Packages to the Grand Duchy in Luxembourg : The scenic country is popular with cyclists and hikers. Hostels make it easy and inexpensive.

During 1992, you can visit the tiny Grand Duchy of Luxembourg while taking advantage of economical packages offered by the Youth Hostel Assn. of Luxembourg. New for this year are seven-day, do-it-yourself packages for cyclists that include three days of guided touring in the grape-growing Moselle Valley area.

Luxembourg, which is tucked between Belgium, France and Germany, is about 50 miles long and 35 miles wide. About one-third of the country is covered in forests. The north is hilly and has beautiful scenery. The south has rolling farmlands, woods and vineyards.

The country is a popular destination for cyclists and hikers because it has a network of 12 youth hostels that offer economical accommodations within easy reach of each other.

The Luxembourg city youth hostel, at 2 Rue du Fort Olisy (telephone locally 26889), has extended its hours so that guests can come and go 24 hours a day. The rate for “senior” guests (26 and older) who are members of affiliated national hostelry associations is about $12 per night for a bed in a bunk room. Guests under 26 are charged about $10.

Through the Luxembourg Youth Hostel Assn., independent travelers can purchase a “Stopover in Luxembourg City” package that includes two nights’ accommodations, two breakfasts and dinners, bed sheet hire, and information and vouchers for a city bus tour and a tourist train. The package must be booked one week before arrival. Price is about $70.

The cycling tour, which combines time on your own and with a guide, includes seven nights of youth hostel accommodations, all meals, seven days of cycle rental, maps, information material and the services of a guide for three days. The first night is spent in Luxembourg city; for the next three days, travelers are free to explore.

There is an extended network of cycling paths, with the hostels between 10 and 20 miles of each other. On the fourth night, cyclists join the guide in Grevenmacher, a small town in the Moselle Valley, to start a three-day tour visiting vineyards and wine cellars, and across the border to Trier, Germany, to see Roman ruins.

Cost of the tour is about $335, and the starting dates are June 7, July 5 and Aug. 16 and 30. You must book at least two weeks in advance.

Cyclists who prefer to go without a guide can buy seven-night “go-as-you-please” packages that include accommodations, meals, bike rentals (21-speeds), tube-repair kits, maps and information material for about $250. You can start any day of the week between now and Oct. 31. Hikers who want to travel independently are offered seven-night packages with all meals, information and maps for about $168. This program is available any day of the week from now through Oct. 31. You must book a week in advance.

Independent travelers who don’t want to prearrange a package will find that, this year, hostels outside of Luxembourg city will charge youth hostel members 26 and older about $10 per bed, per night. Younger visitors are charged about $9. To arrange any of the packages mentioned above, contact Centrale Des Auberges De Jeunesse Luxembourgeoises, 18 Place D’Armes, B.P. 364, L-2013 Luxembourg, telephone from U.S. 011-352-225-588, fax 011-352-463-987. For information, on Luxembourg, contact the Luxembourg Tourist Office, 801 2nd Ave., New York 10017, (212) 370-9850.