Rambrouch, slate country on the Belgian border

By Luxembourg’s standards, Rambrouch is a big commune. Divide its population by the density STATEC publishes and you get roughly 79 km², which would make it the third-largest in the country after Wincrange and Clervaux. Some 5,064 people live across 17 localities, from Arsdorf and Bigonville to Perlé, Haut-Martelange and Wolwelange, all in the canton of Redange and hard against the Belgian border. Further south, in the same canton, Ell keeps the Mayrisch family’s sculpture park at Colpach.

Four communes rolled into one

Today’s commune dates from 1 January 1979, when a law merged the old communes of Arsdorf, Bigonville, Folschette and Perlé. The council website tells each one’s story. Rambrouch was already a local hub in the 19th century, with a notary from 1831 and a market from 1832. Arsdorf had a manor house and produced tanbark for the leather trade. Bigonville had a feudal castle pulled down in the early 1800s, and in December 1944 it was almost wiped out in the fighting that liberated it. Perlé got a station on the local railway in 1890.

The coat of arms sums it up with one emblem per former commune, and the slater’s crampons, a nod to the Martelange quarries, tell you a lot about what shaped this land. The commune itself says, on its website, that it lies in the heart of the Oesling.

A border that split Martelange

What I find most interesting about Rambrouch is how the border shaped it. Perlé was once a section of Martelange, and when the line between Belgium and the Grand Duchy was drawn in 1839, the Wolwelange section, with Wolwelange, Haut-Martelange and Rombach, was attached to Perlé. That’s why there’s a Belgian Martelange on one side today and a Luxembourgish Haut-Martelange and Rombach-Martelange on the other. Look at a map for the first time and it’s baffling, but to me it’s the clearest lesson on the ground in what the Treaty of London meant for Luxembourg, which handed the whole western part of the old duchy to Belgium.

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

Slate, the real reason to come

According to the commune, the local slate quarries were worked from the mid-19th century and mattered to the economy right up to the Second World War. That world is now preserved at the Haut-Martelange slate museum, a group of 22 original buildings on eight hectares with a gallery, the Johanna, that goes down 42 metres. The grounds are free and the mine is a separate ticket.

I’d put it at the top of any route through the west. There’s nothing else like it in the country, and it works as well for adults as for children.

Schorels and the Napoleonsgaard

Near Eschette, on a wooded hill of about 425 metres called the Schuerelserknupp, stand the ruins of Schorels Castle. visitluxembourg admits little is known of its origins, with a first written mention in 1292, and says access is free. For me it’s a short, quiet walk rather than a visit with much to explain, and a good leg-stretch between the museum and the drive back east.

The other high point, literally, is the Napoleonsgaard at 547 metres. It’s no rival to the Kneiff up north, but it shows how high this western plateau sits.

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

The B-17 museum at Perlé

On 12 July 1944 two American B-17 bombers collided in formation over Perlé and eighteen crew were killed. visitluxembourg describes a small museum, the 385th US-Bomb Group Museum, that tells the story of that crash and of the air war with wreckage, documents and equipment, with a memorial to the group’s dead right next door. It opens every other Sunday from 10:00 to 16:00, or by appointment with two weeks’ notice.

If the war in Luxembourg is what brings you here, I’d add the Diekirch military museum, which has fixed hours and a far bigger collection.

Walking, staying and getting around

visitluxembourg suggests a 10.88 km circular walk from Rambrouch’s main street, with 160 metres of climbing, dropping into the Rennbach valley and passing through Koetschette. The commune also lists a permanent walking circuit at Rombach-Martelange and the Héiltzerstee campsite.

Beds are scarce, with one campsite and no hotels in 2025 according to STATEC. To the east lies Groussbus-Wal, with Luxembourg’s smallest village, and the sensible plan is to link the two by car and sleep in the Nordstad towns.

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