What to see in Bastogne ?

Bastogne carries a precise and heavy history: this is where American troops held firm against the German Ardennes offensive in December 1944. That resistance marked the town deeply, and the Mardasson Memorial spells it out bluntly from the heights above. The town remains modest, almost rural, but it bears this memory seriously rather than as spectacle.

Two days will let you explore Bastogne and its surroundings without rushing. Autumn and early winter give the Ardennes landscape a coherence with the place's history, though roads can be treacherous. Come by car; public transport doesn't serve this region well. Don't confine yourself to the Bastogne War Museum in the city centre: the scattered memorial sites in neighbouring villages often tell you more.