Weighing Verdun in Paris-Colmar trip

For me, it would not be worth losing a day and night in Paris for Verdun nor the leisurely first day in lovely Colmar. You won't be missing a thing to skip Verdun.

It all depends on your interest in history. Verdun is a very moving place if you are the least bit interested in the tragic events that took place there.

Will you be driving or taking the train? I think a main purpose or benefit of driving would be to make stops along the way. Might as well be at Verdun. Our Eastern France tour groups visit it that way, on a driving day from Reims to Colmar.

If you're taking trains, then advance reservations for each leg of the trip are a good idea in order to get cheaper tickets (or since places for rail pass travelers are limited on TGV). Fastest connection from Paris to Verdun departs at 8:00 a.m. Evening connections from Verdun to Colmar require 2-3 connections. Without a plan to stop, you can choose a direct TGV from Paris to Colmar, e.g. departing Paris at 10:55 or 12:55.

It's convoluted but to save time and take advantage of the fast TGV train, the plan was to take the train from Paris to Verdun and get there by 9:00 AM, rent a car there for the day, and spend the night in Verdun. Then we would return the car and take the train to Colmar where we would rent a car for the duration of our stay there, then train back to Paris.

What TC said.

I have been to Verdun 3 times and I (almost) never go back to anything. The last time was in early June, 2012 when my husband and I had 2 full days of touring the place, the forts, the museum and the ossuary in a car on our own. I don't know what it is, but there is something about this place where so many fought for so long under such horrendous conditions and so many (hundreds of thousands) lost their lives that touches me more than most anything.

Must sees include the museum and the ossuary, the trench of the bayonets and at least one of the forts. I went for the first time in 1977. It is much easier for sight-seeing now, but much has been overgrown in the last 40 years. It was cold and rainy when we were there in 2012 and from the film of the time, I could begin to understand a little bit of what the soldiers on both sides experienced.

Since you have never been and don't know if you will be back in the area again, I recommend that you go. Europe is not only pretty places and fancy meals.

We are real history lovers, so I am leaning towards going to Verdun. To those who have been, any recommendation of a place to stay?

Thanks

Thanks. We were looking for a more leisurely pace than leaving at 6:00 for a 12-hr day and also trying to avoid renting a car in and driving out of Paris.

I went there last year, and visited the forts of Vaux and Douaumont, the ossuary, and the Citadel, along with the town of Verdun and the surrounding countryside. With the exception of the Citadel, it was all very worthwhile and interesting.

My beef with the Citadel is that you get into a small driverless train, and it trundles you along a kind of "WWI Verdun Experience" of mocked-up scenes with mannequins, videos and audio. If I had known it would be that I wouldn't have gone as I prefer to see historical places with as few added novelties as possible, although that is just my personal preference. Having said that after the little train ride there is a room that showcases genuine artifacts from the battle, which I found very interesting.

You really need a car to see the surrounding forts and other things around Verdun.

As for the town itself, it's quite pleasant (also quite disconcerting at first to see so many pockmarks on the facades, they never got round to filling them in - I suppose they were left intentionally after the battle as a reminder of the intensity of the shelling).

The countryside is very beautiful, and it's a sobering thought to think that a century ago it was a treeless muddy corner of hell on Earth.