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Belgium / France / Luxembourg World War Trip - August
Posted on 7/26/26 at 2:36 pm
Posted on 7/26/26 at 2:36 pm
Heading to Belgium to take a trip in August. I have mapped out a ton of stuff for world war history (both 1 and 2). We have housing and a rental car but open to anything folks have done that were memorable. My goal is to balance history + incredible scenery + food + culture. We (wife- no pics + another couple) like to not pack the itinerary but do like to explore a lot.
Housing wise we are in:
-La Roche en Ardenne Belgium: 3 nights
-Metz France: 3 nights
-Bruges Belgium: 2 nights
We plan on seeing the Bastogne museum + the foxholes. That is the only ticket we have bought so far. I actually used Claude and have put together a very ambitious itinerary. My thought is when the others ask me for things I have a list by day so I don’t spent time searching.
That said, for anyone who has been to any of these areas, was there something you did that left a truly lasting memory? Maybe it was a meal. It could have been a view. Possibly a pub to meet new friends. Even an emotional walk through history.
Open to ideas and happy to share the robust itinerary if anyone is planning a similar trip.
ETA- here are the history sites I have on my original list:
WWI and WWII Sites — Belgium, Luxembourg & France | August 2025
Belgium — Ardennes
Bastogne War Museum — the definitive Battle of the Bulge museum, following four real characters through the December 1944 encirclement
Mardasson Memorial — star-shaped monument to 76,890 American soldiers killed, wounded, or missing in the Battle of the Bulge
Bois Jacques Foxholes, Foy — the actual foxholes dug by Easy Company, 101st Airborne (Band of Brothers) in December 1944
Luxembourg
Luxembourg American Cemetery, Hamm — General Patton buried here among 5,000 soldiers he commanded
France — Verdun (WWI + WWII)
Mémorial de Verdun — the world's premier museum on the 300-day Battle of Verdun, 1916
Douaumont Ossuary — 130,000 unidentified French and German soldiers; bones visible through alcove windows
Fort Douaumont — the fortress at the heart of the Verdun battle, underground tunnels still intact
France — Metz
Fort Queuleu — Nazi internment and torture facility during the German occupation, now a national memorial
Lorraine American Cemetery, Saint-Avold — largest American WWII cemetery in Europe, 10,489 graves
France — Reims
Musée de la Reddition — the actual room where Germany surrendered unconditionally to Eisenhower on May 7, 1945; maps still on the walls
France — Northern Front
Carrière Wellington, Arras — 24,000 Allied soldiers hidden underground before the April 1917 surprise attack; New Zealand tunnelers
Vimy Ridge Canadian National Memorial — where 100,000 Canadians attacked as a unified national force for the first time, April 1917
Blockhaus d'Éperlecques — cathedral-sized Nazi V-2 rocket bunker built to bomb London, bombed by the RAF before it could launch
Dunkirk Museum + Malo-les-Bains Beach — Operation Dynamo, 338,226 Allied troops evacuated in 1940; standing on the actual evacuation beach
Housing wise we are in:
-La Roche en Ardenne Belgium: 3 nights
-Metz France: 3 nights
-Bruges Belgium: 2 nights
We plan on seeing the Bastogne museum + the foxholes. That is the only ticket we have bought so far. I actually used Claude and have put together a very ambitious itinerary. My thought is when the others ask me for things I have a list by day so I don’t spent time searching.
That said, for anyone who has been to any of these areas, was there something you did that left a truly lasting memory? Maybe it was a meal. It could have been a view. Possibly a pub to meet new friends. Even an emotional walk through history.
Open to ideas and happy to share the robust itinerary if anyone is planning a similar trip.
ETA- here are the history sites I have on my original list:
WWI and WWII Sites — Belgium, Luxembourg & France | August 2025
Belgium — Ardennes
Bastogne War Museum — the definitive Battle of the Bulge museum, following four real characters through the December 1944 encirclement
Mardasson Memorial — star-shaped monument to 76,890 American soldiers killed, wounded, or missing in the Battle of the Bulge
Bois Jacques Foxholes, Foy — the actual foxholes dug by Easy Company, 101st Airborne (Band of Brothers) in December 1944
Luxembourg
Luxembourg American Cemetery, Hamm — General Patton buried here among 5,000 soldiers he commanded
France — Verdun (WWI + WWII)
Mémorial de Verdun — the world's premier museum on the 300-day Battle of Verdun, 1916
Douaumont Ossuary — 130,000 unidentified French and German soldiers; bones visible through alcove windows
Fort Douaumont — the fortress at the heart of the Verdun battle, underground tunnels still intact
France — Metz
Fort Queuleu — Nazi internment and torture facility during the German occupation, now a national memorial
Lorraine American Cemetery, Saint-Avold — largest American WWII cemetery in Europe, 10,489 graves
France — Reims
Musée de la Reddition — the actual room where Germany surrendered unconditionally to Eisenhower on May 7, 1945; maps still on the walls
France — Northern Front
Carrière Wellington, Arras — 24,000 Allied soldiers hidden underground before the April 1917 surprise attack; New Zealand tunnelers
Vimy Ridge Canadian National Memorial — where 100,000 Canadians attacked as a unified national force for the first time, April 1917
Blockhaus d'Éperlecques — cathedral-sized Nazi V-2 rocket bunker built to bomb London, bombed by the RAF before it could launch
Dunkirk Museum + Malo-les-Bains Beach — Operation Dynamo, 338,226 Allied troops evacuated in 1940; standing on the actual evacuation beach
This post was edited on 7/27/26 at 7:30 pm
10
Posted on 7/26/26 at 3:14 pm to CaptainJ47
quote:Driving distance to Ardenne Memorial and Verdun as well.
Metz France:
This post was edited on 7/27/26 at 11:47 am
Posted on 7/26/26 at 3:18 pm to CaptainJ47
I just spent 12 days on Belgium but not anywhere you are going. You will be close to Dinant which is a pretty little town built on a river up against a big cliff with a church at the base and a Citadel at the top. Maredsous Abbey is close to Dinant and open to the public. They have a Cafe serving good food and the beer they brew. I have been to Bruges before and prepare yourself for the tourist hordes. I prefer Ghent which is very beautiful and has tourists but not as many as Bruges. Antwerp is my favorite Belgian city.
Posted on 7/26/26 at 3:36 pm to Zappas Stache
Thank you. We are actually thinking about Dinant for lunch day 1 between the Brussels airport and La Roche. We are also looking at a stop at the Jardins d'Annevoie. Also considering a boat ride on the Meuse. We want to keep it light that first day but maximize what is on the drive since we land at 745a and can’t check in until 3p.
Posted on 7/26/26 at 4:01 pm to CaptainJ47
Normandy.
Base in Bayeux.
It is a quaint and scenic town just six miles from Gold Beach, the middle of the landing beaches. It is the only town around there that was not bombed during the war, so the Old Town and cathedral are still intact.
There are a number of good restaurants there.
Base in Bayeux.
It is a quaint and scenic town just six miles from Gold Beach, the middle of the landing beaches. It is the only town around there that was not bombed during the war, so the Old Town and cathedral are still intact.
There are a number of good restaurants there.
Posted on 7/26/26 at 5:34 pm to geauxpurple
Wish we could make it to Normandy. We will do that on another trip. It is simply too far for us to drive there and back. Appreciate it and will mark down the recommended base. Thank you.
Posted on 7/26/26 at 6:57 pm to CaptainJ47
J
Take good notes. I will be looking to do this in 2028.
Posted on 7/26/26 at 7:36 pm to CaptainJ47
The Bastogne museum has a cool room where you can recreate being a civilian under bombardment, but that paled in comparison to being in Jack's Wood (from BoB) in December, where you understood the weather, visibility, etc. Extremely eerie. If you're ever in Paris during the winter, make the drive, it's surreal.
I spent five or six months in Belgium and used it to explore WWI stuff. You have to hit Ypres/Passchendaele. There's not much in terms of museums, but it set the standard in telling you the full scale of slaughter involved. I believed one of the notes was that if you were to stack all the bodies killed in Ypres, every meter of the town would be covered 5m deep. There is Hill 62, and Tyne Cot. At Tyne Cot (I'm pretty sure) there a not a hill, but a lump of dirt, which tens of thousands were killed trying to take 2-3 machine gun nests. Near any of these towns, look at the farmland, and see how it is still crater pocked even as they're pulling potatoes out of it in the current day. Look for the "harvest of iron."
Fort Douamont is required (Verdun.) There are multiple memorials nearby, including the trench of the long knives, and stuff you'll see on the drive.
If you can make the American Cemetery at Meuse-Argonne, do it. It's beautiful, and well, well cared for, for essentially being in the middle of nowhere.
A word of warning about gas stations. If you're under 1/2 a tank and see a gas station, just get gas. When you're in the countryside near where a lot of this stuff is, there may be one gas station within 25 miles. And even the unattended pumps may be closed. I ran into this in the Champagne region, I think while leaving Meuse-Argonne on my way back to Paris.
Be prepared to mule back kilos of chocolate from Belgium. I prefer Leonidas, but boxes of them make awesome gifts. I ended up bringing back 8 kilos in my carry on my last trip back.
I spent five or six months in Belgium and used it to explore WWI stuff. You have to hit Ypres/Passchendaele. There's not much in terms of museums, but it set the standard in telling you the full scale of slaughter involved. I believed one of the notes was that if you were to stack all the bodies killed in Ypres, every meter of the town would be covered 5m deep. There is Hill 62, and Tyne Cot. At Tyne Cot (I'm pretty sure) there a not a hill, but a lump of dirt, which tens of thousands were killed trying to take 2-3 machine gun nests. Near any of these towns, look at the farmland, and see how it is still crater pocked even as they're pulling potatoes out of it in the current day. Look for the "harvest of iron."
Fort Douamont is required (Verdun.) There are multiple memorials nearby, including the trench of the long knives, and stuff you'll see on the drive.
If you can make the American Cemetery at Meuse-Argonne, do it. It's beautiful, and well, well cared for, for essentially being in the middle of nowhere.
A word of warning about gas stations. If you're under 1/2 a tank and see a gas station, just get gas. When you're in the countryside near where a lot of this stuff is, there may be one gas station within 25 miles. And even the unattended pumps may be closed. I ran into this in the Champagne region, I think while leaving Meuse-Argonne on my way back to Paris.
Be prepared to mule back kilos of chocolate from Belgium. I prefer Leonidas, but boxes of them make awesome gifts. I ended up bringing back 8 kilos in my carry on my last trip back.
Posted on 7/26/26 at 8:30 pm to 2 Jugs
I have my full itinerary. Next time I see you I can show it to you. I will make notes after it so you know what we did.
Posted on 7/26/26 at 8:37 pm to LemmyLives
Thanks for the intel.
We are going to Dunkirk so I suspect a trip to Ypres will be pretty easy. We will also be in Verdun and I know we have several cemeteries on the agenda.
Thanks for the tips on gas and chocolate. I will load up on both. Appreciate the intel.
We are going to Dunkirk so I suspect a trip to Ypres will be pretty easy. We will also be in Verdun and I know we have several cemeteries on the agenda.
Thanks for the tips on gas and chocolate. I will load up on both. Appreciate the intel.
Posted on 7/26/26 at 11:27 pm to CaptainJ47
I didn't know it at the time, but there was a live fire exercise near Verdun on Armistice day in 2017 (100th anniversary) . I couldn't hear it until I got out of my rental car at the trench of the five knives (all are fake, and were broken off decades ago, and replaced) and heard MG34s. I spent three hours trying to figure out where it was. Never found it, I didn't have a topo map. I knew where it was, mostly, but I couldn't figure out how to get there in my car.
The American Cemeteries make you realize there are hundreds of thousands of families in Europe that have a level of respect for us that is next level. Immaculate. It's an Arlington National Cemetery level of OCD from foreigners in Belgium, France, and Italy for US cemeteries. I think you may have just told me my retirement plan without intending it.
The American Cemeteries make you realize there are hundreds of thousands of families in Europe that have a level of respect for us that is next level. Immaculate. It's an Arlington National Cemetery level of OCD from foreigners in Belgium, France, and Italy for US cemeteries. I think you may have just told me my retirement plan without intending it.
Posted on 7/27/26 at 7:06 am to CaptainJ47
Posted on 7/27/26 at 7:24 am to CaptainJ47
We lived in Luxembourg for a few years. Its a small but really beautiful city. Weekdays get pretty busy, ~300k people commute in for work but then on weekends maybe 100-150k people actually live there.
- Casemates. A fortification/tunnel network around the city center. Used in the 1600s for defense.
- 2nd highest per capita in michelin restaurants, lots of good food. We liked Ciche, not Michelin by any means but started by a Syrian refugee. Really good Mediterranean food.
- ~100 castles within a 2 hour drive. Vianden is in a nice river side town and well kept. Burg Eltz is also close, you've probably seen pictures online of that one.
- WW2 sites also within an hour or two. Patton's grave is in lux city, was walking distance from my apartment.
- Mosel river nearby, lots of great wine
- Trier is a nice college town, roman ruins in the city center. Not worth a trip on its own but 30 minutes away
- Casemates. A fortification/tunnel network around the city center. Used in the 1600s for defense.
- 2nd highest per capita in michelin restaurants, lots of good food. We liked Ciche, not Michelin by any means but started by a Syrian refugee. Really good Mediterranean food.
- ~100 castles within a 2 hour drive. Vianden is in a nice river side town and well kept. Burg Eltz is also close, you've probably seen pictures online of that one.
- WW2 sites also within an hour or two. Patton's grave is in lux city, was walking distance from my apartment.
- Mosel river nearby, lots of great wine
- Trier is a nice college town, roman ruins in the city center. Not worth a trip on its own but 30 minutes away
Posted on 7/27/26 at 10:41 am to CaptainJ47
When you're in Bruges, you can go to Ypres for the WWI battlefields, museum and Menin Gate Ceremony. I assume the Somme sights are too far though and had to be cut, which is a shame.
For Verdun, I might base out of Reims/champagne country. Not really sure what Metz has to offer from a tourist perspective, but Reims has other stuff. You could probably make it to the Somme sights from there as well. It would be a lot of time in the car but there's really not much you can do with the geographical footprint of those wars. So 3 nights in Reims with one day dedicated to driving to Verdun and one day dedicated to driving to Albert/Arras.
Caveat - I've never been to these places but was thinking about a similar trip.
Posted on 7/27/26 at 11:47 am to bostitch
quote:I spent half a day there earlier this month. I really would like to go back and spend a bit of time. I drove a lot through the old town that was in the valley. Really cool.
We lived in Luxembourg for a few years. Its a small but really beautiful city. Weekdays get pretty busy, ~300k people commute in for work but then on weekends maybe 100-150k people actually live there.
Posted on 7/27/26 at 5:49 pm to CaptainJ47
This sounds awesome, you're going to have a great time. One thing I would probably do is go to Waterloo. It's between Brussels and Bagstone, so it's on the way.
Posted on 7/28/26 at 12:09 pm to CaptainJ47
I went France, Belgium, and Netherlands last year and stopped in Bruges based on the boards feedback and still one of my favorite European cities. Stayed at the Grand hotel and did a chocolate/beer day tour on Viator and loved it, will be back
Posted on 7/28/26 at 1:27 pm to CaptainJ47
The Sandweiler cemetery is about a mile from the American one in Luxembourg. It's where the Germans are buried. Very different vibe, much less frequented.
Posted on 7/28/26 at 5:37 pm to Kraut Dawg
Fascinating. Thank you.
Posted on 7/29/26 at 5:32 pm to CaptainJ47
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