Dieulouard: Holiday apartments and holiday homes

A 17-kilometre circular hike through the Esch Valley begins in Dieulouard and leads to Griscourt and Villers-en-Haye. Anyone wishing to rent a holiday apartment in Dieulouard can plan the town as a holiday destination.

Nature and trails

Dieulouard is part of the Lorraine Regional Nature Park. Hikers and cyclists have more than 30 kilometres of signposted trails at their disposal here. The GR5, which connects the North Sea with the Mediterranean, and the 64.6-kilometre Nancy–Metz hiking trail also run through the area. Dieulouard is also a stage on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela.

The Esch Valley is designated both as a Natura 2000 site and as an Espace naturel sensible, is about 40 kilometres long and lies in Petite Suisse Lorraine. An educational trail and an ornithological observation station have been established along the Voie bleue in the Val de Moselle Espace naturel sensible near Dieulouard. In the Dieulouard Espace naturel sensible, walkers can use a surfaced mineral path around the Étang du Spitz.

After quarrying ended, the former gravel pits of Dieulouard developed into a diverse natural ecosystem with waterside trees and shrubs, willow thickets, reed beds, hedges and meadows. The Voie Bleue reaches Dieulouard via the RD10 and then continues along the embankment between the Moselle and the parallel Moselle lateral canal.

History and religious buildings

The fortified Château de Dieulouard was built around the year 1000 to protect the inhabitants of a new village from attackers. In the 14th century, the Château de Dieulouard had become a large fortress with a 100-metre-long, straight façade facing east.

The Église Saint-Sébastien is a Gothic church dating from 1504, built above a 12th-century crypt. The crypt contains restored statues of Joan of Arc and Jean de Dieulouard alongside the statue of Notre-Dame-des-Grottes from the early Middle Ages. The metal casings of two bombs that struck the Église Saint-Sébastien in 1918 are still attached to pillars inside the church.

The historic townscape also includes a medieval garden with aromatic, vegetable, useful and medicinal plants, as well as the entrance gate of the former monastery. This gate is a Classical opening in the Corinthian order, probably dating from 1720. Notre Dame des Airs is a 17-metre-high square tower topped by a three-metre-high cast-iron statue of the Virgin Mary.

Visits

The grounds of Notre Dame des Airs can be visited; guided tours are available for groups on request. For groups of at least 17 people, guided tours of the Église Saint-Sébastien are offered from March to November by prior reservation.

More local pages

Igney, Cirey-sur-Vezouze, Franconville, Goviller, Conflans-en-Jarnisy, Giriviller, Saint-Maurice-Aux-Forges, Doncourt-Lès-Conflans

To the higher-level travel overview: Meurthe-Et-Moselle.