A quick walk through the Mullerthal Trail, Luxembourg

A half-hour drive out of Luxembourg city, in the Mullerthal region, are some of the best hiking trails in Europe.

Referred to as Luxembourg’s Little Switzerland, the route is totaling 112km with 3 primary hikes and 4 shorter extra tours. The sum of this adventure can take multiple days.

Mullerthal Trail spans across rocky landscapes, stunning tall forests, streams, rivers, and waterfalls. Given the size of the country and it’s proximity to Germany the full scale of this forest comes together into a unique cross-border hike that extends into the German Felsenland Südeifel region. Prior to the 1800s, this forest was very difficult to access and dangerous for people, back then it was called “The Land of the Wolves”. Today the heart of the region is the village of Mullerthal and most hikes are accessible directly from the highway.

We only had half a day but even that was enough to see some amazing forestry, streams, and water baths.

First stop, Schiessentümpel/Schéissendëmpel Waterfall. The Schiessentümpel is located alongside the road and includes the bridge and waterfall on the Black Ernz. The small bridge was built in 1879 and creates a lovely frame around the waterfall. The falls are quite small but are nice to look at, which was also evident by the crowd gathering around, taking pictures at various levels of professionalism. If time is of the essence you can simply walk over the bridge and down to look around. For a more pleasant longer walk, we parked a bit further away and took the trail across the mountainside, down a man-made staircase, under the rocky formations, through the very tall trees. See an Instagram reel here.

In pictures: A quick walk through the Mullerthal Trail, Luxembourg: a small wooden bridge over water — Schiessentümpel/Schéissendëmpel Waterfall

In pictures: A quick walk through the Mullerthal Trail, Luxembourg: two streams of water rushing down around a rock — Schiessentümpel/Schéissendëmpel Waterfall

In pictures: A quick walk through the Mullerthal Trail, Luxembourg: staircase to the lower part of the trail — Staircase to the lower part of the trail

Travertine Source Kallektuffquell is a slightly longer trail that starts from two different parking lots. You can either take a long forest boardwalk or a hiking trail through the woods. At the end of those two routes is the valley of the Ernz Noire: a crystal-clear calcareous water bath that slowly drips into a basin. The top bath is stunning, a perfect mirror reflecting the forestry on its surface, the bottom baths are equally stunning with one of them flowing along the rocky wall, framing the 600 m-long wooden bridge. Here’s a short video of the basin.

In pictures: A quick walk through the Mullerthal Trail, Luxembourg: water in thin streams rishing down into a pool off a moss-covered rock in Travertine Source Kallektuffquell

In pictures: A quick walk through the Mullerthal Trail, Luxembourg — Travertine Source Kallektuffquell

In pictures: A quick walk through the Mullerthal Trail, Luxembourg: glass pool of water and a wooden bench

In the gear bag: Fujifilm X-T100 with an XF50mmF2 R WR lens. To see the trip on Instagram look up #xoLuxembourg20 and see the story highlight on my profile.

1 Comment

I started in Berdorf and ended in Echternach. I’d post pictures but they really don’t give the beauty any justice. It was amazing. I only had a quick day and then had to head out but I could have spent my entire vacation here.