The Éislek, as the Luxembourgish Ardennes are known in the national language, is located in the north of the Grand Duchy. Around a quarter of the total area of the Ardennes is located in Luxembourg, the rest in Belgium. The topography is hilly and characterised by deep valleys and rivers such as the Our and Sûre (Sauer). The sparsely populated region is dotted with small villages, a few small towns such as Esch-sur-Sûre or Vianden - and a finely branched network of paths with a high proportion of trails, offering plenty of opportunities for day-long bike tours. Mountain biking is generally permitted or tolerated everywhere. There are not many hikers, but in summer it is advisable to tackle multi-day tours during the week.
The four-day tour
The tour starts in Luxembourg City and covers a total of 230 kilometres and 6150 metres in altitude.
Day one leads from Luxembourg City to Esch-sur-Sûre in the Ardennes. From there, it's off on the big loop the next day: first to Clervaux (stage 2), then Vianden (stage 3) and back to Esch on the fourth day. From there, you can either return to Luxembourg City by train (from Kautenbach) or, as the fifth stage, by bike on the same route as the outward journey.
Stage 1: Luxembourg City - Esch/Sauer
- Length 65 kilometres
- Uphill: 1350 metres in altitude
- Downhill: 1300 metres in depth
- Journey time: 6-7 hours
- Difficulty: medium
Tour description
Off to the north! Luxembourg City is the perfect starting point for two reasons: The capital is perfectly accessible by public transport. Directly at the city limits, you dive into Luxembourg's sea of forests and don't come out again for a while. Flowing trails and forest tracks await you there, a challenging mix all the way to the stage finish in Esch/Sauer. The flow trails in the Mamertal at the beginning are more exciting than towards the end of the stage, where you have to make up ground. But a technical descent awaits at the end!
Starting point Luxembourg City
Key points No major challenges, only the descent shortly before Esch is more technical and approaches S2 level.
Retreat Brasserie Phillie's, small restaurant in Boevange-sur-Attert. Located directly on the route at km 3.
Stage 2: Esch/Sauer - Clervaux
- Length 41 kilometres
- Uphill: 1300 metres in altitude
- Downhill: 1250 metres in depth
- Journey time: 4-5 hours
- Difficulty: medium
Tour description
Today's tour concept: Riding uphill on forest tracks and occasionally on tarmac and then hurtling back down again on trails. In other words: a genuine cross-country stage is on the cards. And it's fun, but more of a challenge for fitness than technical skills - although: right at the start, a narrow path winds its way along the steep bank above the Obersauer reservoir and there are also sections later on that are not without their challenges... Overall, there are fewer trails on the programme today than on the other days of the tour, but there are a few very steep climbs.
Starting point Esch/Sauert
Key points At the Geeselee near Lellingen (from km 27), the trail winds its way over steps and ends in a narrow, bumpy gully with steep bends.
Retreat Pintsch, Café beim Schrainer, directly on the route at km 30: Croque Monsieur, cool drinks and warm words from the friendly owner!
Stage 3: Clervaux - Vianden
- Length 65 kilometres
- Uphill: 1700 metres in altitude
- Downhill: 1900 metres in depth
- Journey time: 6-7 hours
- Difficulty: medium
Tour description
In Clervaux, we get on the train first - this saves energy and a few kilometres. Because the starting point is Troisvierges (Ulflingen) in the very north of Luxembourg, from here we head southwards. Initially with plenty of panoramic views and little thrill. But then the amount of singletrack increases rapidly. Particularly on the steep banks of the Our, the border river to Germany, narrow, sometimes exposed trails wind their way along the riverbank for kilometres. Even later on, there are always challenges, for example on the gorge trails around Falkenstein Castle on the German side.
Starting point Troisvierges
Key points The river trails along the Our are exposed in places with tricky ledges or root steps (max. S2).
Retreat Camping Kohnenhof, tasty snacks in the campsite restaurant at km 39.
Stage 4: Vianden - Esch-sur-Sûre
- Length 59 kilometres
- Uphill: 1700 metres in altitude
- Downhill: 1800 metres in depth
- Journey time: 6-7 hours
- Difficulty: difficult
Tour description
Vianden Castle is the largest of its kind far and wide and the climb to the castle panorama is a must. It then takes a few more kilometres on asphalt and gravel before things get down to business at the Gringlee near Bourscheid - a flowing downhill over 200 metres in altitude leads down into the valley of the Sûre. And this is basically how the whole day continues: a constant change from fun to very challenging trails downhill and back up again on wider paths. You can keep going until shortly before the end. Then it's back down to Esch-Sauer via narrow serpentine loops
Starting point Vianden
Key points The Gringlee downhill near Bourscheid is first flowy and then trickier thanks to rocky steps, exposed sections and very tight hairpin bends. The S3 descent at Lipperscheid (kilometre 21) requires the utmost attention. The trail in Schlindertal only becomes challenging towards the end with a short descent over rocky and slippery steep bends (27 km). In contrast, the very demanding Hoflee Trail (33.7 kilometres) demands maximum attention from the start. It leads downhill in narrow, steep loops on bumpy, sometimes sharp-edged slate, followed by an exposed section that is partly carved into the rocks. The fast descent to Bockholtz is rocky but not dangerous (48 km).
Tip If you want to take the train back to Luxembourg City, you will end the stage at Kautenbach station, but will miss out on the beautiful trails of the last 20 kilometres. Alternative: spend a night in Esch and cycle back the same way as stage 1. Or take the road to Goebelsmühle and from there take the train to Luxembourg City.
Retreat Camping Kautenbach. Solid country restaurant with plenty of hearty food on the menu (40.6 km)!
GPS data MTB tour Ardennes
Information about the MTB tour through the Ardennes
Free public transport Buses and trains are free throughout the country, bicycles included: great for tour planning!
Guiding Whether it's a stage tour, trail camp or day trip - guided bike tours are available at
www. visit-eislek.lu
Arrival Luxembourg is easy to reach by plane, long-distance bus, train or car from all directions.
Best time to travel The climate in Luxembourg is temperate Western European, meaning that the conditions for bike tours are usually pretty good from spring to late autumn.
Luggage transport Bike more carefree: Luggage transport from one accommodation to the next costs 12 euros per transfer and piece of luggage. www.movewecarry.lu
Accommodation
- Luxembourg City: Hotel Parc Belair. Central hotel for a relaxed journey the day before the tour. www.goereshotels.com
- Esch-sur-Sûre: Hôtel le Postillon. Family-run, quiet and good restaurant. www.lepostillon.lu
- Clervaux: Hotel du Commerce. Modern hotel with spa and all the trimmings. www.hotelducommerce.lu
- Vianden: Hotel Belle Vue. Modern eco-hotel, tastefully and beautifully situated on the edge of the medieval old town. www.hotelbv.com
General information www.visit-eislek.lu
The report on the Ardennes Tour: Lifelines
"OK, we'd better stop here," says Ferdy Adam, as the water drips from his helmet in long threads. It's obvious that we can't go any further: the world is coming to an end all around us. Mighty conifers are bending alarmingly under the gusts of wind, the rain is pelting us in the face and the small stream at the side of the path is swelling alarmingly fast. Now just get out of the forest! Bugger - this is supposed to be the best trail descent of the day. At least, that's what my mate Ferdy had touted this morning. But that was several hours ago, when we got on our bikes in Luxembourg City and the sun was still shining from a deep blue sky. Now, relaxed trail surfing is out of the question. Even on the country road, on which we are now speeding along, it's now landfall. Torrents of water pour down from above, from the front, from behind. Simply from everywhere. In the village of Dikeschbour, the fire brigade closes the main road because masses of water are pulsing out of a gully.
Twenty minutes later, as we rumble over a flooded staircase at our destination in Esch an der Sauer and get out of our saddles dripping wet right in front of our hotel, the landlady greets us with two full buckets in her hands and the words that she has never experienced rain like this in her life. After all. The day was productive enough even without the missed trail finale. Beautiful bike trails galore, with everything your heart desires: serpentines, root stairs, flow. And in between, forest tracks to relax on and the occasional stretch of tarmac. Ferdy really hadn't promised too much!
A few months earlier: I had just returned home from my favourite trail near Freiburg, completely bruised but satisfied. Then Ferdy rang me. He proudly announced: "I've done it." "Made what?" I asked back. At last, Ferdy continued exuberantly, he had summarised "the best nature trails" that he knew in the Luxembourg Ardennes into a coherent stage tour. "Oh no, the best. The very best!" he shouted through the receiver. He had been working on the route for ten years. Whenever he found time, he travelled to the northern tip of the Grand Duchy, tested a new section here and found it to be good and discarded another section there. "Trial and error. For ten years! Now it works." And would I not like to come so slowly to try out the praised trail paradise for myself? What a question. Of course I wanted to come! That's why I'm standing here now, in a musty hotel garage, pouring considerable amounts of water out of my shoes and having no regrets about the day that lies behind us. After all, we roared for kilometres over the grippy, flowing trails along the sandy cliffs of the Mamer Valley before working our way further and further into the slate subsoil of the Ardennes - only to finally capitulate in the masses of water shortly before the end. Now the hotel owner graciously allowed us in, even in wet clothes. After a warm shower and a hearty roast beef with a huge portion of chips in the hotel restaurant, the world looks good again.
The next day, the small Ardennes village of Esch looks as idyllic as if the storm had never happened: Red-golden rays of sunlight illuminate the river valley, wafting mist slowly rises above the surface of the water - what an atmosphere! And in terms of singletrails, it's straight down to business. After a few kilometres of warming up on gravel, we end up on a narrow path that immediately gets into full swing and puts our balancing skills to the test. It winds its way over wet, slippery slate rocks along the steep bank above Lac de la Haute Sûre. The man-made Esch-Sûre lake was created in the 1950s as a drinking water reservoir, explains Ferdy as we stop at a viewpoint: "Most of the descents with hairpin bends in Luxembourg are all around here." So the ideal spot to spend a few days here? Until a few years ago, the Luxembourger and his bike club mates organised trail camps at various spots in the Ardennes. After the pandemic, the events fell asleep and were not revived due to too many work commitments. "But all the people from Belgium, Germany and France who rode the trails here with me were absolutely thrilled," says Ferdy. And those are the best prerequisites for our stage tour. Ferdy's plan: to pedal uphill on forest tracks as relaxed as possible and then hurtle back downhill on the best trails the Ardennes have to offer.
Sounds good, but also exhausting. Because the hills and mountains of the Ardennes are barely more than 500 metres high, so we have no choice: We will follow the constant ups and downs, with over 6,000 metres of elevation gain on our 600-kilometre tour, Ferdy had already announced as a precaution.
Many of the trails here are quite difficult, sometimes steep and full of stones and roots. And depending on how you ride, you can sometimes ride ten trails in a row - that's exhausting. - Guide Ferdy
Speed toughness is also put to the test here, but not just because of the topography: Ferdy is in top form because he has spent every day off in recent weeks fine-tuning the final details of the route on site and has ridden practically the entire route again. But his niece Liv Wenzel, who is accompanying us on the tour, is even fitter. The nineteen-year-old is open, quite nice and, above all, completely fit: a few bike lengths ahead of us, she is still effortlessly prancing on her fully over the narrow trail littered with stones and boulders, where Ferdy and I have long since reached our limits. Which is hardly surprising, as she is a professional racing cyclist on the Luxembourg UCI Continental Team "Hess Cycling". In winter, she races cyclocross - but her favourite thing to do is sit on her mountain bike and do her laps around her home town in the south of Luxembourg. She knows every rock and every root there. "I really wanted to see the trails in the north that Ferdy talks about so often." Liv concludes after three days that they are really worth seeing.
There aren't any epically long trails like in the Alps, but I think it's cool when I can just pedal between challenging single trails from time to time. I also like steep climbs. - Liv Wenzel
And there really is enough of that here! Her uncle Ferdy agrees: "Many people come to Luxembourg and think: It's all flat. And they quickly realise that they're quite wrong." That's true: While bizarre sandstone cliffs dominate around Luxembourg City, the Ösling consists mainly of deeply incised layers of slate. And these in turn harbour many short climbs, crisp ramps and fast descents. The river trails on the steep banks of the Our on day three prove to be particularly tough. On the border river to Germany, super-narrow trails wind their way along the riverbank for kilometres, garnished with boulders and root steps. At one point, the edge is so exposed that I prefer to dismount and carry on. Ten metres further down, the Our gurgles between sharp-edged rocks on the bank. Better not take any risks now! But later, shortly before Vianden, things run all the more smoothly: we shoot along the gorge paths and even cross over to the German side of the border for several kilometres shortly before the end.
Incidentally, the Nazis already cut their teeth on the wild topography: The "Battle of the Ardennes" or "Bataille des Ardennes", which raged here in the winter of 1944/1945 over seventy-five years ago, was one of the last uprisings of the almost defeated Nazi regime in the Second World War. They lost the battle for the hills of the Ardennes to the Allies, but traces of the fighting and the German occupiers can still be seen everywhere in the region today: For example, a cobbled-together shelter in a steep wall in the middle of the forest near the Esch reservoir, which Ferdy had shown us the day before. This is where young Luxembourgers hid for over a year, even in winter, to escape forced recruitment by the Wehrmacht. Although the sun is shining, we are shivering. But we leave our gloomy thoughts behind. Because as soon as we leave this sad place behind us, we start to climb again. And then downhill again. It warms up automatically. Typical Luxembourg. It can go on like this!
