Vianden is one of those towns that looks like a scene from a children's book, and the castle is the reason. It stands on a rocky spur above the Our River, in the north-east of Luxembourg, a pile of towers, halls and chapels that grew over several centuries from the eleventh to the fourteenth, and was once the seat of the counts of Vianden. It fell into ruin in the nineteenth century and was restored from the 1970s, and today you can walk through its great halls, kitchens and armouries with a very good sense of how a medieval noble household worked.
The town below is small, with about sixteen hundred residents, a single steep main street of old houses and cafes, and a bridge over the Our. Victor Hugo spent time here in exile in 1871 and lived in a house beside the bridge, now a small museum, and his drawings of the castle show the romance he felt. A chairlift rises behind the town to a viewpoint, and the view of the castle and the winding river from the top is the most photographed in the country.
For motorcyclists, the surroundings are a delight. The valley of the Our has smooth, flowing roads with gentle curves along the river, with forests and meadows on both sides, and Germany is just across the water. The Mullerthal region to the south, with its sandstone gorges, is called Little Switzerland, and its lanes wind among rocks and beech woods. Weekends bring many riders, and the pace is relaxed. The nearby pumped storage power station, one of Europe's largest, sits inside the hillside, and the reservoir above is a surprising bit of engineering.
Vianden has limited fuel, so the practical choice is Diekirch, a town of about six thousand, eight kilometres away, with stations and shops. Luxembourg is compact, and fuel is usually cheaper than in neighbouring countries. Try judd mat gaardebounen, smoked pork with broad beans, the national dish, and a glass of local Riesling or a Diekirch beer. Spring and early autumn are lovely, and in winter the castle is dusted with snow.