Our Nature Park, the plateau and valleys of Luxembourg's far north

Plenty of people visit Vianden and Clervaux without realising both sit in the same nature park. The Naturpark Our fills the north of the Éislek, the Luxembourg Ardennes, and the country’s official portal defines it by its landscape, a broad, high plateau cut by narrow valleys that the Our, the Clerve and their tributaries have carved into the rock. For me that’s the key to it. Up top, open fields; down below, tight wooded valleys where the villages are.

What it actually is

It was created in 2005 and covers 420 km², bordering both Belgium and Germany. About 24,000 people live in its eight communes, Clervaux, Kiischpelt, Parc Hosingen, Putscheid, Tandel, Troisvierges, Vianden and Wincrange. Since September 2021 it has been working with Weiswampach towards bringing it in. The communes and the state together form the syndicate that runs it.

A Luxembourg nature park isn’t a wilderness reserve, and in that it’s closer to a British national park than you might think. According to the official portal, it’s an area of at least 5,000 hectares with valuable natural and cultural heritage, where the aim is to protect it while ensuring sustainable economic development for the people who live there. So there’s no gate and no fence. It’s a working landscape of villages, farms and roads. In practice you’ll share lanes with tractors and the villages carry on with everyday life, which for me is a large part of the appeal.

One detail I rather like. One of its communes, Putscheid, earned DarkSky International’s dark-sky community label in 2026, a first for Luxembourg, after years of changing its street lighting. If you’re staying nearby and the night is clear, it’s worth putting your phone away and looking up.

The river that gives it its name

The Our rises in Belgium, at a spot called Eichelsberg near Manderfeld, at 653 metres. It flows south as the border between Belgium and Germany and, from near Ouren, between Luxembourg and Germany, with the status of a condominium. Just before Vianden its left bank encloses a Luxembourg enclave taking in much of the town. After 78 km it joins the Sûre at Wallendorf, in Germany.

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The walks I’d do

The official portal picks out several. The one I’d do first is the Ourdall Promenade, which covers 8.5 km from Vianden up to Stolzembourg by way of ten themed islands on the valley’s history. At Hoscheid there’s a 6 km sound trail, with points installed by artists for listening to nature. At Parc Hosingen, a 5-hectare arboretum with 45 species of trees and shrubs, each described in detail.

The one with the most history is the smugglers’ path at Troisvierges, with two routes of 12 and 9 km, tracing the escapes to Belgium of Luxembourg resisters and young men refusing forced conscription in the last years of the Second World War. Cyclists get two circuits, six mountain-bike routes and 28 km of e-bike circuits between Troisvierges and Weiswampach. For a long-distance route, the Éislek Trail, part of the Escapardenne trail, passes through Clervaux.

Castles and museums inside the park

The park also holds two of the country’s big names. Vianden Castle, the work of the 11th to 14th centuries, and Clervaux’s 12th-century castle, with three museums inside, Steichen’s photography exhibition, the castle models and the 1944 battle museum. In summer the Clervaux Castle Summer Festival showcases young Luxembourg bands with free entry. Add the Victor Hugo House in Vianden and the copper mine museum at Stolzembourg.

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

Local food and getting around

The park works on the food side too. Its School of Taste uses workshops to explain the link between what we eat, the climate and the region, and the Natur genéissen scheme promotes regional, organic and fair produce. It has also set up a biological station, more a service than a building, which surveys species and habitats and organises their protection.

Without a car, CFL line 10 runs up to Clervaux and Troisvierges, free in second class within Luxembourg, and Vianden is reached by bus from Diekirch. Coming overland from Britain via Belgium, the Clervaux tourist office points out that you can also reach Clervaux by train through Liège, which drops you straight into the north of the park. The country’s other parks, including the Upper Sûre, are in the guide to Luxembourg nature parks.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in Our Nature Park 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.

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