Luxembourg City is a fortress town built on a rock, and it has the sort of dramatic geography that makes you stop the bike and look. The old town sits on a sandstone promontory surrounded on three sides by the deep gorges of the Alzette and Petrusse rivers, so that the walls rise straight from the valley floor. For centuries it was one of the strongest fortresses in Europe, fought over by Spanish, French, Austrian, Prussian and Dutch armies, and its tangle of tunnels, the Bock Casemates, ran for kilometres inside the cliff. Much of it was dismantled after 1867, but enough survives to be walked. The old quarter and the fortifications are on the UNESCO list.
Riding here is easy and quite agreeable. The roads are wide and well kept, and traffic is orderly, with speed limits strictly watched by cameras. The bridges, including the stone Adolphe Bridge of 1903, with its great arch over the Petrusse, give you views down into the green valleys. The Grund, the old lower town beside the river, is a lovely, quiet quarter of old houses and cafes. For a more open ride, head out of the city to the Moselle valley to the east, with vineyards and white-wine villages along the river, or north into the Ardennes, where roads twist through forests and past small castles.
Fuel is the practical joy of this country. Petrol and diesel have long been taxed more lightly than in the neighbours, so riders from Germany, Belgium and France often fill up here before crossing the border. Stations on the main roads are plentiful and open late. Food in the city runs from cheap Portuguese cafes, a legacy of the large Portuguese community, to dignified French-style restaurants. Try judd mat gaardebounen, smoked pork collar with broad beans, the national dish.
The day ahead leads toward the Roman monuments of the region, and the countryside between shows the old border. Luxembourg is tiny, you can cross it in under an hour, but it has a language of its own, Luxembourgish, and an unshowy, prosperous feel. Come in spring or autumn, when the gorges are green or gold and the city is quiet in the early morning.