Luxembourg's three nature parks, and which to choose

Luxembourg is small, but its three nature parks cover 876 km² between them, around a third of the country, and each has its own character. One is about rock, one about water and one about high plateaus and deep valleys. Here I compare them so you can pick the one that suits your trip, and point you to each park’s own guide where there is one.

What a nature park means here

Worth knowing before you go, because the word park can mislead. The national portal sets the bar at 5,000 hectares or more, with natural and cultural heritage of high value, run to protect it while also giving residents sustainable economic development. In practice these are whole districts with villages, farms, roads and castles, managed by a syndicate of communes together with the state. No fences, no opening hours, no entry fee.

Visit Luxembourg counts three nature parks, and these are they. The two in the north were created in 2005 and the eastern one in 2016. Above them sits the German-Luxembourg Nature Park, a 1964 agreement with Rhineland-Palatinate linking the Our and the Mëllerdall with the German parks of the Eifel. Its 24 Premium-rated walking circuits go under the NaturWanderPark delux name; one of them, the 19.6 km Eifelgold Route on the German side, is at its best in spring, when the broom turns the hillsides yellow.

The Mëllerdall, rocks from under an ancient sea

The Natur- & Geopark Mëllerdall covers 256 km² of the Mullerthal region, with about 25,800 residents in 11 communes from Echternach to Larochette. Its trademark is sandstone and dolomite rock along the valleys of the Black Ernz, the White Ernz and the Lower Sûre. Over 200 million years ago the whole area lay beneath the sea, and rivers later carved the gorges and narrow passages you now walk through. Since April 2022 it has been a UNESCO Global Geopark, with 22 geosites.

For me it’s the most special of the three. The classic way in is the Mullerthal Trail, whose 112 km split into three loops, but if a full stage is too much there are short geology walks such as the 4 km Geo Pad Hëlt. Cyclists get five mountain-bike routes, 16 road circuits and, for families, five national cycle paths that are almost flat.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Esch-sur-Sûre before prices climb.

The Upper Sûre, the park built around water

Naturpark Öewersauer covers 200 km², with about 15,500 residents in five communes in the north-west of the Éislek. Everything revolves around the lake, a 380-hectare reservoir created in 1961 by the Esch-sur-Sûre dam, which provides the drinking water for roughly 70% of Luxembourg’s residents. That explains the rules. You can kayak, canoe or paddleboard (with hire at Lultzhausen), take the solar boat on a guided trip or combine it with an 8 km walk, even dive with your own kit, but swimming is limited to approved spots and, according to the national portal, usually runs from 1 May to 30 September.

I’d save it for summer. Out of season it’s still lovely for walking, with the region’s 18 Éislek Pied trails and the 2.8 km Schumannseck remembrance trail on the Battle of the Bulge. There’s more in the Upper Sûre lake guide.

The Our, plateaus, valleys and castles

Naturpark Our is the largest, with 420 km² and about 24,000 residents in eight communes in the far north, between Belgium and Germany. It’s a broad high plateau sliced by narrow valleys cut by the Our, the Clerve and their tributaries. Vianden and Clervaux are inside it, so it’s also the park with the most heritage. Everything you need, from its walks to its museums, is in the Our Nature Park guide.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Esch-sur-Sûre before prices climb.

Only got one day?

Coming by public transport from the capital, go for the Mëllerdall, because its rocks are the most unusual thing you’ll see in Luxembourg. Travelling in summer and after water, the Upper Sûre. Keen on castles and northern valleys, the Our. And if long-distance paths are your thing, all three have sections of the network covered in hiking in Luxembourg.

Outside the three parks there are other places worth the trip, such as the Haff Réimech bird reserve by the Moselle, or the Minett in the south, a UNESCO biosphere reserve since 2020. The smaller ones, from the old open-cast mines of the Minett such as Haard-Hesselsbierg-Staebierg to the Schlammwiss reed bed, are sorted into a separate page on nature reserves in Luxembourg, and I find them the ideal add-on to a park when you want something shorter.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Esch-sur-Sûre 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.