Luxembourg City exists on two levels, and the difference between them is the most interesting thing about it. Above is the plateau with the banks, institutions and squares; below, in the gorge, is the Grund — a district of stone houses, narrow lanes and river bridges that feels like a separate village.
Getting down
You can walk, via the steps beside the Corniche, or use the Pfaffenthal panoramic lift — a glass cabin opened in 2016 that drops seventy-one metres through the cliff in half a minute, with a viewing platform at the top. It is free, like everything else on the transport network, and it is a small piece of civic engineering worth taking twice.
The Grund lift from the upper town works the same way.
Neumünster
The Neumünster Abbey dominates the Grund. Founded in 1606 and rebuilt after fires, it served as a barracks under Napoleon, then as a prison for a century and a half, including during the Nazi occupation, when the Gestapo held resistance members here. Since 2004 it has been a cultural centre, with concerts, exhibitions and a courtyard used for festivals. The transition from prison to public culture is deliberate and explained inside.
Along the water
The Alzette runs through the district, crossed by low stone bridges, with a riverside path leading downstream past the old city walls towards Clausen and Pfaffenthal. It is the best walk in the city and takes about an hour.
Clausen, the next valley district, was where the Mousel brewery stood and is now the main nightlife quarter, built into the old brewery buildings. Pfaffenthal is quieter and more residential, with the Vauban towers and a small museum of fortifications.
Eating and drinking
The Grund concentrates the city's more atmospheric restaurants and bars, in vaulted cellars and along the water. It is a popular evening destination for a city that is otherwise fairly quiet after office hours — Luxembourg's population commutes heavily, and the centre empties.
Practical
The gradient between the levels is real: the lower town is around forty metres below the plateau, and walking up at the end of the evening is a genuine climb. Use the lifts, which run late.
Why the city sits like this
The split between plateau and gorge is not picturesque accident but the whole reason the place exists. The rock spur was defensible on three sides, and the valleys below supplied water and mills. What is now a pleasant riverside walk was for eight centuries the working underside of a fortress, with tanneries, breweries and the poorer housing that the garrison town depended on.