While traveling, there is always the question, where do I sleep? By sleeping at places from locals, the question is becoming even more tricky, who should I ask and who will accept me to come to their place?
Where is it located?
Luxembourg is a small landlocked country in Western Europe, which shares borders with Germany, France and Belgium. Luxembourg is also the name of the capital. They have three national languages, German, French and Luxembourgish.
It is the richest country in the world, when measured by GDP/Capita.
Where to sleep?
When thinking of a rich country like Luxembourg and that in Europe, most people are for sure booking a hotel, hostel or an apartment to stay. Here it is not about that. Also in Luxembourg, like in almost every other country, there are people using Couchsurfing and are willing to host you. Click on this link to read everything about Couchsurfing
With less than 650.000 people living in Luxembourg, you are not able to compare it to other bigger countries with bigger numbers of users. Also most people, who are using this app will be found in the capital, or around there.
There are other options then Luxembourg, you can for example stay in Trier, which is the oldest city in Germany. From Trier it is not an issue reaching Luxembourg and seeing it for a daily trip. When you are just interested in the capital city, then that would be very doable. When having a car, then you can explore the whole country, while staying in Trier or surrounding cities in France or Belgium.
Is it easy to find a host in Luxembourg?
It really depends on how you are going to try finding a host, when just sending copy paste messages, then it will end up being hard for sure, due to not many members.
When I was visiting Luxembourg with my friend, we had issues finding a host at the beginning, not many people were willing to, also due to the ongoing pandemic. At the end, two people were accepting us to stay.
The one host was located in Differdingen, really near the French border and the other was located more into the direction of the capital, but also near the French border.
The first host was a man originally from Luxembourg, speaking all three national languages and the other one was a girl from Egypt, who was studying and moving around places.
Luxembourg is a great country and couchsurfing is also working decently. I believe that during the high season, which would be summer, then it is going to be harder. For more travelers there are the same amount of hosts, or even less. For this country it is in general not bad, to look at locations around, because it is a great country with much to explore, when interested.
What did we do with the hosts?
The first host:
The local Luxembourger was taking us on a tour through the whole country, during which we saw many places and heard the history about it. We went from castle to castle and learned a lot about the history. We went all the way to the north of the country and visited places like Schengen and Vianden, which were great to see. Also going to the city of Luxembourg and learning about many things. Everything to visit in general was closed, but seeing those things from the outside was also fine.
When we were at his place, we were having a nice place to sleep while being really comfortable. We were sharing dinner together and had great talks. He was a bit older than us and we in general had different hobbies, besides traveling, but still were getting along well.
The second host:
The girl from Egypt was living in a dorm, with other students. We were sleeping on the ground with almost no space to move around. Even though the sleeping situation wasn’t comfortable and my friend was snoring a lot, we were still able to enjoy the time.
With her we went to some nice places, to enjoy the great weather and also went to a huge lage, in which swimming was perfect. We were all in a similar age with more similar interests. We were meeting friends and due to coming to Luxembourg by car, it was easy to get around.
How was the experience?
The experience was great and that of both hosts. Learning from the one everything necessary about the history and the country itself and from the other, how life is in Luxembourg for younger people was the perfect combination.
Being in the country by car, made everything more easy and flexible. It was not necessary to find a host, but was preferred. We were seeing more than we thought there would be and enjoyed the time a lot. It was just a short trip, with being there four days, but worth it.
Summary
Finding a host in a small country is never really easy, because the options are limited. Show interest, make some effort and write a nice request, to boost the chances of finding a host, otherwise you are going to struggle, especially during high season. When looking in surrounding cities it could make it easier.
Luxembourg is a country with more to offer, then expected, so it is 100% worth it to check it out. From city life, over being in nature and history, there is something for everyone.
For everyone who went already, I would love to hear how the experience was for you!
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