Living in Luxembourg: Focus on the Town of Esch-sur-Alzette

Moving to Esch-sur-Alzette

With 36,000 inhabitants, Esch-sur-Alzette is the second largest city in Luxembourg (114,000 inhabitants). It is a dynamic city offering many advantages. What kind of educational infrastructure? Education is a priority of the city's policy. The maisons-relais are the perfect illustration of this, providing continuous education for children aged 0 to 12.The people of Esch benefit from several primary and secondary schools to guarantee quality learning, as well as a high school to support students throughout their schooling before they leave for higher education. A school bus system has been put in place to allow students to be completely independent and to support parents in the education of their children.

What can you visit in Esch-sur-Alzette?

The city of Esch offers a wide range of activities and many places to visit to enliven the social life of its residents and attract tourists from all over the world. Esch is known above all for its lush parks and its exceptional flower gardens. It is the ideal place to relax at the weekend and play with your family in a warm and friendly atmosphere.

Its Catholic religious past offers a grandiose spectacle, with various churches of incredible beauty. The Saint-Joseph church is a must-see monument in the neo-Gothic architectural style, which can be visited in the centre of Esch. The districts of the old town are very lively, offering many places for shopping and bars to enjoy a drink with friends. For culture and music lovers, a theatre and a conservatory keep the locals’ daily lives animated. Esch-sur-Alzette is an interesting alternative for combining urban life and nature while being close to the Luxembourg capital. Indeed, the town is very well served and allows you to quickly connect with Luxembourg City, for business or to spend there a few weekends per month.

Luxembourg real estate: Prices in Esch-sur-Alzette

Moving to Esch to take advantage of its bucolic and green surroundings is a choice that many Luxembourgers and border residents have made. A town with an attractive job market and educational and leisure facilities, which offers many advantages over the neighbouring municipalities. Property prices in Esch are relatively attractive. For example, you can expect to pay €6,478 per square metre for a built flat and just over €7,101 for a VEFA (Ventes en Etat Futur d'Achèvement) flat. If you prefer to rent your flat in Esch-sur-Alzette, estimate an average price per square meter of 33.17 euros.

History of Esch-sur-Alzette

Located in the south of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette is an industrial area. Rich in iron, it was for a long time a major centre of the Grand Duchy's steel industry. Its heavy mining activity also gave it the name of Terres Rouges (Red Lands) because of the colour of the soil in the south and southwest of Luxembourg. A thousand-year-old history that can be grasped in every corner of the city. A past that intertwined with that of its border neighbours and which today offers it an incomparable cultural wealth. The city was destroyed many times, first in 1677, then a second time during the French Revolution, which did not allow it to develop economically and to find sufficient stability to count in the Luxembourg landscape.

It was not until the 19th century that the city's influence increased, earning it the name of “Iron Metropolis”, due to its rapid expansion around this underground economic resource. From a small village until the end of the 1830s, Esch became the capital of the canton and continued to expand. The 20th century marked the golden years for Esch-sur-Alzette, which attracted workers from all over Europe and grew from 600 to more than 30,000 inhabitants in 1930. An eclectic population which, even today, can be observed with 30% foreigners spread over an area of 14 km². After the 1970s, the town gradually declined with the closure, one after the other, of ore extraction plants. The only thing left from this period are a few electric furnaces, which now employ only 20% of the working population.