A day trip from Luxembourg to Metz, the city of stained glass

Metz is the other big day trip across the border, and it’s very different from Trier. If Trier is Rome, Metz is light, golden stone and a Gothic cathedral. It lies in French Lorraine, 60 km from Luxembourg City according to the Ville de Luxembourg, and to me it’s the best choice if you already know Trier or care more about art than archaeology.

How do you get there?

By train, on CFL’s line 90, which mobiliteit.lu calls the Sillon lorrain and which links Luxembourg with Nancy via Thionville and Metz. I couldn’t find the journey time or frequency in an official source, and I’d rather not invent one. Check mobiliteit.lu before you set off. It’s a cross-border line, so plan it as an international journey rather than assuming it works like the free domestic services.

Two warnings. First, Luxembourg’s free public transport ends at the border, so the French leg is paid. Second, on 10 and 11 October 2026 a replacement bus runs instead of trains between Luxembourg and Thionville because of engineering works. By car, it’s 60 km. There’s more on international trains in train to Luxembourg.

Saint-Étienne cathedral

This is the reason to go. Metz’s tourist office dates it to 1220-1522, ranks it among the tallest in France at 42 metres to the vault, and says its stained glass, 6,500 m² spanning the 13th to the 21st century, is the largest collection in Europe. The artists include Valentin Bousch, Marc Chagall, Jacques Villon, Roger Bissière and, more recently, Kimsooja.

I’d go in with time to spare and no rush, and watch how the light changes from one bay to the next. It’s the kind of place that silences you even if you can’t tell Gothic from Romanesque. If the sun is out, go in the afternoon as well as the morning; the same windows look completely different.

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What else is there in Metz?

The Centre Pompidou-Metz, by the Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, Pritzker Prize winner in 2014, and the Frenchman Jean de Gastines, with a roof the city likens to a Chinese hat. Inside are contemporary art exhibitions. The Musée de la Cour d’Or, on the Sainte-Croix hill, occupies buildings from several periods, Roman baths included, and holds Gallo-Roman archaeology, medieval art and fine art.

The station deserves a stop too. It’s a neo-Romanesque building put up during the German annexation and, according to the tourist office, voted France’s most beautiful station more than once. In the centre are Place Saint-Louis, with its arcades and golden Jaumont stone, Place de la Comédie, with the Opéra-Théâtre of 1738 to 1752, France’s oldest working opera house, and the church of Saint-Pierre-aux-Nonnains, from the 4th century and among the oldest in the country.

A European footnote

Five km from Metz, in Scy-Chazelles, is the house where Robert Schuman lived, one of the founding figures of the European project. It fits neatly with a trip to Luxembourg, home to EU institutions, and with a stop at Schengen, the Luxembourg village where the agreement was signed, on another day of your trip. See EU institutions in Luxembourg.

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Metz or Trier?

If you’ve only one day to cross the border, the question is unavoidable. My answer depends on what drives you. Trier is the obvious choice for Roman history and a direct train with a known timetable; it’s closer, at 48 km, and its centre is walkable end to end. Metz asks for a little more time but offers a cathedral I’d rank among France’s loveliest, a first-rate contemporary art museum and a bigger, more varied city. With two free days, I’d do both.

My plan for a day

Arrive mid-morning, the station, the cathedral at leisure, lunch on Place Saint-Louis or at the covered market, open Tuesday to Saturday, and the afternoon for the Cour d’Or or the Pompidou-Metz. The tourist office suggests combining a guided tour, a museum and a ride on the little train or a solar boat on the Moselle, which I think is a good idea with children.

The comparison between Metz, Trier and Arlon lives in places to visit near Luxembourg, and the rest of the days out, with or without a border to cross, in day trips from Luxembourg.

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