Heavy Ion physics in ATLAS and CMS

We will present the capabilities of the ATLAS and CMS experiments to explore the heavy-ion physics programme offered by the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The collisions of lead nuclei at energies $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}$ = 5.5 TeV, will probe quark and gluon matter at unprecedented values of energy density. The prime goal of this research is to study the fundamental theory of the strong interaction (QCD) in extreme conditions of temperature, density and low parton momentum fraction. The current paper will give an overview of the potential of ATLAS and CMS to carry out a set of representative Pb-Pb measurements. These include ``bulk'' observables, like charged hadron multiplicity, low $p_{\rm T}$ inclusive hadron identified spectra and elliptic flow -- which provide information on the collective properties of the system; as well as perturbative processes, such as quarkonia, heavy-quarks, jets, $\gamma$-jet, and high $p_{\rm T}$ hadrons --- which yield ``tomographic'' information of the hottest and densest phases of the reaction.