Maginot Line Tours

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Scouzer

Scouzer

Lifer
Jun 3, 2001
10,358
5
0
Ok. So my dad and I are going to France from April 11-23. We've found what seems to be a good but pricey all day tour of Normandy. However, I am unable to find any real tours of the remnants of the Maginot Line or WW1 battlefields like the Somme area. Just a day tour.

Does anyone have any experience/suggestions? It needs to be English.
 
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Aquaman

Lifer
Dec 17, 1999
25,054
13
0
Where are you going in France?

Normandy is pretty far from the Maginot line.

Cheers,
Aquaman
 
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flxnimprtmscl

Diamond Member
Jan 30, 2003
7,962
2
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I'd love to get a peek at the Maginot line some day. Stupid stupid idea but pretty cool execution. Make sure to take and post lots of pictures if you get a chance to see it :)
 
Scouzer

Scouzer

Lifer
Jun 3, 2001
10,358
5
0
We're taking a pretty broad tour. We're aiming to go from Frankfurt, then to Strassbourg where we'd like to see Haut Konigsberg & the Maginot Line. From there we are then going to Paris. Spend a night in Paris, then head up to Lille to check the World War 1 battle sites & memorials. Back to Paris, then up to Dieppe (I'm Canadian.). Back to Paris, then we have found a nice all day tour out from Paris to Normandy. Ideally, the bus goes back to Paris, but we'd hop off and stay the night in Caen (or thereabouts). Then the last day we'd rent a car and head down to that Castle St. Michel...then get back to Caen, train to Paris, train to Frankfurt for our return flight.
 
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AndrewR

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
11,157
0
0
Originally posted by: Scouzer
We're taking a pretty broad tour. We're aiming to go from Frankfurt, then to Strassbourg where we'd like to see Haut Konigsberg & the Maginot Line. From there we are then going to Paris. Spend a night in Paris, then head up to Lille to check the World War 1 battle sites & memorials. Back to Paris, then up to Dieppe (I'm Canadian.). Back to Paris, then we have found a nice all day tour out from Paris to Normandy. Ideally, the bus goes back to Paris, but we'd hop off and stay the night in Caen (or thereabouts). Then the last day we'd rent a car and head down to that Castle St. Michel...then get back to Caen, train to Paris, train to Frankfurt for our return flight.
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Both sites in Alsace you mention are worth the visit. I visited the Simserhof artillery fortification, and it was pretty damn cool (cold even, it was Nov!). Anyway, the tour was very interesting but in French. I seem to remember that they did have English tours but infrequently. The tourism office in Strasbourg is excellent, however, and has tons of information on La Ligne Maginot. I'll see if I can find any brochures that I brought back with me. I'm not sure if you can do either of those sites without renting a car though.

You might also want to consider Bitche, which is fairly close to several Maginot sites. It's a large citadel that was a strongpoint during the Franco-Prussian War. Fascinating history, and that tour (it's one of those Walkman tours) is offered in English.

Why keep going back to Paris? If you're not going to spend several days there, you might as well rent a car and travel around the countryside. It's a beautiful country, and the non-Parisians really are friendly. Normandie is terrific -- definitely eat some crepes!
 
Scouzer

Scouzer

Lifer
Jun 3, 2001
10,358
5
0
Well, we are trying to stick to public transport whenever possible. Renting a car in Europe seems to be an extremely risky and undesirable affair. Given how if you dent the car they'll charge you thousands, you got to read ALL of the fine print of anything you sign, etc. Not to mention the traffic.

Very good link btw Aquaman, this is the first time I could find maps to each fort in the area. This will help a lot. Thank you very much.
 
Scouzer

Scouzer

Lifer
Jun 3, 2001
10,358
5
0
Originally posted by: Doggiedog
Is there a dress code there like bring your own white flag?
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They left their white flags for you guys to use in Vietnam.

Stay out of my thread.
 
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AndrewR

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
11,157
0
0
Originally posted by: Scouzer
Well, we are trying to stick to public transport whenever possible. Renting a car in Europe seems to be an extremely risky and undesirable affair. Given how if you dent the car they'll charge you thousands, you got to read ALL of the fine print of anything you sign, etc. Not to mention the traffic.

Very good link btw Aquaman, this is the first time I could find maps to each fort in the area. This will help a lot. Thank you very much.
Click to expand...

My wife and I rented a car in Dijon back in 2001 and didn't have any trouble at all. We just stuck with an American company (went from Avis, Budget and Enterprise were there, too). Seriously, there's no better way to see the countryside -- you'll be extremely limited if you attempt to stick with buses. The Maginot Line sites are fairly remote from what I remember reading.

You may want to find a good bookstore and look for the green Michelin guides for Alsace-Lorraine and Normandie. They are worth every penny.
 
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imported_alp

Senior member
Aug 24, 2004
301
0
0
go to hackenburg, it's the biggest fort there is. it's not in normandy, it's near metz in lorraine but it is the best/biggest fort. i went round with the german tour (last of the day) which was also quite funny (guide: the germans took over the fort in 1940, germans: embarassed looks :p).

for the somme, try the museums at peronne and albert, near amiens. i think there's stuff at arras and amiens itself too. for actual trench stuff, there's verdun and the surrounding area, which is also not far from metz. there is a very good museum thing there too, in the remains of an old gestapo prison from ww2 or something.

EDIT: I'm english and I didn't understand much of the german on the hackenburg tour, but it was still good. there are also french ones and maybe english (i'm not sure). the verdun stuff is english, at least partly.
 
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