Help planning trip for geneology and battlefields in northern France and Belgium

Verdun is a very moving place to visit for everybody even if not a fan of battlefields. It is not that far from Luxembourg and this small city could be a rest. Stop for your wife. Moreover it would connect well with Bastogne. Bastogne is also a nice shopping center and there are also very nice walking tours in.the area.
From there you can go to Waterloo which is a poched area of Brussels and then continue to Bruges and Ypres.
How much time can you take?

I think it should take as long as you have time for, given the other half of the equation also wants to have an enjoyable time. You couldn't have a better start than in Alsace, which has WW II battle sites, great wine, gorgeous scenery and the best eats in France.

Colmar was the site of the battle of the Colmar Pocket. It is not widely remembered in the states because 1) It took place at the same time as the Battle of the Bulge and 2) It was a largely French operation, although US units played an important roll. It is where Audie Murphy won his CMH. The lovely village of Kaysersberg has a memorial plaque to US Armored division that liberated the town. Also interesting is the long list of names of residents killed during the war including those during the town's liberation, but only one name for fighting against the German invasion. The greatest number is those who died on the Ost Front after they were drafted into the German Army. There is a small Colmar Pocket museum in Turckheim which is good for an hour. Turckheim is a mega-cute town worth a walk around. Bennwihr is totally rebuilt as it was completely flattened in the battle.

East of Strasbourg there is a German fortress that is being restored by local hobby groups. It was a Maginot Line precursor built in the late 1800's to protect the approaches to the city from the French before WW I.

One money saving hint might be to rent the car at Basel airport, which is actually in France, and drop it off in France after visiting Bastogne and continue to Amsterdam by train. International drop off fees are a killer.

Bastogne is in Belgium not France! I would remit the car in Namur (Belgium) (if you have some time, do visit its city centre) and from its station, you can easily reach Brussels, Bruges or Amsterdam by train.

Lack of time makes it difficult to make an itinerary to your liking. I give my idea what it can be coming from Bad Dürkheim. The list is certainly too long, so you have to make a selection.

Bad Dürkheim

Thionville - nearby WW2 Fort Hackenberg / Maginot Line
Verdun
WW1 Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial
Reims - WW2 Museum of the Surrender
Belleau Woods
Meaux - Musée de la Grande Guerre
Péronne and Thiepval / Somme - Historial de la Grande Guerre and Thiepval Visitor Centre

Arras for it´s nice main squares

Vimy north of Arras - WW1 Canadian National Memorial and Musée Notre-Dame de Lorette.
Ypres and surroundings

Bruges

Brussels – Royal Military Museum (WW1 section closed for renovation, no idea if it´s done yet) and Waterloo
Bastogne and surroundings
Luxembourg city – American Cemetery Memorial with Patton´s grave site.

Amsterdam

I have put "Meaux" on the list as it explains to my opinion very well the combined political and military tensions between France and Germany leading to WW1, however seen through french eyes.

You can spend at each place 1 or 2 hours, however for Verdun, Ypres and Bastogne you can think about a day.

More info:http://www.greatwar.co.uk/article/visit-1ww-battlefields.htm

Thank you all! Very helpful. I probably have a week or thereabout once I leave Zurich, so this unfortunately will be a rush. Any suggestions how long to spend in each place -- bearing in mind I don't want to overdo it for my wife's sake!

You're hungry and you're at the buffet line and everything looks wonderful, but you know you can only stuff so much in your stomach. I'd say 2 days in Alsace (your wife will thank you), 2 days chasing down ancestry leaves in Annweiler and Bad Durckheim (a pretty nice town from what I hear), a day in Bastogne, then on to A'dam and there goes the week.
@ florenceintoscana. Yes, everybody knows Bastogne is in Belgium, but it is not too far out of the way to drive to Lille to drop off the car and catch a fast train to Amsterdam. Maybe you could even run up to Ypres, but it is just one more side dish on a very full plate. Lets face it. There is a whole summer's worth of stuff to see in the area.

Sam is absolutely correct about dropping the car in the same country where you rent it to avoid large drop fees. Just reiterating.

You will have to make some inconvenient decisions I guess, just one week will be anyway a balancing act. I agree too about Sam´s idea picking up the car at Basel Airport and dropping off in Lille. Good luck with planning!

Btw just an idea. Isn´t it possible that you can do things independant of each other, and you both can do things at your own likings for a few days?

Hi,

Like you I've been over, plastered, the varied sites on WW 1 in northern France. It's best to have a rental car for this purpose of tracking down war sites, military cemeteries, monuments, etc. Quite conceivable you can spend all day doing this, I've done it. Wil has provided a good list of places north of Paris. There is still much more to track down in the north, depending on how you would prioritize these places.