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Day Trip To Belleau Woods WWI Battlefield

Posted by (Cary, North Caro, USA) on

I need advice, input, or suggestions on the best way to take a half day "day trip" from Paris to the WWI battlefield site of Belleau Woods located north of Paris along the Marne River.

So, far my research has revealed that there are Minbus and private car "day trips" but they last a minimum of 12 hours in duration, which includes the round-trip travel time to the popular WWI battlefields sites.

However, I do not wish to spend 12 hours during my limited 4 day time frame while pqarticipating in the "11 Day Paris and Best France Tour" in early May 2009.

Plus, I only wish to visit the Belleau Woods WWI battlefield site, because I am a Former U.S.Marine and Belleau Woods is one of the major "Hallowed ground" sites in the history of the U.S. Marine Corps worthy of a personal pilgrimage.

Therefore, I am asking for help in making the best decision on how to accomplish this pilgrimage in the time frame I have specified.

I Thank you all in advance....

Ron

Posted by
10344 posts

Rent a car, the drive from Paris to Château-Thierry is about one hour if you have GPS or detailed directions. Use Google Earth or similar software to get a precise fix on your destination. Only a rental car will meet your timing requirements, you can get to Château-Thierry by train but then you won't have a way of getting to the scene of fighting or the cemetery. If you use Google Earth to get exact coordinates on the destinations you want and then input then into your GPS, it will save you hours of frustration by talking you to exactly where you want to go. You want to eliminate the distractions of getting there so you can focus on what it means to you. If you self-research the battle and what happened where, you don't need a guide.Semper fi!

Posted by
3 posts

Ron,

My husband and I visited the Belleau Woods sites in 2007. Outside of the organized trips, I think a rental car is probably a necessity. We took a train to the Disneyland Paris train station and picked up a Hertz rental car at the station in order to avoid Paris traffic. It was a very easy drive on the autoroute from there. Check viamichelin or something similar, but I believe it was only an hour's drive or so.

The sites themselves are relatively scattered and are in rural locations. In addition to the battlefield site, which is very peaceful and quiet, there is a nearby memorial (which we found purely by accident from roadside signs), and the central American cemetary, which is somewhat adjacent, but still a short drive, from the battlefield. British, Canadian, and German cemetaries are nearby. Also nearby is another, and if I recall correctly, even larger American cemetary. Check the American Battlefield Monuments website for more specific information. We self-navigated with little information for interpretation and still found it very rewarding. Even with what I assume is dwindling visitation, the sites are beautifully maintained. If I recall correctly,there is a bit of information in the Frommers guidebook.

If you should decide to stay overnight, we stayed in Chateau Thierry at the Best Western. It was a wonderful choice and quite close to the are you will be interested in.

Good luck.

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