The 5 best castles to visit from Luxembourg City, ranked

The top three

1. Vianden. The most complete restored medieval castle in the country and possibly the region, sitting on a ridge above the Our. Allow 90 minutes inside plus time for the chairlift and the village. 2. Bourscheid, the largest ruined castle in Luxembourg by footprint, on a bluff 150 metres above the Sûre — the setting beats the ruins themselves but both are excellent. 3. Beaufort, actually two castles side by side — a medieval ruin and a Renaissance château — plus a distillery producing Cassero blackcurrant liqueur that you can taste.

The other two

4. Clervaux, less about the fortifications and more about what's inside: the Family of Man permanent photography exhibition, worth the train ride on its own. 5. Larochette, a smaller ruin in a pretty village halfway between the capital and Mullerthal, easy to combine with a walk in the sandstone gorges. Honourable mention to the Bock casemates in the city itself — technically the remains of a castle, and free to look at from the outside. Skip Wiltz castle unless you’re already passing through.