3 Best Sights in Echternach, Echternach and Little Switzerland

On a hill just behind the basilica, a church stands on the remains of a Roman castellum and shows, in its spare architecture, signs of Merovingian, Romanesque, and Gothic influence. Hour-long private tours (€60) of it can be booked at the tourism office. 

In the Middle Ages, Echternach was known throughout the Western world for the exquisite illumination (miniature illustrations) that accompanied the hand-copied texts produced by the Benedictine abbey's scriptorium. The original abbey is long gone, but a quadrant of abbey buildings from the 18th century remains. The books displayed here are painstakingly executed reproductions of the originals, down to their gem-studded covers. 

Echternach's cobbled place du Marché, in the old town center, offers a charming mix of Gothic arcades and restored medieval houses, festooned with wrought-iron signs and sculpted drain spouts. The arched and turreted 13th-century Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall) is its centerpiece.