Probably the most strikingly sited of all Luxembourg's provincial towns, VIANDEN is still surrounded by ramparts and dominated by its hilltop castle (daily 10am-4/6pm; ?4.50; www.castle-vianden.lu ), a mostly eleventh-century edifice garnished with everything from Romanesque to Renaissance features. Inside, some rooms have been partly furnished in period style - the Banqueting Hall and the huge Counts' Hall decorated with seventeenth-century tapestries - but much has been left empty, notably the long Byzantine Room and the octagonal upper chapel, surrounded by a narrow defensive walkway. For more authentic mustiness, peek down the well just off the old kitchen, and leave through the Gothic dungeon. You can survey the castle from the hill above by taking the chair lift to its 450-metre-high summit (Easter-Oct daily 10am-5/6pm; ?4.50 return) from rue du Sanatorium, just off rue Victor Hugo. At the top there's a restaurant with a terrace, and you can walk down to the castle by way of a footpath.

Buses to Vianden stop on the far eastern edge of town on the route de la Frontière, about five minutes' walk from the tourist office (June-Aug daily 8am-noon & 1.30-5.30pm, Sept-May Mon-Fri 9.30am-noon & 1.30-5.30pm; tel 83 42 57, www.tourist-info-vianden.lu ), on the main street, rue du Vieux Marché, by the bridge. For somewhere to stay, try the hotel -lined Grand Rue where the best of the budget options include the Hôtel Collette , at no. 68-70 (April-Nov; tel 83 40 04; £10-15/$16-24/?18-27), and the Hôtel Heintz , no. 55 (tel 83 41 55, www.hotelheintz.lu ; £15-20/$24-32/?27-36), a comfortable, friendly place with a first-rate restaurant. On the other side of the river is the equally pleasant Auberge de l'Our , rue de la Gare 35 (tel 83 46 75; £15-20/$24-32/?27-36). There's also a HI hostel at the top of Grand Rue at Montée du Château 3, a strenuous twenty-minute walk uphill from the bus station (tel 83 41 77; £5-10/$8-16/?9-18; mid-March to mid-Nov). The nearest campsite is Op dem Deich (tel 83 43 75; mid-April to early Oct) by the river near the bus station. For food , the restaurant of the Auberge de l'Our serves a good range of local specialities, though its riverside terrace means it gets very busy; alternatively head for the Café de la Poste on Grand Rue.