Manternach, the village with a ravine forest on its doorstep

Manternach is a municipality of 2,340 people in the Syre valley, made up of four villages, Manternach, Berbourg, Lellig and Münschecker. To my mind it has the wildest scenery in the east of the country, and a railway station right in the village. What sets it apart is a forest that has been left alone for half a century.

The Manternacher Fiels, a forest left to itself

The reserve is protected at both national and European level. At its heart is a ravine forest of about 57 hectares, the largest in Luxembourg by area, according to visitluxembourg. It hasn’t been worked for around 50 years and has been a natural forest reserve since 2012, so the only intervention is keeping the paths clear. You notice it straight away, with fallen trunks, moss-covered limestone blocks and cool, damp air even in summer.

visitluxembourg’s feature on the CFL trail adds details I find persuasive, such as the hart’s tongue fern growing between the rocks, a sycamore over 200 years old beside the path, and kingfishers along the banks of the Syre if you’re lucky.

Which walk to choose

If you only do one, make it the Traumschleife Manternacher Fiels. It’s 8.22 km, about two and a half hours, and has been certified as a premium trail since May 2015. It climbs into the ravine forest, passes beneath the Michelslay, limestone cliffs up to 50 m high, goes up more than a hundred steps cut into the rock and crosses a vineyard planted in the middle of the woods. It returns over the Lellig plateau and the old steps of the vineyard walls.

If you’d rather not double back, the CFL trail runs 11.5 km from Manternach station to Wasserbillig station, with a view from the plateau that reaches Grevenmacher on the Moselle. At the end, the train brings you back. Visit Moselle asks for walking boots on the Traumschleife, and I’d listen.

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Luxemburgo on Booking.com and filter by area before price.

The A Wiewesch centre

In the village centre, in an 1887 farmhouse, is the A Wiewesch nature centre, one of five in the country. Its exhibition looks at how farming and biodiversity can work together, it runs guided walks in the reserve on request and, in October, presses apples for Viz, a fresh unfermented juice. Entry is free.

Three villages with a past

The council says Manternach is among the oldest villages in the country, with Celtic origins, and that for centuries its parish answered to the Benedictines of St Maximin in Trier, until the French Revolution. In the 19th century the Lamort family from Nancy founded their first paper mill here, and the Luxembourg to Trier railway has run through since 1861.

Berbourg is first recorded in 1231 and gave its name to a line of lords related to the great houses of Europe. Since 1900 its newer castle has housed the country’s only institute for the blind. In Münschecker the chapel was rebuilt in 1716, with a Gothic choir and a Baroque altar, and nearby stands the Groestaen, an altar from Celtic times.

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Luxemburgo on Expedia and filter by area before price.

Fitting it in

I’d arrive by train, walk the Traumschleife in the morning and have lunch in Grevenmacher by the Moselle. With a car, Manternach sits beside Biwer and Betzdorf in the same valley. On a longer trip, this forest is one of the stops in my week in Luxembourg. Train details are on trains in Luxembourg.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in Luxemburgo 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.