Tourism and Culture Minister Eric Thill has reported a promising start to the year for Luxembourg’s tourism sector, with strong figures recorded in the first five months of 2025. Among the contributors to this success is the country’s southern region, which was once the industrial heart of Luxembourg and has now been reinvented as a destination for cultural and historical tourism.
While the mines, railway lines, and workers’ housing that once defined the area are no longer in use, they’ve been given new life as attractions. From rusting rails to restored locomotives, the south is carving out a modern identity that still pays tribute to its past. Every year, thousands of visitors come to explore the region’s industrial story.
Last year alone, tourism across Luxembourg surpassed 3.6 million overnight stays – a record high. A significant share of this success came from the Minett region, where attractions like Train 1900, Minett Park, and the unique Kabaisercher – old housing turned into hiking lodges – drew in visitors. At Fond-de-Gras, tourists can choose not only to stay overnight but also to ride the historic mining railway.
However, as Joël Miltgen of the Minièresbunn Doihl association explained, running such large-scale attractions is financially demanding. While income from ticket sales covers basic needs like coal or oil, he noted that everything beyond that, especially the enormous costs of restoring steam locomotives, requires public funding.
According to Miltgen, without financial support from public institutions like the National Institute for Architectural Heritage (INPA), maintaining this infrastructure would be impossible.
Since the 1980s, the Luxembourgish state, working alongside INPA and national rail company CFL, has invested in preserving the country’s railway heritage. Much of the restoration and maintenance is handled by volunteers.
Now, plans are in motion to create a national railway museum in Pétange, located near the line to Fond-de-Gras. According to Patrick Sanavia, director of INPA, the aim is not just to exhibit trains and wagons but to tell the full story of Luxembourg’s rail history.
The museum will also include elements of architectural heritage, he added, noting that, in collaboration with CFL, a large section of Ettelbruck’s old station has been carefully dismantled and could be reconstructed within the new museum, should the project go ahead.
Southern Luxembourg’s tourism success isn’t limited to industrial heritage. The Bettembourg Park remains one of the most visited sites in the country, drawing 283,000 visitors last year alone. To keep the park attractive and relevant, ongoing investments are being made not just in new attractions but also in infrastructure and renewable energy, according to Marc Neu, the park’s director.
