This medieval town in northern Luxembourg has a 12th-century white castle, famous for housing The Family of Man photography exhibition and WW2 Battle of the Bulge artifacts.
Clervaux lies in northern Luxembourg, where the Clerve River cuts through valleys covered in beech and pine forests. Look up to see the 12th-century castle that survived World War II bombing—it now holds Edward Steichen’s The Family of Man photo collection and artifacts from the Battle of the Bulge. Benedictine monks at the Abbey of St. Maurice continue daily chants first recorded in the 6th century. Trails marked with red-and-white signs lead past concrete bunkers from 1944 and through the Our Nature Park’s oak groves. You can explore these elements on foot, by bike, or with a camera ready for stone bridges and hilltop views.
Clervaux Castle Museums
The castle’s rebuilt stone towers dominate the town square. Inside, three museums cover different eras: climb to the second floor for The Family of Man, where 503 black-and-white photos by Margaret Bourke-White and others line the walls, grouped into sections about birth, war, and daily life. One floor below, glass cases display dog tags, field radios, and a bloodstained map carried by a U.S. Army captain during the 1944 siege. Walk outside to see a Sherman tank with its turret still pointed toward the hills where German troops advanced. Near the entrance, a rusted artillery gun sits beside plaques listing local civilians killed in the crossfire.
Abbey of St. Maurice
This hilltop monastery, completed in 1910, uses sandstone blocks that glow orange at sunset. Dutch architect Johann Franz Klomp modeled the bell towers after Rhineland churches from the 1100s. Attend the 7:30 AM service to hear monks sing Latin hymns in a vaulted chapel lit by stained-glass windows. Guided tours every first Monday let you enter the crypt, where faded frescoes depict Saint Benedict’s life, and the scriptorium where monks once copied religious texts. A small exhibit near the gift shop explains how Halldór Laxnes, an Icelandic writer, lived here briefly before founding a Catholic community near Reykjavik.
Trails and Nature Access
Fifteen numbered paths start within 3km of Clervaux’s train station. Follow trail #5 east for 9km along the Our River, passing moss-covered pillboxes from WWII, or take the paved Vennbahn route west toward Troisvierges—this flat cycling path follows an old rail line for 12km through fir forests. Download the Lauschtour app for a 40-minute walk linking the castle’s drawbridge to the Loretto Chapel’s stone arches. In winter, rent skis at the tourism office to glide along trails usually used for hiking, or try the 18-hole golf course near Munshausen, which stays open even when frost covers the fairways.
World War II Sites
German tanks rolled into Clervaux on December 16, 1944, trapping U.S. troops in the castle for three days. The Battle of the Bulge Museum uses aerial photos and soldier letters to explain how this delay helped Allied forces regroup. Drive 10 minutes to Munshausen’s Natura Musée, where a recreated attic hideout shows how locals smuggled food to resistance fighters. Near the village of Weicherdange, a dented Panzer IV tank lies half-buried in a field, and the Urspelt farm’s bullet-pocked walls still surround a courtyard once used as a field hospital.
Visiting Clervaux
Trains from Luxembourg City take 55 minutes, with hourly departures from platform 1. Buy a €5 combo ticket at the castle entrance to see both photography and military exhibits—children enter free. Walk everywhere in town, but rent electric bikes from Hotel Koener if you plan to tackle steep routes like the 18km Schumanns Eck loop. Stay at Kaaspelterhof for rooms with wooden beams and views of the Clerve River, or book a bunk bed at Robbesscheier, where families can feed donkeys and try blacksmith workshops. Check the abbey’s website for holiday schedules affecting tour availability.
