Walking under the bridges
The Adolphe Bridge and the others from below.
Gdeekshagupta — CC BY-SA 3.0 lu · Cayambe — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Krzysztof Golik — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Flocci Nivis — CC BY 4.0
The Pétrusse valley is a deep green cut running beneath central Luxembourg, carved by a small river through the sandstone, and for centuries the fortress's southern line of defence — which is why everything around it is either cut or built for war. After the 1867 treaty required the fortifications to come down, the valley gradually became a linear park. Today you walk it on lawns and paths among trees and under enormous bridges, passing the remains of walls, galleries and casemates cut into the cliff on either side — with the city rising directly above you. The valley has undergone a major rehabilitation completed over the last decade: the concrete channels that confined the river were removed and its course returned to a natural meander, with paths and seating added. The result is the best walk in the city: half an hour from the Place de la Constitution to the Grund, all of it in green, inside a capital.
The Adolphe Bridge and the others from below.
Walls and casemates cut into the cliffs.
Parc de la Petrusse, 1116 Luxembourg
The Adolphe BridgeThe Adolphe Bridge crosses the Pétrusse valley on one enormous stone arch, and i1 minute walk4.8
Place de la Constitution and the Gëlle FraThe Place de la Constitution is an open terrace on the edge of the Pétrusse vall2 minutes walk4.5
Notre-Dame CathedralNotre-Dame is Luxembourg's principal church, built originally in 1613 as the chu3 minutes walk4.5
Place Guillaume IIPlace Guillaume II is the central square of the old town, and Luxembourgers call4 minutes walk4.5
The Dicks-Lentz MonumentA memorial on the Place d'Armes in the city centre, dedicated to two nineteenth-4 minutes walk4.6The Wenzel or Vauban circuit — a signed route of about fifteen stations looping around the old town through the valleys and fortifications: it starts at the rock and the Bock, drops into the Grund and Clausen, climbs to Vauban and the Three Acorns, and returns through the Pétrusse. It takes about three unhurried hours and shows you the whole fortress from inside and out. Free, and signposted throughout.