A trip to Little Switzerland
by Monika Suchoszek
Visiting Berdorf in Luxemburg? Why not! We couldn’t miss our chance to finally check one of the options for a weekend trip when you live in Belgium. The initial idea was to do the whole Mullerthal trail route 2 which is around 37km. However, life is unpredictable and we had to modify our plans a little bit. Since we left Leuven on Saturday morning and arrived to Berdorf (the starting point of a trek) at 10.30 am there was not enough time to do the complete route so on the way we decided to skip one loop and took a shortcut to the next village. The first part (around 6km) from Berdorf to Mullerthal led along big rocky walls, the further we got from the car parking, the quieter it got with less and less hikers on the way. The large, high rocks situated close to each other started to create narrow passages, darker and colder inside.
The Mullerthal village offers a camping site, some places to buy drinks and fast food. We passed the village quite fast, constantly following wooden poles with the name of the route (and distance to the next village). After some time we saw Schiessentümpel Cascade, famous waterfalls atracting many tourists but I need to admit, after having seen waterfalls in Iceland and Laos, they are rather small ;) The shape and style of the wooden bridge above made a bigger impression on me.
A bit further, close to the viewpoint Burgkapp, we had a chance to shorten our hike and go straight ahead to the village Consdorf, skipping the loop to the south and cutting off a few km. We passed Burgkapp, La Pineda camping site, Consdorf (there is a bakery close to the church) to finally reach Scheidgen where we picked up Mullerthal trail route 2 again. The part from here to Echternach was a bit borring. Beautiful, old forest but less groups of rocks which you can explore.
The view of village Echternach where we had a dinner and ice cream :) Visiting this touristic place required us to walk down a steep path to the village and come back the same way what means steep uphill parts as well but it was worth it. On the photo below you can clearly see St. Willibrord Basilica, which dominates the landscape.
The next day we explored the area nearby our camping in Berdorf. Amazing viewpoints where you can admire the hills sourrounding the area are a great spot for many tourists to relax. Numerous narrow passages between the rocks attract children with head lights, exploring them without any fear. We really got lost amongst narrow corridors, it feels like being in a labyrinth! Good shoes are highly recommended since the rocks and steps can be quite slippery.
The area has a lot to offer not only for hikers, runners or cyclists but also for sport climbers! Around 1km from the camping Martbusch you can find this little but very interesting area with sandstone rock. Most of the climbing routes are rated between 5 and 6. The beautiful forest surrounding this spot makes it colder, something every climber appreciates during the hot summer :)
Practical info:
Mullerthal trail route 2 - 31km, we skipped around 7km part in south, taking a shortcut from Consdorfer Millen parking to Scheidgen where we again started to follow Mullerthal trail 2 until Berdorf, see the map below for details
We stayed at the Camping Belle-Vue 2000 (around 8euro/person, steel fire bowl and portion of wood - 12 euro) in Berdorf. There are many camping sites in the area of Mullerthal trail route 2 so it is definitely possible to split the whole track into a few parts and explore the area a bit more. There are really plenty of places to check, beautiful rock formations, view points and caves which are difficult to really explore if you do the whole trek in one day like we did.
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