Bike rental options for a day trip out of Paris to Verdun? Should I just pack a bike along for my whole vacation? This Summer, I plan on spending a week in France and for July 9th I hope to spend half a day at Verdun, living out of Paris. Taking into account the lack of English-speaking tours in the area and my adequate knowledge of the Battle of Verdun (had to read about it extensively for a course last semester) I've decided to tour the place myself and, not wanting to rent a car, I'm hoping to bike around the major sites. The length of the ride is not an issue. The problem is where should I get my bike? I'm trying (without success) to find a Verdun bike rental shop. Is it possible (or for that matter legal) to take a bike I rent in Paris on the train to Verdun? My trip is going to be two weeks long, so packing a bike along from home might be impractical. What should I do?
Posted by
Tucson
4183 posts
I was curious about your question because we saw NO bikes on the roads around the Verdun battlefield last June. Of course, the weather was miserable and that may have been why. I Googled bicycle rental verdun france and came up with this link to a list of bicycling facilities in the area on a Meuse tourist site. If you map it, Haudainville or Chanteraine are closest to the battlefields. You might check other small towns in the area for potential bike rentals or contact the Verdun tourist information directly and ask them. Now, last June we had a car and we saw the major monuments including the Memorial, the Ossuary, Fort de Vaux and Fort de Douaumont. Including stopping and looking at parts of the battlefield, it took us a full day and a half to explore the area. You will need to be very specific about what you see if you intend to bike it in a half-day. All of the historic sites I listed are worth interior visits and those take time. The distances are short, for a car, but the terrain is hilly and it will be more of a challenge on a bike.