxembourg.

A thousand years of paperwork

The commune’s website mentions prehistoric remains, Celtic finds and, above all, Roman traces, including plenty of Gallo-Roman urns. The first documents naming its three settlements are Frankish, dating from 896 for Lintgen, 940 for Gosseldange and 960 for Prettingen. A nobleman, Rotger of Lintgen, and his wife built the first church, dedicated to St Peter, and gave it to the abbey of St Maximin.

French revolutionary armies arrived in 1794, and from 1815 Lintgen gradually became a commune and a parish in its own right, with today’s church built in 1829. After the First World War, this village of farmers and day labourers set up its own factories, and according to the commune their products are still exported all over the world.

What can a visitor actually do here?

The Guttland regional tourist office boils it down to three things. The woods around the village have waymarked walks with benches and picnic spots. The Alzette trail, a circuit you do partly by car and partly on foot, leads to the Ale Weiher pond and a grotto of the Virgin. And Lintgen is home to Luxembourg’s only organ-building workshop, which you can visit by appointment on +352 32 03 45.

For me, the workshop is what justifies the stop. Seeing an instrument like that being built is rare anywhere, and here it’s twenty minutes from the capital.

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

How I’d combine it

I’d make a day of the Alzette valley by train, hopping off at a string of stations. In the morning, Lorentzweiler and its Neolithic house; mid-morning, Lintgen, with the organ workshop if you’ve secured an appointment and a walk out to the Ale Weiher; and in the afternoon, Mersch and its castle. The regional tourist office also describes a cycle track running beside the railway through the valley at Lorentzweiler, so the plan works just as well by bike and you won’t be waiting for the next train. It’s a quiet day with no big-ticket sights, but it’s very typical of central Luxembourg, and it costs next to nothing.

Getting there

Lintgen station, on Rue de la Gare, is served by trains on the Ettelbruck line. Second-class rail has been free since 1 March 2020, so you can do Lintgen and Mersch in one morning without spending a penny. To the south lies Lorentzweiler, with its reconstructed Neolithic house.

For a bed, Luxembourg City is a few stops away and the obvious choice. The Alzette valley carries on north, and I cover the whole region in Guttland Luxembourg.

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

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Luxemburgo 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.