MaineGG

After our stay in Paris in September, we will head north for a few days. For a long time, I've wanted to see the cathedrals in Beauvais, Amiens and Laon. And, I'd like to visit some WW1 sites. Here's what I've come up with so far as a potential itinerary:

Day 1 - Early a.m. train to Beauvais - pick up rental car
Visit cathedral
Drive to Amiens
Visit cathedral and town
Overnight in Amiens (or Albert?)

Day 2 - WW1 sites in and near Albert
Drive to Arras for dinner and overnight

Day 3 - Drive to Laon (via Péronne for Historial, or not?)
Visit cathedral and town
Drive to Compiègne - visit Armistice site
Drive to CDG - turn in car - Overnight Ibis CDG

There have been some wonderful trip reports that have in part inspired these plans and been very helpful. Now I would really appreciate some help filling in some details.

Beauvais - Other than the cathedral, any suggestions of anything else not to be missed?

Amiens - Other than the cathedral, the St.-Leu quartier looks interesting. Anything else?
Also, any recommendations for lunch and/or dinner in Amiens?

Albert and area - We'll visit the Albert 1916 Museum, Thiepval and Beaumont-Hamel. Any other WW1 sites to recommend? Also may possibly overnight in Albert instead of Amiens. Since Albert is only a short distance from Amiens, would it make sense to head there late in the day to be better positioned for an early start the next day?

Arras - We will probably arrive late afternoon and leave the following morning early. Would like to see the beautiful main square, especially illuminated in the evening. Also would love to have restaurant recommendations.

Péronne - Wondering whether to go there for the Historial museum. We will be visiting the WW1 museum in Meaux as a daytrip from Paris, so including a visit to the Historial might not be the best use of our time on this day.

Laon - Other than the cathedral, what else should we see? Restaurant recommendation?

This planning has been hard for me as we usually are much more relaxed about it. But, because we only have a few days to accomplish what I'd love to have a week or more for, I feel the need to be very organized in advance. Looking forward to some comments and suggestions. Thanks!

FrenchMystiqueTours

Hey Maine GG - I'm heading out for the evening but I bet I can help you with those parts of your itinerary around Laon and Compiègne. If you haven't got them saved I can post my trip reports about exploring those areas with lots of info about things in close proximity to both Laon and Compiègne. Let me know and I'll come back and post when I have time.

StuDudley

Arras actually has two arcaded town square.

Lots to do in Laon. It's a "perched" village and you take a tram to get to the village. It's very enjoyable to just wander around in the village. Quite picturesque.

Visit the Palace & Hotel de Ville in Compiegne. Lots of architecturally-interesting buildings also.

We enjoyed St Quentin and Chateau Pierrefonds.

Didn't visit Amiens

We enjoyed our dinners at Auberge de la Bonne Idee in St Jean anx Bois, and Restaurant Alain Bloit in Rethondes - but the latter may have closed.

Stu Dudley

northie

I did a trip report which took in Amiens and Lille.
Amiens - stayed there 3 days , cathedral is superb, restaurants -Bistrot du Boucher, Tante Jeanne (pancakes which are specialty of Picardy ) , also I had a good meal at our hotel MercureAmiens Cathedrale .
Walked around Somme River area - lovely parks . Can do a tour of the floating gardens (hortillonages ) it's in French and long so we just enjoyed walking in some of the area.
The cathedral is superb - there's a light show in summer to show the colours of the original sodden carvings.
Area around the river has lots of bars and cafes to have a drink or sit outside - St Leu is run down but still worth walking around .
We visited Villers Bretonneux which has a special place in Australian history as does Amiens - school called Victoria school and streets named after places in our state . Recommend Beaumont hamel Newfoundland memorial - learnt so much about Newfoundland in WW1 - great Young Canadian guides . All an easy drive from Amiens .

MaineGG

First, I want to apologize for abandoning this thread without thanking all of you for your great responses. Real life interfered with travel planning, but now I'm back on track and we are leaving next weekend.

FMT - I'd love your input about Day 3. We plan to leave Arras early, driving first to the Somme American Memorial near Bony, then to Laon. Would you recommend parking near the train station and taking the funicular to the top or driving up? We will visit the cathedral, walk around the old town and have lunch (any recommendations?). Then, we need to figure out a nice drive between Laon and the Clairière de l'Armistice in Compiègne. I have again looked at your great photo report and think leaving Laon I'd like to see the Art Deco churches in Monthenault and Martigny. Then, depending on when we have finished our visit at the Clarière, perhaps drive by Pierrefonds and Senlis on the way back to the airport. Is this crazy? What do you think?

Stu Dudley - Thanks for mentioning the funicular in Laon. It sounds like a good idea. What did you enjoy in St.-Quentin? We probably won't have time to visit the château in Compiègne, but maybe another year. Like FMT, you are another generous sharer and I have certainly made good use of your advice in the past.

northie - And thank you so much for the recommendations for Amiens, especially the restaurants. I am always interested in trying local specialties. We will spend the night in Amiens to be able to spend more time there and enjoy the light show at the cathedral.

Like I said at the beginning, I know we cannot do justice to this area in three days, but we will try to make the most of our limited time. I'd love to have anyone else's ideas to help us do that.

MaineGG

I'm bringing this back up in the hope that FMT will see it and comment on my latest plan for Day 3 from Arras to Laon to Compiègne to CDG. (I hope I'm not being too greedy here, but I do so value his advice that has worked out so well for us in the past.)

kerouac

I didn't see quite the same things, but I've been through the area a couple times over the past year: http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com...ies-pas-calais

I even made a special report just for the South African memorial: http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com...-bois-delville

FrenchMystiqueTours

Hi MaineGG. I saw this the other day but didn't have time to reply. First, use viamichelin.com to estimate all your drive times and see how much of you day will be spent driving, realizing the drive times are non-stop. I would park up on the hill in Laon in the old town. I'm not a restaurant expert and I'm sure google and restaurant review websites will help with that but I ate at a nice place called Le Péché Mignon. The tourist office is right next to the cathedral so stop there to get your tourist map. There are loads of signs all over town in front of all the notable monuments and they are in French and English. They installed these a few years ago and they are found all over that region. I would only pay a visit to the church in Martigny, not the other one.

If you've got to be at CDG at the end of the day and you want to make all the stops you've listed I don't know how much time that leaves for a nice drive between Laon and Compiègne. I'd suggest after you visit the church in Martigny that you take a direct route to Compiègne and then I'd prioritize Senlis over Pierrefonds if you have at least an hour you can spare in Senlis. If you can't spare time to stroll around Senlis then I'd do a drive by of Pierrefonds and skip Senlis. If you did have time for a slow drive between Martigny and Compiègne there aren't a whole lot of scenic roads in that area but south of Laon if you look at your Michelin map you'll see many designated scenic roads. If time allows I would take the D967 to the Chemin des Dames (D18) then the D14 to the D925 bringing you towards Soissons. Coming out of there take the D91 to the D81 and that brings you to the Clarière de l'Armistice.

Anyway, you've got plenty to chose from so I hope you have a great time MaineGG.

laverendrye

When you are in Arras, you must visit the nearby Canadian National Memorial at Vimy Ridge which I think is the most beautiful and evocative of all the war memorials on the Western Front (and I have visited most of them). It's only a short distance outside the town.

http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/pages/vimyridge.aspx

I also second the suggestion made earlier to visit the Newfoundland Memorial at Beaumont-Hamel, to commemorate the Newfoundland Regiment which was virtually destroyed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, July 1, 1916, There is a very good interpretation centre and you can walk in the original Allied and German trenches.

MaineGG

kerouac - Thanks again for your moving reports. The memorial at Notre Dame de Lorette is stunning with the names of the 580,000 dead inscribed there. Your reports on Amiens and Arras also inspired my planning for this trip.

laverendrye - We will visit Vimy Ridge and the Newfoundland Memorial. Thanks for the link.

FMT - You've given me much to think about. I'm sure we will have to make some hard choices that day and I really appreciate your guidance. We'll spend whatever time necessary in Laon and figure out the rest of the day as it goes by.

FrenchMystiqueTours

I've seen most of the war memorials in the Somme but the one WWI monument that probably no one has seen, because it's not near the Somme or anywhere else for that matter, is Les Fantômes by Paul Landowski. I've never seen any war memorial like it and think it's the most powerful one I've ever seen, but that's my opinion. You can do google images to check it out or see it in this photo report, which covers Laon, Chemin des Dames, Septmonts, Martigny etc: http://tinyurl.com/cqst5xz

If it interests you you might be able to squeeze it in but that's up to you. It's not far off from the lovely village of Septmonts, which is also worth a visit.

pariswat

Hi

I didn't like the Memorial of Peronne.
Too basic - if you are into WW1, you've seen it all, so it doesn't add anything.

Amiens, the 'floating gardens' make a very nice excursion (by boat).

http://www.hortillonnages-amiens.fr/

(Hortillonage is a nice word btw that I relearnt today).