Visiting Luxembourg City with kids

On my recent solo journey with the girls we had the opportunity to drive through Luxembourg. We had driven along the ‘Romantic Rhine’ and the Moselle River (from Koblenz to Trier) in Germany, and there was Luxembourg just across the border.

As a family we are not big on city visits as our children who are 6 and 2 are not really old enough to enjoy them – for very long at least! So I wasn’t sure if I would go to Luxembourg City, especially on my own without Nick for adult support. I did a bit of online research for what to do in Luxembourg with kids, and I didn’t find much that appealed to us, or to the age of my children.

The one thing I did see, was a photo of a playground, which led me to find the playground in Parc de Monterey. It looks pretty cool, so after finding somewhere close to park the Baby Bus on Park4Night I decided to set my expectations low: just go to the playground in Luxembourg.

Luxembourg City playground

Walking through the Parc de Monterey was lovely (details on where we parked at the bottom). We visited in February, the weather was pleasant although chilly, and it felt like we had found spring. There were spring flowers popping up everywhere – carpets of yellow aconite, purple crocus, and clumps of snowdrops. The birds were singing cheerfully and seemed to be very busy.

The playground itself features a huge pirate ship at its centre, surrounded by sand. There are various swings, rocks to climb on, and a few huge wooden towers that are connected to the ship and finish with a tall tube slide.

The ship had rope ladders to climb, slides, and even a crows nest to climb up to via an enclosed cargo net.

There were some excellent looking water play areas, that were unfortunately for us turned off for the winter. Whilst I imagine the playground is very popular and therefore busy during the warmer months, I think the water play features would be worth the visit.

There were lots of benches for parents, including some that were like sun loungers. There were also public (free) toilets right next to the playground, which were immaculate (and warm!) when we went. One of which was a nice big baby changing toilet.

Hot chocolate in Luxembourg

After our visit to the playground, we had a wander around the city. Not far from the playground is a nice stretch to Place de la Constitution and good views across the valley and the Pont Adolphe. From here we walked into the centre and had a wander. I was interested to go to the Pfaffenthal Lift – a scenic outdoor lift that takes you between the lower and higher parts of the city. However, recently our eldest daughter has told us she doesn’t like going in lifts, so that ruled it out for us.

Instead we listened to street musicians and went to Pâtisserie Hoffman for hot chocolate and a chocolate eclair. We also tried their Verwurrelter, which we like little knotted doughnuts.

I have since been told of a very good place to have hot chocolate in Luxembourg – the Chocolate House (thanks for the tip Nelly’s Adventures). Pretty gutted to have not known about it, but I guess it just means I’ll have to visit again!

Top Tips for Visiting Luxembourg City

We visited in Ferburary 2020.

  • Where we parked: Glacis Square (Fouerplaatz) is what it appears as on Google Maps. I found it on Park4Night (details here – Allèe Scheffer). I paid about €3-4 to park for about 4 hours. I was in our motorhome, which is about 6m long, and I fitted perfectly into one space. I understand you can stay overnight as well, but I decided against this. It was only a short walk into the park and from the city centre.
  • Where we ate: Pâtisserie Hoffman. We had two hot chocolates, a chocolate eclair and 3 Verwurrelter, which cost about €15.
  • Playground: In Parc de Monterey near Avenue Emile Reuter. Public toilets right next to it.

Where we stayed in a motorhome

Name: Camperplaats Koerich.
Address: 4 Chemin de la Source, 8388 Koerich, Luxembourg.
Found: via Park4Night (details here – Koerich).
Cost: It was free to stay for up to 48 hours.
Facilities: Electricity was €0.50 for 5 hours, or €1 for 8 hours (as someone on Park4Night pointed out, you’re better just doing €0.50 and then another €0.50 when the 5 hours run out – if you’re not getting up in the middle of the night of course!). Also water (paid) available.
Site: It was a nice pleasant spot, and only 15-20 minutes drive into Luxembourg City (although it took us nearly 45 minutes due to traffic on our journey in). There is a bus stop right next to it that goes into Luxembourg, but from what I could find out it was a 50 minute journey and I didn’t fancy that on my own with the two children!