Luxembourg City’s Winterlights festival turns the capital into a glittering Christmas playground. Getting from the train station or airport to the heart of it may be easier than finding your hotel.
You have just stepped off a train at Luxembourg City’s central railway station. You’re in an unfamiliar city, surrounded by unfamiliar streets and wondering how to find the Christmas markets without accidentally ending up in another country. In Luxembourg, this is not an idle worry – borders are close enough that a wrong turn could involve a passport.
Relax. You need to remember only one thing: Tram T1.
Luxembourg has made Christmas shopping remarkably easy for visitors. The tram runs along a single route connecting the airport, the city center and the railway station with stops near the main Winterlights attractions. And here’s the best part: public transportation in Luxembourg is free. No ticket, no validation, no complicated app to download. Think of the tram as your personal Christmas market shuttle. Get on, ride until you see something interesting, hop off and explore. When you’re ready for the next market, hop back on.
This year, Winterlights runs from 20 November through 3 January. Rather than one enormous Christmas market, Luxembourg spreads its festivities across five sites, each with its own personality. There are illuminated streets, food chalets, concerts, skating, rides, family activities and enough Christmas lights to make you wonder whether the Grand Duchy has discovered a previously untapped source of electricity.
Here’s how to find your way around:
First stop: Place de Paris
Coming from Gare Centrale, board T1 toward Luxexpo or Findel-Luxembourg Airport. Ignore Stadion. It points toward a soccer stadium in the other direction – lovely but not especially festive unless you count the beer. Place de Paris is the very next stop.
The Niklosmaart, or St. Nicholas Market, fills this square with food stalls, handmade Advent wreaths, decorations, children’s entertainment and live music. It is a particularly family-friendly destination with a 22-meter illuminated Christmas tree, a vintage swing carousel and, on selected dates, St. Nicholas (Kleeschen) himself, who receives children’s wish lists at his cottage. The tree is large enough that you will not need directions to it. It’s a pleasant introduction to the season with plenty of opportunities to sample something warming before continuing your expedition.
Image by Henrion Alain
Next stop: Hamilius
Stay on the tram and continue to Hamilius, an excellent jumping-off point for the pedestrian heart of the city.
From here, walk to Place d’Armes, home of the Lëtzebuerger Chrëschtmaart. This is the city’s traditional Christmas market held on the square since 1984. Expect wooden chalets selling handmade gifts, decorations and seasonal food beneath a towering Christmas tree, along with a nativity scene, a carousel and a miniature train ride for the under-10 crowd.
A short walk away, Place Guillaume II becomes Winterkids, a festive playground for families with rides, workshops and performances. Its centerpiece is the Adventskalenderhaus, a chalet whose windows open one by one through December, like an Advent calendar that has grown rather ambitious.
Image by JC Reuland
Don’t miss: Place de la Constitution
For one of the most spectacular displays, return toward Hamilius and make the short walk to Place de la Constitution, beneath the Gëlle Fra, or Golden Lady monument. She has been standing there looking regal since long before anyone thought to hang a Ferris wheel nearby and she does not appear to mind.
The Wantermaart is Christmas on a grand scale. It has about 40 chalets, a 13-meter golden Christmas tree, a giant Christmas pyramid and a 32-meter Ferris wheel. Panoramic cafés overlook the Pétrusse Valley and Pont Adolphe and food and drink chalets serve local specialties and seasonal treats. The setting is impressive, particularly after dark, when the lights transform the historic city into something resembling a Christmas postcard with an unusually generous production budget.
A little farther: Theater and Faïencerie
Continue along the tram route to Theater or Faïencerie for Wanterpark, Luxembourg’s winter park in Kinnekswiss. The atmosphere shifts toward outdoor fun, with an ice-skating rink and a surrounding food village. It’s a good place to spend some time, particularly if you’ve brought children or simply enjoy watching people attempt to skate with varying degrees of confidence.
And getting back?
Simply retrace your steps. If you’re catching a train, take T1 toward Stadion; Gare Centrale is on the way. If you’re flying home, take T1 toward Findel-Luxembourg Airport. Some trams end at Luxexpo, so check the destination on the front of the tram. Also check the evening timetable before setting out. You don’t want your final Christmas memory to involve negotiating an unexpected taxi ride after too much mulled wine.
Luxembourg’s direct flights from Paris take about an hour. Madrid and Milan flights are around two hours. Frankfurt and Amsterdam also have direct connections. Depending on the season and how early you book, round-trip fares from some of these cities can come in well under 100 euros.
Rail is another convenient option but depending on where you start, it can take considerably longer without saving much money. Especially true for Milan or Madrid. From closer cities, the gap narrows.
Luxembourg doesn’t have to cost a fortune to sleep in. Hostel beds run about €35-40 a night and basic private hotel rooms generally start at €80-100. Ibis hotels near the airport are a convenient, relatively economical choice for anyone arriving by plane. And because the trams and buses are free, staying outside the city center won’t cost extra. Your wallet will be spared and your feet will only have to work as hard as the mulled wine allows.
In a world where getting from the airport to a Christmas market can sometimes require three trains, two buses and a small act of faith, Luxembourg offers something rather wonderful: one tram, five Christmas markets and absolutely no ticket required.
Useful summary
Winterlights runs from 20 November to 3 January.
Opening hours are from 11 a.m. – 9 p.m. on Sunday to Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
The markets close at 6 p.m. Christmas Eve and New Years Eve, and are closed on Christmas Day. For exact dates, vendors and the full seasonal program, consult the official winter lights website before traveling.
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See more about Christmas Markets here in Dispatches’s archives.
Read more from Alice here.
Alice Verberne is a journalist and writer whose career has taken her from Washington, D.C., to Europe. Her reporting explores the systems and industries that shape everyday life, from business and technology to healthcare, taxation and real estate. Particularly interested in how things work—and occasionally why they don't—she writes from France, where there is never a shortage of material.
