So let's start with the crown jewel. You have arrived. Only the best is good enough. So, if money is now object in Luxembourg, be it the Grand Duchy or the City of Luxembourg, which is the most sought after address? I'm going to drag this one out for a while. I just read on another blog that somebody said that the Grund is an 'upmarket area' in Luxembourg city. I don't want really be a know-it-all smart-ass, but let me tell you this much: It isn't. I love the Grund. But I wouldn't want to live there and chances are you wouldn't want your kids to go to school there, because it has a rather bad reputation. But anyway, I said I would start with Belair, so I will.
Belair is the crème de la crème of Luxembourg City (and no, I don't live there, so trust my objectivity). During the years many of the City's neighbourhoods have contended for this title, but they have never managed to keep it. When I arrived here, a looooong time ago, Weimershof, claimed the title because of property prices. The average housing price was higher here than in any other Luxembourg neighbourhood, they claimed. But in a small place like Luxembourg, statistical weaknesses come into play. Weimershof is a very small neighbourhood with very few properties for sale at any given point in time (most of which with unrealistic price expectations), so prices tend to be inflated. Belair has many more apartments so tends to be more liquid. Advertised prices in Belair tend to be closer to transacted prices. So take my word for it, if you want the best address in Luxembourg, you want to live in Belair.
However. There are always pros and cons. If you're in it for the long-haul, Belair might not be the best option for you. Belair has one of the highest, if not THE highest, proportion of renters/tenants. In plain English, most people living in Belair do not actually own their home. This is not necessarily a bad thing in itself as not everybody buys into the whole Luxembourg ownership thing, but it also means that Belair tends to be inhabited by people who, all of sudden, won't inhabit it anymore. So you'll find yourself trying to explain to your daughter who's all excited to see her new best friend again after the summer holidays, that said best friend just moved back to Sweden as her Dad's expat contract came to its end. It's the reality of things in Belair, I'm afraid.
But it is pretty, darn pretty. As long as you manage to avoid living along one of the main roads coming through the neighbourhood, such as Avenue du X Septembre, Val Sainte-Croix, Avenue Guillaume, Boulevard Joseph II, Avenue Grande Duchesse Charlotte or to a lesser extent, Avenue Gaston Diderich, you should find yourself living in a very pretty, quiet street within easy walking distance of the City Centre and a number of nice parks.
Belair has a large number of large, terraced houses, but very few of them are for sale at any given point in time. It seems to be a place of old money and renters, 'nobody' seems to ever want to let go of a house in Belair and even the most ridiculously expensive house on the market in Belair at the moment are far from being the nicest houses in the area. Apartments, however, are much easier to find. There are a number of new developments on the way in Belair, but a lot of them seem to be around the areas you should avoid because of traffic.
In terms of restaurants, Belair doesn't have much to offer. It has a tired, fake Italian called Belcanto in Rue Marguerite Thomas-Clement, which might have the odd Portuguese waiter pretending to speak Italian, but in general is a typical Luxembourgish outfit cooking overdone pasta. However, it has a great terrace on a quiet road and merits a visit even if it's just to have a drink. There is also a Fischer's bakery, the worst industrial sort there is in Luxembourg, just on the corner between Gaston Diderich and Rue Theodore Eberhard. Ci Siamo is another fake Italian, run by Luxembourgers, which offers very mediocre Italian style food, at a price suited to Belair at an address set at the beginning of Avenue Gaston Diderich. A good address, though, even if not cheap, is the Restaurant Thailand, also on Gaston Diderich, owned by the same people as Thai Celadon in Rue du Nord in the old town. Takajo is a reasonably good sushi place, albeit at prices you would expect in the Belair location. Restaurant Scheiss in Val Sainte Croix does on most occasions live up to it's name (hint: look up Scheiss on the German-English version of Google translate). Cafe Belair, which serves an original choice of home-made hamburgers and a special selection of wines and whisky, deserves a visit, though, even if the atmosphere is somewhat cramped.
The school in Belair has a good reputation and is located in a calm area with good facilities surrounding it. If you're not put off by the 'expat' situation described above, there are definitely worse places to send your children in Luxembourg.
If you're dying to live in Belair, but can't find somewhere nice enough, you might want to consider some of the bordering areas of Hollerich, around Rue Marie Adelaide, Rue de Nassau, Rue Adolphe which are very pretty too. There is also an excellent value for money restaurant to be found at the corner of Rue Marie-Adelaide and Route d'Esch, the Fin Gourmand.
