Beaufort is one of those villages that seem made for a postcard: in the heart of the Mullerthal, 'Luxembourg's Little Switzerland', it hides not one but two castles, side by side and complementing each other. On one hand, the imposing ruins of a medieval sandstone castle, built and extended between the 11th and 17th centuries, perched on a rocky outcrop beside a small lake. On the other, right next door, an elegant 17th-century Renaissance castle, still standing and open for guided tours. Together they tell six centuries of history in stone.
Around the castles stretches the landscape of forests, streams and rock formations that makes the Mullerthal famous. Beaufort is a perfect starting point for hiking: Mullerthal Trail routes pass through here, and there are walks for all levels among moss-covered rocks. And there's a treat too: Beaufort produces 'Cassero', a blackcurrant (cassis) liqueur offered as a tasting when you visit the medieval castle.
This guide takes a practical look at Beaufort: the two castles and their history, the lake and the Mullerthal trails, how to get there (by bus, for free) and get around, and how to combine it with Larochette, Echternach and the rest of the area. Peaceful, green and with two castles for the price of one visit, Beaufort is one of the most charming getaways in rural Luxembourg.
Beaufort's medieval castle was built and extended in stages between the 11th and 17th centuries, starting as a small fortress on a sandstone crag beside a lake that grew with new towers, walls and outbuildings until it became an imposing Gothic fortress. In the 17th century, governor Johann von Beck, a Luxembourg nobleman who made his career in the service of the Habsburgs, had a new Renaissance residence built next to the old castle, more comfortable and elegant, in keeping with the times. The medieval castle was abandoned and fell into ruin, but it was restored and opened to the public in 1932. Today both castles, managed by the Grand Duchy's Centre des Monuments, can be visited and are the village's emblem. We cover all of this on our history page.
Read the full history ↓The 'Little Switzerland of Luxembourg' in the east: forests and sandstone formations crossed by the Mullerthal Trail, with Echternach, the oldest town in the country, its Abbey of Saint Willibrord and its UNESCO-listed dancing procession.
Read the history of Mullerthal Region (Little Switzerland) →A local guide tells you in half an hour what no sign at the site will ever explain. We look ours up on Civitatis: guided in Spanish and booked online with no fuss. They have 9 activities in Mullerthal. And there are free tours here: you book without paying and tip the guide whatever you think at the end, so trying one costs you nothing. Have a look below: tap any of them to see them all.
They depart from Mullerthal, 6 km away. If you book from this link we earn a commission and you pay no more.
No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
Origins, formation and what the sources say.
Few castles tell their own story as clearly as Beaufort. Unlike fortresses raised in a single go, Beaufort's medieval castle grew little by little, layer upon layer, over more than six centuries. Each generation added something, which is why its walls are like the rings of a tree: they record the changes of the entire Middle Ages.
It all began around the 11th century with a small square fortress on a sandstone outcrop, at the bottom of a wooded valley in the Mullerthal, next to a small lake. The position was typical of feudal times: a defensible spot from which a local lord controlled the surrounding lands and roads. That first fortified tower was the seed of everything that followed.
Between the 12th and 17th centuries, the successive lords of Beaufort kept enlarging the fortress: new walls, towers, a bridge, courtyards, cellars, dungeons and even a torture chamber. The result, by the Gothic and early Renaissance period, was an imposing sandstone castle adapted to new ways of waging war, including the arrival of artillery. That ensemble, in ruins today but fully open to explore, is what visitors admire: a fortress that is, in itself, a textbook on the history of military architecture.
The castle gave its name to a noble family, the lords of Beaufort, documented since the Middle Ages and linked to the high nobility of the Duchy of Luxembourg and neighbouring regions. Like every seigneurial house of the time, its fate was shaped by marriage alliances, inheritances and changes of fortune. Over the centuries, the lordship of Beaufort passed through different hands through marriages and successions, and at times the property was split among several heirs.
This fragmentation of inheritances was common among the medieval nobility and had very concrete consequences for castles: when a fief was divided among several owners, maintaining the building became complicated and was sometimes neglected. In Beaufort's case, however, the fortress remained an important seigneurial residence throughout the Middle Ages, at the heart of a district of forests, mills and villages.
Life in a castle like this one combined power and discomfort: thick, cold walls, dark rooms, defence above all. As time went on and the early modern period arrived, that way of living began to look outdated. The European nobility now wanted brighter, more comfortable residences, and Beaufort was no exception.
The big turning point came in the 17th century, thanks to a fascinating figure: Johann (Jean) von Beck. Born in the region in 1588 into a modest family, Beck built an extraordinary military and political career in the service of the House of Habsburg, in the middle of the Thirty Years' War. He became governor of Spanish Luxembourg and of the County of Chiny, and was made a count. He is one of those examples of meteoric social rise that the wars of the Baroque era sometimes made possible.
In 1639, Beck acquired the lordship of Beaufort. And instead of continuing to live in the old, uncomfortable medieval fortress, from 1643 he had a new Renaissance-style residence built right next to it: a more elegant and liveable castle, with spacious halls, large windows and architecture designed for living in luxury and for show, not for withstanding sieges. The contrast between the two buildings — the military fortress and the noble house — sums up the shift from the Middle Ages to the early modern era.
Johann von Beck died in 1648 from wounds suffered in battle, without seeing his project fully finished; his heirs completed it. The Renaissance castle remained the residence of the lords of Beaufort, while the old medieval fortress, no longer needed, began its slow slide into ruin.
With the new Renaissance residence lived in, the old medieval castle lost its purpose. Nobody lived in those cold rooms any more or needed its defences, and with no use or upkeep, the fortress gradually deteriorated. The roofs gave way, rain and ice did their work on the sandstone, and the stones began to fall. Like so many medieval castles in Europe, Beaufort slowly became a romantic ruin.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, the region went through the great ups and downs of Luxembourg's history: Habsburg rule, the French revolutionary occupation, the creation of the Grand Duchy in 1815 and its consolidation as an independent, neutral country in 1867. In that context, rural castles like Beaufort stayed on the sidelines of major events, wrapped in the silence of their forests.
It was precisely that abandoned ruin, covered in ivy and reflected in the lake, that began to catch the eye of the Romantic travellers who 'discovered' the Mullerthal and its nickname of 'Little Switzerland' in the 19th century. Far from being a problem, the ruined castle became an attraction: the very image of an evocative, picturesque medieval past.
The 20th century brought the medieval castle's rescue. In 1928, the site was acquired by Edmond Linckels, a Luxembourg businessman and politician with a passion for heritage, who undertook major work to consolidate and restore the ruins. Thanks to that work, the medieval castle was able to open to the public in 1932, becoming one of the Mullerthal's first big tourist attractions.
Since then, Beaufort has been a magnet for visitors, who can walk through the rooms, climb the towers, take in the views of the lake and the forest, and learn about the history of the place. The visit also includes a tasting of 'Cassero', the blackcurrant liqueur made in the village that has become its most famous speciality. The Renaissance castle, for its part, remained private property and today can be visited on a guided tour.
Today, the Beaufort castles are managed within the framework of the Grand Duchy's Centre des Monuments, in a district recognised in 2022 as a Unesco Global Geopark (Mëllerdall). The result is a unique place: two neighbouring castles that, side by side, tell six centuries of history, from rugged medieval feudalism to Renaissance refinement, set among the forests and rock formations that make the Mullerthal one of Luxembourg's natural gems.
