Low Countries Touring 2024

[BWP]

Hi all,

I am planning to visit Europe (my first time) in September of this year and am looking for suggestions for "places to go and see" in the area of Netherlands-Belgium-France-Western Germany (the first three in particular). Specifically, places easily accessible by rail, as I won't have a car. I have a couple of weeks of solo adventuring time available to fill in.

By "go and see" I don't mean the usual tourist attractions, which by-and-large don't float my boat. I'm more interested in places of military historical significance -- museums and the like. On the "possibles" list already are Normandy (Bayeaux in particular) and the Ardennes. I will be spending a few days in Arnhem with a few other like-minded individuals so that is pretty much sorted. I also will be with some friends in Germany (near the Dutch border) so that's covered too. I'm not sure that I'll be visiting Paris at all but am willing to listen to arguments!

Also of course any modelling shops or other places of related interest would be good to know. I wouldn't mind picking up some Heller kits, at least, since they're otherwise a bit hard to get hold of around these parts (the new boxed stuff I mean, old Heller kits are mostly pretty easy to get on the 2nd-hand market). (I already have the Aviation Megastore in Amsterdam pencilled in.)

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

[AndrewR]

I have not been myself, but have heard that the Musee Dunkerque 1940 - Operation Dynamo, is a pretty good small museum.

[PaulBradley]

If you are going to Bayeux, then the D-Day beaches are a must - Arromanches is close by with an excellent museum and large chunks of Mulberry Harbour on the beach, while Caen also has a great museum.

[BWP]

Thank you for the suggestions!

[rob_van_riel]

Time to promote some of the local stuff i guess
Since you have the Aviation Magastore on your hitlist, I'll assume rail access means public transport and/or walking distance, since there no rail anywhere near it..

You could do a lot worse than spending some time at these two museums:
https://www.historamawereld.nl/
https://www.bevrijdendevleugels.nl/
They're on the same site, between Best and Son, just North of Eindhoven. Bevrijdende Vleugels has a decent collection of real material, and rather obviously has a focus on operation Market Garden (since this area was crawling with paratroopers 80 years ago in September).
Historama has a wider historic focus, but a very different approach. Most of their exhibit is made up of extremely high qualty scale models. You could spend hours there just gawking at the models, and browsing thorugh the library.
Historama is free, and you can't miss them if you're visiting Bevrijdende Vleugels, since they take the place of the museum gift shop and ticket counter for the latter.
The site is 4.5km from the station in Best; walking distance if you feel like it, or you could probably rent a bike at the station. I think it can also be reached by bus from either Best or Eindhoven station. If you time it right, I could even give you a lift, since I life under 5 minutes walk from the station in Best.

Talkng about timing, if you're looking for historic context, yours is perfect for the area around here. There's always quite a lot going on in September relating to Market Garden around here, and with the 80th anniversary, I expect it to be bigger than usual this year.

I feel I should also mention our LHS, Flash Aviation in Eindhoven: https://www.flashie.nl/
They manage to pack about 30% of what Aviation Magastore offers in about 5% of the space, so it can be a bit of a squeeze to move between the books and models. The carry Heller, both brand spanking new and old stuff, so you should be able to get some shopping done there.

I'm certain your co-conspirators will have mentioned Wenting, the LHS in Arnhem.
There are also numerous small museums in the Arnhem-Nijmegen area, again focussing on Market Garden, but I can't give you adresses without further digging.

[rob_van_riel]

Time to promote some of the local stuff i guess

Some other quasy-random stuff that might interest you:

With a focus on WWI, you might consider visiting Verdun or Ieper.

I would suggest Dunkerque, but despite the significance, if I recall correctly there's not much there. Much the same goes for Waterloo; the visitor center is OK, but fairly small and I wouldn't invest much time in getting there.

Bastonge used to have a great museum, but it's literally been decades since I last was there, and a lot can change or be lost in that span of time. Check before you decide to go.

Back in The Netherlands, Maastricht is well worth a visit and has certainly seen it's share of fighting. The same goes for Naarden.

You might also consider hopping accross the border to Xanten in Germany, for the Roman stuff there.

[BWP]

Thanks very much for the suggestions, Rob.

Isn't the Aviation Megastore in or very near Amsterdam airport (which is where I expect to be flying in)? My thinking (currently) is arrive in Amsterdam, spend a day or two checking stuff out, before heading to Arnhem. I can Uber (or whatever) anywhere too far to comfortably walk.

The timing is very deliberate, I'll be participating in a wargaming tournament being held in Arnhem 12-15 Sep. Part of the tournament arrangement is a battlefield tour (which so far as I can gather is Arnhem only). I don't know that I'll be able to stop over in Eindhoven, although it's certainly possible I guess, probably on or about the 16th, after which I move on to Belgium for the next leg of the trip. Would be nice to meet in person (and a good LHS is certainly an attraction too)!

It's funny you should mention Xanten, I have a friend who lives there and I will be visiting him and seeing the local sights.

[rob_van_riel]

Isn't the Aviation Megastore in or very near Amsterdam airport (which is where I expect to be flying in)? My thinking (currently) is arrive in Amsterdam, spend a day or two checking stuff out, before heading to Arnhem. I can Uber (or whatever) anywhere too far to comfortably walk.

"Near" is always a relative term. Google estimates a 77 minute walk from the terminal to the shop, or about half an hour by public transport. The link below should give you all you need to plan.
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Molenwe ... ?entry=ttu

The timing is very deliberate, I'll be participating in a wargaming tournament being held in Arnhem 12-15 Sep. Part of the tournament arrangement is a battlefield tour (which so far as I can gather is Arnhem only). I don't know that I'll be able to stop over in Eindhoven, although it's certainly possible I guess, probably on or about the 16th, after which I move on to Belgium for the next leg of the trip. Would be nice to meet in person (and a good LHS is certainly an attraction too)!

Mock battles are always good
Since you mention the 16th, a Monday, I should note the shop I mentioned has normal opening hours on Thursdag through Saturday, but is by apointment only on Monday through Wednesday. Both museums are also closed on Mondays.
In general, Mondays are really bad days to show up anywhere interesting without checking in advance in The Netherlands. Boring shops like supermarkets are typically open, but anything consumer-facing and non-essential is usually closed. I guess we're all too busy recovering from the weekend to make Mondays commecially viable
For tourists, that unfortunately implies Mondays are mostly useless for anything other than enjoying the scenery/architecture.

It's funny you should mention Xanten, I have a friend who lives there and I will be visiting him and seeing the local sights.

You probably already have this info then: https://apx.lvr.de/en/willkommen/servic ... eiten.html
Xanten is quite well known, at least among those within a few hundred kilometers of it who have even the slightest interest in history; it was an obvious suggestion to make.

[BWP]

Ah hmm that info about Mondays is useful to know. I may rejigger my thinking in that case. Are Belgium and France similarly keen on their long weekends?

The good thing is that other than the dates of the tournament being fixed I am totally free to organise my travelling however I please.

I might go to Brussels on the 16th, spend some time there and come back to Eindhoven on the 19th. Or something like that.

[rob_van_riel]

Ah hmm that info about Mondays is useful to know. I may rejigger my thinking in that case. Are Belgium and France similarly keen on their long weekends?

It's not so much a "long weekend" many countries are attached to, but a five day working week. The least profitable day in the Monday-Friday range gets ditched for the extremly profitable Saturday.
Belgium and (if memory serves) Germany are very similar to The Netherlands in this, although Belgium is a bit more chaotic; it's a bit of a toss up whether a given shop/museum will be closed Monday, Tuesday, or both (rarely both, but it does happen with places that are open on both weekend days).

I realise it's a drag, but if you're going to in any given place for only a short time, and opening hours are somehow relevant, you'll have to check in advance to avoid disappointments, especially on the 'slow' days of the week and/or when dealing with smaller museums/shops. Tiny budgets result in staff shortages, which in turn result in weird hours

[BWP]

Duly noted. I greatly appreciate the heads-up!