Incorporating the capital’s parks and beautiful valleys, the Luxembourg Urban Garden (LUGA) programme has created 30 new urban gardens, countless installations, and hubs for science and culture in the four parks of Luxembourg City.
Read our guide on the focus for each park, what you can explore or try out and take all or part of the 11km LUGA trail which passes by the urban gardens, art and sound installations and sculptures, and the various creations in each of the city’s four main parks.
More than 1,000 leisure, science and cultural events have been organised to give you a different or new perspective on nature and how it coexists in our capital, and the possibilities of living in a sustainable, greener city.
Events including tours, concerts and performances are taking place across the capital but also in many parts of the country. You can find the full agenda here.
The LUGA Summer Festival will take place across three Sundays in August and September in different city parks, with workshops, activities in art and science, a plant market and sustainable fashion show , plus lectures and interactive installations.
31 August – Alzette valley
7 September – Pétrusse parks
14 September – Municipal Park Édouard André
Municipal Park Édouard André – orchids, roses and a cultural hub
How often do you pass through this beautiful English-style park on your way to work or a night out?
From north to south, you can cover 30 hectares of greenery on narrative trails to discover flowers and animals in the corners of the park.
Check out the pergola, exploratory cocoon, and the orchid greenhouse at Fondation Jean-Pierre Pescatore Park which showcases the philanthropists unusual collection.
Near to the panoramic lift, you’ll find the shattered earth landscape where vegetation clings to piles of rock and timber, a reminder that nature can restore decay.
The pergola by Pescatore Park © Photo credit: Marc Wilwert
There’s also a spot near the Literary Tree to enjoy some outdoor reading, and a delightful rose garden by the Villa Vauban, with panels explaining the exceptional women that inspired the various rose breeds on display.
There are immersive installations but also thought-provoking sculptures such as Le Cri – a giant bird, distorted to represent factory farming methods or another entitled The Harvest, where endangered species of field birds peck at tall stalks of wheat.
Join the Green Disco for a journey that fuses sound, music and movement, inviting you to dance with nature or discover a greenhouse filled with luminous plants that magically light up in the dark.
The park is filled with temporary cabins to explore, created in partnership with the National Youth Service and architects, whilst LUGA has created a cultural hub with local products and seasonal food to sample in its beer garden.
You can find out more about this park here.
Pétrusse Parks – youth gardens and art
This park has recently been restored allowing the rewilding and a more natural flow to the river of the same name.
Leaving the municipal park, the trail winds down into the valley to a garden entitled Life on the verge, designed by Leon Kluge, which celebrates roadside verges, microcosms of animal, insect and plant life.
Just past the skatepark you’ll find 10 urban gardens created by young designers dotted alongside the river. A showcase of Gen Z’s view of the global challenges of our time and the future.
Dotted along the banks of the Petrusse are 10 urban gardens designed by young people © Photo credit: Alain Piron
Calling on us to face our eco-anxiety and fear, Glenn Albrecht’s TIMEO reveals new perspectives on environmental disasters, turning fear into hope by depicting nature’s supremacy over mankind. You can also catch a glimpse of unusual artworks that dot the art trail put together by curator Boris Kremer.
You can visit the Bond of Connection space which creates a space of calmness and spot Blobby and Boo – unusual creatures who live in the Bock Casemates.
The Aqua tunnel
Linking Park Édouard André and the Pétrusse valley, this tunnel traverses the subterranean level of the city. Artist Susan Philipsz has created The Lower World installation which fills a discarded sewage pipe with sounds to evoke the atmosphere of life below ground.
The installation also references the war shelters in the tunnels, and the city’s legend of mermaid Melusina – the wife of Count Siegfried.
Take a trip into the aqua tunnel and suterranean Luxembourg City © Photo credit: Alain Piron
The LUGA science hub looks at the challenges facing biodiversity, food and climate. It’s also the place to buy tickets for the aqua tunnel and has baby changing facilities and accessible toilets.
You can find out more about this park here.
Alzette Valley – climate change and gardens of the future
Rediscover this babbling river and learn about urban ecology, climate change and the way man and nature can live together in harmony.
This is the location of the LUGA Lab, a temporary structure in Odendahl Park to promote interaction between generations, around the themes of artistic expression, dialogue and social inclusion.
Le Chant de l’Alzette urban garden reproduces the sounds of the river, whilst the Water Forum (next to Neimënster Abbey) is an experimental water purification garden.
Herbularius is a garden full of medicinal, edible, and aromatic plants, whilst the temporary urban oasis is designed to attract butterflies and bees and reduce heat stress, with plants chosen to provide food to insects.
Further on the Racines du futur garden has climbing plants around a steel structure reaching into the sky to create a natural sculpture and a great place for beautiful views over the city.
You can find out more about this park here.
Kirchberg – blooms, elements and an urban farm
Walk through the history of Luxembourg’s fortress capital as you zig zag up the Kirchberg Plateau to Dräi Eechelen and Fort Thüngen. On the esplanade you’ll find The Living Pyramid, created by Hungarian artist Agnes Denes – a riot of wild flowers that change with the weeks.
The Endymion urban garden pays homage to what ancient Greeks would view as an ideal garden, incorporating three objects representing an element – a flag for the wind, a chimney for fire and a fountain for water.
Urban Farm Kuebebierg
Kirchberg’s newest district will include an urban farm, run by market gardeners Axel Barreau and Aurélien Galodé. The area incorporates a 10 metre high steel sculpture that is an architectural interpretation of a leaf, entitled Phyllom, and vegetable gardens and orchards are being planted in the heart of this new urban district.
You can find out more about this park and LUGA area here.
The Urban Agricultural Trail – Ettelbruck
The city of Ettelbruck, which also hosts the annual country fair, will be a showcase for agriculture. The LUGA educational trail features botanical and agricultural exhibitions, demonstrations of innovative growing methods, and fun activities linked to nature and food production.
You can find out more about the trail here.