The best road cycling routes around Forêt Domaniale du Mort-Homme

Verdun is a very beautiful city that has been very important since the Middle Ages. It's lovely to walk through the place and admire it.

The museum offers a good insight into soldiers' lives during World War I. Using an augmented reality helmet, visitors can travel through the underground citadel. Admission is €16 per person (as of October 2025). However, for background information, it is recommended to visit the Verdun Memorial beforehand.

This is absolutely amazing!

On June 23, during the lightning German advance, the assault waves crossed Fleury and reached the Froidterre fortification. Along the way, they encountered fierce pockets of resistance. On the southern slope of the Ravin des Vignes, 400 Poilus (French infantrymen) dug in a vaulted gallery, buried 12 meters underground, recognizable from afar by its four ventilation shafts. In the stifling, overcrowded June days, the survivors, wounded or not, struggled to breathe, watching for the moment when they might be buried, gassed, or burned alive by flamethrowers. Their salvation came on June 23, when the 114th Battalion of Alpine Chasseurs heroically cleared the entrances, bayonets fixed.

The Meuse at Verdun plays a crucial role in both the landscape and the history of the region. Cutting deeply through the hilly terrain, it has provided a natural defensive advantage—something that became painfully clear during the Battle of Verdun in 1916, one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the First World War. In addition to its strategic importance, the Meuse also has a more peaceful face: it flows peacefully along the banks of the city of Verdun, connecting the past with the present in a landscape that breathes history.

This impressive American WWI memorial was dedicated in 1937 to commemorate the victory of the American First Army during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive (26 September – 11 November 1918). The 54-metre-high Doric granite column, designed by John Russell Pope, is topped by a statue symbolising liberty. The monument stands on the hill of Montfaucon, where a medieval monastery once stood and where the Americans achieved a strategic victory in 1918.

Here, a newly constructed, small wooden tower offers a view of a branch of the Meuse River flowing along its natural bed. There are also tables and benches for a rest.

The Ossuary of Douaumont is an impressive memorial that holds the remains of more than 130,000 unknown French and German soldiers who died during the Battle of Verdun (1916). The bones are visible through small windows in the base – a confronting reminder of the horrors of war. In front of the ossuary is the Nécropole nationale de Douaumont, the largest French military cemetery of the First World War, with 16,142 graves, including a Muslim and Jewish plot. The complex was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023.