The Moselle Valley, Luxembourg's only wine country

Most people picture Luxembourg as banks, EU buildings and a capital perched over a gorge. The Moselle is the opposite. A ribbon of vine-covered slopes, villages with terraces on the water and passenger boats going up and down a river that is a border without looking like one. Locals call it d’Musel, and for me it’s the best half-day trip in the country.

A border you barely notice

The river separates Luxembourg from Germany from Schengen in the south, where France and the Benelux also meet, to Wasserbillig in the north, where the Sûre joins it. How long that stretch is depends on which official page you read (the government portal gives 42 km on one and 37.3 km on another), so I’ll stick to what matters. It’s short, it’s about 20 km from the capital, and bridges take you over to Germany at several villages.

The geology changes halfway along, and you can taste it. From Schengen to Greiveldange the valley is open, the slopes gentle and the soil clay, which gives rounder wines. In the canton of Grevenmacher limestone takes over, the slopes steepen and the wines turn sharper, as the portal itself puts it.

White wine and crémant country

Every vine in the country is here, 1,189 hectares and 234 growers in 2025, according to STATEC. In order of acreage it’s Rivaner and Auxerrois, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Riesling, and the name that travels furthest is crémant, the traditional-method sparkling wine that has been an appellation since 1991. Grapes, labels and the appellation itself are covered in Luxembourg wine, because this page is about where to go.

There’s no shortage of cellars. The government portal counts more than 40 wineries and estates, from the Vinsmoselle co-operative, founded in 1921 and the country’s biggest producer, to family houses in their fifth generation. How to string them together by road, on foot or by bike is on the Luxembourg Moselle wine route page.

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

Four stops I wouldn’t skip

Remich is the postcard. Three kilometres of riverside walk shaded by limes and cherries, the landing stage for the boats and, on the way out of town, Caves St Martin, with almost a kilometre of galleries cut into the rock. If you only have half a day, come here.

Grevenmacher is the nearest the valley has to a town, with a pedestrian centre, a cinema and a pool. Bernard-Massard bottles almost 3.5 million bottles a year there, and beside the river promenade there’s a tropical glasshouse with thirty to forty species of butterfly flying free.

Schengen village has a name everyone knows and a place very few have visited. It has the revamped European Museum in Schengen, the original boat from the agreement moored in front and, in the same commune, the swimming lakes at Remerschen and the Haff Réimech nature reserve.

Mondorf-les-Bains isn’t on the riverbank but a little inland, and it belongs to the trip all the same. It has the country’s only thermal spring, a park of more than 45 hectares and Luxembourg’s only casino.

Boat, bike or bus

You can see the river from the water. One-hour trips leave Remich from March to October, a day cruise runs all year, and the Princesse Marie-Astrid sails to Trier or Saarburg in season. Prices and dates are on Moselle river cruises.

If you’d rather cycle, the regional tourist board hires out ordinary and electric bikes from stations along the valley, and there are trails for every level, from the 4.8 km crémant walk to the three Traumschleifen, certified premium paths. It works well without a car too. Buses are free inside the country, though only Mertert and Wasserbillig have a railway station. Coming by train from London via Brussels or Paris, you switch to a bus in Luxembourg City for the last stretch.

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

When to go

May to October. That’s when the boats run, the terraces open and nearly every weekend brings a wine festival somewhere. The harvest arrives in September and October with Fiederwäissen, a new wine that hasn’t finished fermenting, and Schengen’s Hunnefeier closes it on the third weekend of October. In winter the valley goes very quiet, which I rather like, although many cellars switch to appointment only.

Beds are scarce, 16 hotels across the region in 2025 according to STATEC. They’re sorted village by village in hotels on the Luxembourg Moselle.

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