Tips for sustainable travel in Luxembourg
Luxembourg strives to be a destination encouraging sustainable tourism. We want to play our part and have compiled 9 tips for sustainable tourism in Luxembourg!
How you book makes a huge difference
Did you know that when booking your stay through an OTA (online travel agency), 12-18% of the price you pay goes to the OTA instead of your accommodation? While it’s certainly convenient to use OTAs for your travel planning, direct bookings ensure that your accommodation can better cover costs and has more money available to reinvest into the quality of your stay. Think about who most benefits from having more staff, a better breakfast buffet, nicer amenities and a wider range of services: Guests such as yourself.
Use public transport
On 1 March 2020, Luxembourg became the first ever country in the World to make all public transport free. And although some people will always find a reason to bicker and moan, Luxembourgish public transport is generally above-average reliable and widely available. Google Maps may do the trick for most trips, but we highly recommend you use the Mobilitéit App to plan your trips within the country.
Bring a reusable drinking bottle
To our knowledge, tap water is safe to drink anywhere in Luxembourg – and certainly within our hostels. All our in-house restaurants offer free tap-water, and we encourage anyone heading out for a daytrip to fill up their drinking bottles at our hostels. The city of Luxembourg even offers an interactive map featuring all public water fountains.
Enjoy meat-free alternatives
If you want to reduce your carbon and water footprints, a great way is to cut back on your meat consumption (and ideally, not just when you’re on holiday. But okay – enough preaching). And while Luxembourg may still not be a Mecca for vegetarians and vegans, much has changed in the traditionally quite meat-heavy restaurant landscape in recent years. Luxembourg-City alone is home to about a dozen vegetarian/vegan restaurants or cafés, ranging from fast food to Michelin-starred vegan fine dining!
Rent a bicycle
Our hostels in Beaufort, Echternach, Larochette and Remerschen all offer on-site bicycle rental. And although our hostel in Luxembourg-city doesn’t have on-site bicycle rental, is surrounded by bicycle stations part of the local city-bike rental scheme Velo’h. Nothing beats exploring a region or city at our own pace while leaving virtually no carbon footprint. The icing on the cake: Luxembourg’s bicycle path network is vastly improved over the past decade!
Try to be conscious about resources
It’s quite easy to save resources daily by following a few very simple steps that we try to remind of guests of: When you leave the room, switch off the lights, turn down the heaters, and close the windows. Don’t keep the tap running when brushing your teeth. And next time you take the lift, ask yourself whether you would rather burn calories or electricity.
Support local businesses
Like pretty much everywhere else in the World, the most common international café and fast-food chains are represented in Luxembourg. However, rest assured that for just about any of these international chains, an (oftentimes superior) local equivalent exists!
Immerse yourself in the local culture
Despite being sandwiched between bigger nations and despite its small size, Luxembourg boasts a strong national identity and cultural heritage. Exploring the country’s museums, nature reserves, traditional festivities, and rich history in crafts is a great pay your respects to the local community, employees and volunteers responsible for maintaining this offer.
See something? Say something!
At Luxembourg’s youth hostels, we are proud of our efforts with regards to encouraging sustainable tourism. However, if you see something that could be improved in our hostels, don’t be shy to voice your opinion. Either approach a member of staff or fill in the digital post-departure questionnaire that includes a section on sustainability. We evaluate feedback regularly and are always happy to receive constructive criticism.
