Luxembourg Tourist Traps

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Should a postcard really cost $1-2 (US)? NO. All postcards are stupidly overpriced in Luxembourg and they will not give discounts for large amounts of cards. There is no reason to charge between 45 Euro cents and 2 Euros for cards that cost 3 Euro cents to produce and can be bought for only 7 Euro cents in London! There are NO cheap postcards in Luxembourg – it’s a fact.

Unique Suggestions:
At least send Mr. Liew a card!

Fun Alternatives:
Get fewer friends quickly or just pretend you never came here. Postcards should never cost this much.

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Many of the public toilets in Luxembourg charge, including those for the disabled! Even MacDonald’s charges (pictured). The local authorities do offer free temporary toilets in the Place Guillaume – when they are not locked (pictures 1&4). I used them on a Friday and found them locked on the Saturday and Sunday. I bet the city authorities wonder why some people use the toilet inside the parks. What else are you supposed to do? Totally unacceptable for a modern country.

If you type in ‘Public Toilets Luxembourg’ on any internet search engine – nothing comes up!

Fun Alternatives:
Try busy bars and pubs. They don’t seem to care and are polite. Many restaurants will rudely challenge you and I have even been chased! I locked myself in and then told them they could ring the Police after I was finished. Alternatively there are lots of trees and bushes in public parks.

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Have a look at this picture of the elaborate uniforms of the Palace Guards. What? You can’t see any guards? That’s because there aren’t any! Please do not wait around like some tourists do or read the signs trying to find out when they show up and, more importantly, change and put on a show. The Grand Duke and Royal Family have not lived here for years. If they are around you will see some guards. The Grand Duke uses the palace as an office during some weekdays. That means you seeing palace guards on the weekends is not going to happen. There is a military guard at the back of the palace (pictured), but not much to really get excited about.

Unique Suggestions:
Pose as the guard yourself! Most tourists seem to do it after getting bored waiting for the real thing.

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All across Luxembourg are signs towards the Grand Casino. On the side of the building it says, get this, CASINO. You walk inside and what do you see? It’s a modern art gallery that charges. No slots, no poker, no roulette, no bar. The Casino closed down in, you will not believe this, 1959. The signs directing you here are less than 10 years old. A complete con if you ask me. I waited until it opened because I wasted to go in and see typical CASINO stuff.

Fun Alternatives: Walk away. Or, you could read this tip and just avoid it completely.

Not that it makes me happy. But here comes: I bought a little guide in Dutch about the Notre Dame cathedral. I bought it IN the cathedral for 2 euro 50. But later at the Tourist Office I saw the same guide for 5 euro!

I have to think long and hard. I did not encounter any tourist trap. Maybe the size of the city, which is much smaller than you'd imagine. But that's not a tourist trap, that's a pro...
Maybe our welcome party at Sand und Klang Pfaffendal. Good food, lots of music (Klang) but no singing (Sang)!

Watch out for the prices up here. You have a Quick and McDonalds restaurant, but in the little cafes on the place itself, you will pay rather important "tourist"-prices. Good from time to time, to enjoy the atmosphere, but not quite the right thing for budget travellers.

Fun Alternatives: Go in the little streets around, you will find little cafes, which are cheaper.

Photographing strangers always is a bit tricky for some of the people do not like being photographed. This old lady for sure did not like it but luckily she did not walk away but held the flowers in front of her face.
I don t know why the Lily of the Valley is such an important flower for the Luxembourg people tho. French people buy it for good luck, perhaps it has the same meaning in Luxembourg city?