The impressive panorama of Luxembourg’s old town and casemates, from the Adolphe Bridge (Photo: Luc Citrinot)“Luxembourg, the destination, has all the makings of a big city” to paraphrase a famous 1980s advertising slogan. This is indeed what comes to mind when discovering Luxembourg City. Admittedly, it “only” has 140,000 inhabitants, but it offers all the attractions of a capital city – on a small scale. This is certainly one of its greatest assets.
Luxembourg concentrated in its heart are state institutions, banks, tourist attractions, museums, and hotels, accessible on foot or by a formidable public transport network, which every MICE sector interlocutor repeats endlessly is free.
The entire area is easily accessible from the rest of the world thanks to around a hundred airlines and numerous rail links with France and Germany.
In the heart of Luxembourg, calm, luxury, and pleasure (Photo: LC)
An ideal destination promoted by the Luxembourg Convention Bureau, which is responsible for convincing conference organisers. Luxembourg’s geographical location, at the heart of Western Europe, its infrastructure and ease of access are real assets. Furthermore, in Luxembourg, almost everyone is quadrilingual, if not multilingual. Besides Luxembourgish, most people here speak French, English and German perfectly. And with a significant community from Portugal, Portuguese is also one of the most widely spoken languages in the Grand Duchy. », says Bettina Bunge, Director of the Luxembourg Convention Bureau, who is herself of German origin.
The small size of Luxembourg, both as a country and its capital, offers event and congress organisers a great deal of flexibility when planning an event. Everyone, or almost everyone, knows each other within the MICE sector’s microcosm and benefits from the support of the Convention Bureau, which is responsible for promoting and coordinating conference venues, partners, and service providers.
The ECCL, the quintessence of events, “made in Luxembourg”
Beyond the practical aspects of a conference in Luxembourg, there is another element that is appealing: the symbiosis that exists between the history and cultures that shape this city and MICE.
This is, for example, what is promoted The ECCL, European Convention Center Luxembourg Located on the Kirchberg plateau, the district of European institutions. This conference centre was built to host parliamentary sessions in the early 1980s. It has partly retained a “vintage” charm and a certain solemnity. Particularly in the Hemicycle, whose amphitheatre still hosts the EU Council sessions three times a year. And which can be hired outside of official sessions. Dark woods, frescoes evoking the construction of the European Union, retro light fixtures: the ECCL clearly plays with pleasure on its retro side, as its director, Patrick Hoffnung, points out.
The 1980s vintage charm of the ECCL’s second building (Photo: LC)
” We are proud of this historical aspect, notably with the Panoramic Room offering one of the most beautiful views of Luxembourg. » he tells us. A few years ago, the ECCL acquired a more contemporary building, which now hosts most of the conferences and congresses. The ECCL thus offers around 2,600 m² of modular space with over 40 rooms – with a maximum capacity of 800 people in plenary session. The centre hosts an average of around 160 events per year, generating over 107,000 participants in 2025.
Patrick Hoffnung also likes to highlight another asset of the ECCL: the “Convention Park”, a unique offering in Luxembourg, which brings together surrounding hotels, restaurants and bars around the ECCL, as well as two first-rate cultural institutions: the Philharmonie and the MUDAM, museum of modern art.
The five hotels on Kirchberg offer a total of 785 rooms, while the museum or the Philharmonie provide their programmes and are also suitable for organising events. This allows participants to fully enjoy Luxembourg as a destination. It also offers a product where everything is done on foot, without multiplying travel, and therefore, is simpler for organisers to manage. », explains the Director of the ECCL.
With the added possibility of going to Luxexpo The Box, the Exhibition Centre Or, reachable in 20 minutes by the free tramway, is the airport or the historic heart of the capital, as well as the central train station.
Indeed, in the city centre, history enthusiasts are spoilt for choice when organising an event in locations where history and culture rub shoulders with the best of high-tech.
When history gets involved in events
To begin with the very beautiful complex that represents Neimenster Abbey in the district of the Grund, one of the most picturesque in Luxembourg. The abbey, built in the 17th century for Benedictine monks, had a varied history, serving as a barracks and even a men’s prison until 1980. Some remnants, such as the heavy wooden cell doors or the chapel, have been preserved from that period.
The Neimenster Abbey (formerly Neumunster) serves as a Baroque setting for prestigious events (Photo: LC)
Nevertheless, today, the historic and sumptuous setting of the abbey hosts exhibitions, concerts, artistic activities, as well as events, symposia, conferences, congresses, and dinners. In total, a dozen rooms including a theatre that can accommodate 280 people, the Agora Marcel Jullian for 400 people, or the beautiful cloister, capable of hosting 300 people. Two rooms in the attics are appealing for both their intimate and historic atmosphere, with a capacity for 160 or 180 delegates. The abbey’s MICE team also offers bespoke solutions or “conference packages”.
Another place, another atmosphere: in the city centre, The City Circle First, the old Municipal Palace, which hosted prestigious parties and events for the capital. Closed for 5 years between 2005 and 2010, Cercle Cité today stands out for its grandeur with its grand staircase, its reception rooms, its large glass roof and its private lounges, which are reminiscent of French ministries laden with “the gilding of the Republic”. A conference centre, located in the adjacent building, offers 3 conference rooms and two auditoriums on the 5th floor.th floor, which can accommodate up to 142 people.
The opulence of the former Municipal Circle, now Centre Cité, whose rooms are rented out (Photo: LC)
Luxembourg Marriott Hotel Alfa, a tribute to Art Deco
Finally, for those fascinated by Art Deco, the iconic Luxembourg Marriott Hotel Alfa, is essential for any event. The impressive building, facing Luxembourg Station, is impossible to miss.
The establishment, destined to become the benchmark of prestige for Luxembourg’s hospitality sector, opened its doors at the beginning of 1932, notably featuring a renowned brasserie. A hub of social life in the 1930s, the hotel has undergone a complete restoration and modernisation that has helped preserve its soul and, above all, its Art Deco style. It took the interior design firm Iria Degen Interiors seven years to transform the hotel, now managed by the Marriott chain. The four-star establishment has thus reinterpreted all the details of the Art Deco building – including the zigzag motifs on the facade – in a timeless contemporary style for its 153 rooms and suites, as well as its meeting spaces.
Reflecting the Art Deco craze, the Marriott Hotel’s Brasserie Alfa welcomes groups in its private hire spaces (Photo: LC)
The Marriott hotel has two meeting spaces on the ground floor integrated into the brasserie, five meeting rooms, and a boardroom on the first floor. In total, these can accommodate up to 150 participants by combining the Churchill and Charlotte rooms.
Here again, history and art are also an integral part of the conference facilities, notably the magnificent Bradley Room. In fact, participants’ gaze will certainly wander over the monumental fresco retracing the history of Luxembourg, created by the hotel owner’s son, an artist in his spare time.
With its gold tones, vibrant colours, and elegance, the Bradley Room is certainly the most prestigious room on offer at the Luxembourg Marriott Hotel Alfa. It can accommodate up to 64 participants when combined with the neighbouring Patton Room.
The hotel can privatise Brasserie Alfa for a small group. This restaurant is probably the most “Art Deco” spot in the hotel. The original tiles, another fresco by Julien Lefèvre, the son of the hotel owner, the mirrors on the walls and the light fixtures, all recall the atmosphere of the mythical brasseries of Montparnasse between the two World Wars. The menu, incidentally, is largely inspired by France. A perfect conclusion to a special event stay before catching the train… bound for Paris!
PRACTICAL GUIDE
Getting to Luxembourg
From France, several daily direct TGVs from Paris via Metz. TGVs also link Luxembourg to Montpellier via Mulhouse, Dijon and Lyon. TER trains from Nancy and Strasbourg. Towards Belgium, regular regional trains to Arlon/Namur and several Intercités to Brussels and Liège.
By air, Luxair connects Findel Airport from Paris CDG, Bordeaux, Biarritz and Nice, as well as Geneva; Volotea offers a route to Toulouse while Ryanair provides a daily flight from Marseille.
A plane flying over the State Savings Bank in the city centre. The airport handles nearly 6 million passengers and is connected to 120 destinations (Photo: LC)
Stay
Luxembourg Marriott Hotel Alfa, 16 Place de la Gare, Luxembourg – Tel: +352 279-40000
https://www.marriott.com/fr/hotels/luxmc-luxembourg-marriott-hotel-alfa/overview
Art Deco details on the facade of the Luxembourg Marriott Hotel Alfa (Photo: LC)
Find out more
Luxembourg Convention Bureau: 35 Avenue de la Liberté, Luxembourg
Website: lcb.lu; Email: info@lcb.lu.
From Place Guillaume II, view of the Grand Ducal Palace in Luxembourg’s historic heart. (Photo: Luc Citrinot)