First World War tour
 

We have one week in the northern part of France/Belgium and intend to tour the World War 1 sites. Any suggestions for the tour plus best place to stay as a base? We are leaving in a week.

How are you touring? By Car? Depends if you want a rural area or bigger city--if the latter, Amiens would do.

Here's a good website I found with lots of suggestions about where to stay http://www.greatwar.co.uk/trip-info/...ommodation.htm

You may not be near Paris, but I really enjoyed visited the fairly new WWI museum near Meaux, France, which is to the NE of Paris. It was fantastic.

http://www.museedelagrandeguerre.eu/en

We have rented a car and we like more rural areas than cities. I'll make a note of the museum in Meaux. Thank you for your response.

I too enjoyed the Great War museum in Meaux. It attempts to frame the period from the perspective of the ordinary soldiers and citizens. Meaux is a 45-minute train ride from Gare de l'Est. http://www.museedelagrandeguerre.eu/en

We found the sights around Verdun to be very interesting when we toured them last summer. We spent about a day and a half. There are good audio guides and exhibits in two of the forts in the area.

I'm glad to know about the museum in Meaux. I will go the next time I'm in France!

Thank you for your comments.

While in Belgium, Ypres is a great place to base. The In Flanders Field Museum is great. The whole countryside is dotted with Commonwealth War Graves (find the ones in your area by using this tool: http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery.aspx).

Other WWI places of interest in Flanders are:

Bayernwald German Trenches: http://www.greatwar.co.uk/ypres-sali...bayernwald.htm

Hill 62 Museum: http://www.greatwar.co.uk/ypres-sali...tuary-wood.htm

Actually, just check out this site: http://www.greatwar.co.uk/index.htm


I can recommend these guide books as well:

Major and Mrs Holt's Pocket Battlefield Guide to Ypres and Passchendaele: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/184...ND6LPMDRKWBOU7

Major and Mrs.Holt's Battle Map of the Ypres Salient: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/095...BGUDZXQEJQYML2

Major and Mrs Holt's Pocket Battlefield Guide to the Somme 1916/1918: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/184...Z6J7BBSPSZWODQ

Walking the Somme: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ADT5KL6S6RQFNC

kerrylou your tag Austria Belarus is deceptive !!
I am using Amiens and Lille as bases in a week because we want to see Villers Bretonneux and Fromelles. Choose what you want to see then pick a nearby town for exploring eg Flanders in Belgium you could use Ieper and go to Menin Gate (which I highly recommend) , Passchendaele . There are so many sites, cemeteries , memorials you really need to decide what your priorities are .

I took a one day tour from Brugges using Quasimodo tours for the Western Front and was quite happy. I am not usually a 'tour' type of person but they were very knowledgeable and flexible. Ypres, Hill 60, Cemeteries, Menin Gate, etc are all well worth the trip.

Whilst I love Quasimodo tours the op has a car!

Oh my gosh, I just noticed now I had somehow mistakenly tagged Austria Belarus!! Thank you for catching that northie.

Thank you for all the advice. We've just booked a B&B outside of Amiens and are leaving in 6 days so all the information will be most helpful.