Walking in Southern Moselle

Now that many people have returned from being away on summer holidays and autumn is starting, Chronicle.lu has put together a short series of articles on exploring the Grand Duchy by foot, with the help of the Auto-Pédestre guides to a series of walking trails covering the five regions: this first article explores walks in the southern Moselle valley.

The village of Schengen, in the far south-eastern corner of Luxembourg, became internationally known in June 1985, with the historic signing of the "Schengen Agreement", which formalised the agreement to abolish border controls between the original countries of the European Union.

The highly informative European Museum, dedicated to the history of the Schengen Agreement, was opened in 2010, but is currently closed for complete renovation. The new exhibition is due to open in June 2025.

Schengen is situated on the Moselle river, where the borders of Luxembourg, Germany and France meet, and is also a wine growing village.  Many of the vineyards in the area are open to walkers and Chronicle.lu happily explored three of the local Auto-Pédestre routes recently.

The route from Schengen starts close to the museum. Parking is readily available at the départ sign, and from here we followed the blue arrow symbols along the 6.4km walk. This took us past the museum and along the Moselle,for approximately 1km, before climbing in a zig zag pattern through the vineyards. We frequently stopped to admire the view over the Moselle valley and, having reached the Stromberg (viewpoint), we descended once again into the village. Another climb brought us in a loop around vineyards on the Markusbierg and past the Tower of St. Mark. From here we returned to the starting point of this enjoyable though slightly challenging walk.

Approximately 5.5km from Schengen is the pretty village of Schwebsange. The Schwebsingen auto-pédestre route starts at the church, right beside the fountain from which wine flows instead of water during its wine festival, usually held in the first weekend of September. This moderately difficult walk initially followed a country road before ascending into the vineyards, which were laden with grapes. Helpful signs informed us of which grapes were being grown, including Riesling, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, and those that qualified as Premier Grand Cru. From here we reached the top of the vineyard hill known as the Felsberg, where the sculpture of Donatus of Muenstereifel looks down on the village of Wintrange, protecting the vineyards from storms and hail. Remerschen and its biodiversity centre could also be admired from on-high at this point in the walk. A pleasant descent brought us back to Schwebsange and the end of this very picturesque walk.

Stadtbredimus, in the canton of Remich, is 14km from Schengen. This auto-pédestre walk is one of the longest in the Moselle region at approximately 12.5km. We parked directly in front of the départ sign, on the Route du Vin. After a short, pleasant stroll through the village we followed the "Sentier de la Moselle" footpath to climb to the vineyards and through scenic wooded areas. This route was also very well signposted and, in deference to its length, had regular benches, including a picnic bench, if one needed a rest. Our route took us through the Briedemësser Bësch, to the village of Greiveldange and then past Hëttermillen. From here we descended towards the Moselle and, following a walk along the river bank, we arrived back at the starting point. A very agreeable and much needed picnic on the banks of the Moselle concluded this weekend of walking in the southern Moselle.