Battlefields & Memorials Guides

11 guides

Belgium's strongest battlefield ground splits between two regions. Bastogne anchors the Ardennes, where the Battle of the Bulge opened on 16 December 1944 and was fought out over six weeks of snow and cold; above the town the Mardasson Memorial remembers the American soldiers who fought there, with the Bastogne War Museum beside it, while Bastogne Barracks holds the vehicle halls and the 'Nuts!' cellar of a working barracks.

Waterloo draws the other kind of crowd: farmland south of Brussels, the Lion's Mound and the Memorial 1815 museum built beneath it, the 1912 panorama, Hougoumont farm with its walled courtyard and chapel, plus the Wellington Museum and Napoleon's last headquarters at the Ferme du Caillou. Allow a full day if you want the ground, the mound and the farm on one outing.

What catches visitors out is distance and booking. Sites range from Willebroek and Mechelen to the far Ardennes, so grouping them by region pays off, and Fort Breendonk asks you to reserve a slot in advance. Half a day suits Bastogne Barracks on its own.