Visit Echternach

Why visit Echternach

Echternach is Luxembourg's oldest town — a quiet, atmospheric place of about 6,000 people on the Sauer river marking the German border, set in the rolling sandstone landscape of the Mullerthal region (deservedly nicknamed 'Little Switzerland' for its bizarre and beautiful rock formations). The town was founded in AD 698 by St Willibrord, the English missionary who established the Benedictine Abbey here — the country's most important religious site and Echternach's continuing focus. The lovingly restored basilica holds the saint's tomb and crypt; the adjacent Abbey Museum has remarkable medieval illuminated manuscripts produced in the abbey's scriptorium between the 8th and 11th centuries. Each year on Whit Tuesday, the famous Hopping Procession ('Spréngprozession') sees thousands of pilgrims literally hop their way through the streets in a UNESCO-listed dance honouring St Willibrord — a tradition that's been continuous since at least the 13th century. The pretty medieval town centre with its 15th-century Town Hall is small enough to walk in an hour. The real reason to base yourself here, though, is the surrounding Mullerthal: 112km of waymarked walking trails through sandstone gorges, narrow rock corridors, mossy crevices, and pretty waterfalls — the country's best hiking and well worth two or three days.