"Is it worth to take a trip to Arnhem ?" Topic

Fellow Wargamers, I might be visiting Amsterdam at some point since my brother is there for some time.
Is it worth to take a 1h trip to Arnhem ? Has anyone been there and would comment on this ?

thanks
Francisco

Yes. Best if you have a car, as the Hartenstein Museum is a little bit out of town. Wandering around the bridge area is fun and really while you're there drive down to Nijmegen.

I must admit that I have not been there, but with a quick looking around I found the website for Hartenstein airborne museum:

en.airbornemuseum.nl

And they apparently have an info centre for the battle at the northern end of the Arnhem bridge:

en.infocentrum-slagomarnhem.nl

Yes, I had been there some years ago. The visit of the Market Garden area it's a must for a WWII gamer or enthusiast.

The airborne museum at the Hartenstein Hotel, the area of Frost resistence around the northern approach of the bridge, now entitled to the Lt. Col. Frost.
But as said you must have a car. There is a lot to visit ad see all around: the dropping zones, the american airborne museum near Nijmegen, an really a lot of monuments, larger or smaller, pointing the country. Example the monument to the polish airborne in the Driel village, or the monument at the point of the 82nd assault crossing at Nijmegen.

Think to take at least three days for a good visit of the area.

Cheers,

Sandro
taly

Went there last year. Having a car is a must really (to be able to see as much as possible). A wander round Oosterbeek and the perimeter is also worth doing. The Hartenstein (as noted) is a great museum but there are others. There was one in Arnhem itself near the bridge but also one out of town which had a wonderful collection of arms and uniforms (sorry can't remember the name). Also, if you can afford it or have it already then take the Then and Now books with you.

I suggest you start your drive in Eindhoven and follow the route all the way to Oosterbek. You will still get the feel for the type of road You could pull off here and there)and distances involved. Try to take a "then and now " book with you too.

Hope you enjoy the trip

martin

I walked from Arnhem to Oosterbeck – it was only an hour or so – two at the most. Well worth a visit and there are lots of nice restaurants and hotels in the region.

Another yes! Being on the bridge just makes everything come alive, I highly recommend it. Just be sure not to get the enchiladas in the local "Mexican" restaurant. Yuck!

Yes, oh, and Yes.

I have been there many times and the hartenstein Museum should be your starting point. They will guide you for your trip to the bridge and the ither museums, following john frost way.

I can only advise to do la gleize and bastonge also…

Greetings

I'd actually suggest catching the train there and exploring by bike. Much easier to see things as you're going, especially if you start following the route into town for British units and want to get a feel for what they encountered. Even the ride to Nijmegen is pretty easy and you can treat yourself to a meal in the square when you get there.

Rudi: did the locals ask you if you knew anything about the missing bikes?

If you go and have the time, it's also interesting to cross over to the south bank of the river and visit Driel. Not capturing the ferry there while it was still working was a major error.

Standing on the bridge is interesting, but it should be noted that it is not the bridge that was there during the battle; that bridge was destroyed by US bombers in October 1944.

The whole area is well worth a visit, as are the museums. What impressed me was how much the British and US airborne units achieved and how over optimistic the plan for the land advance was.

As with Rudi, I would also recommend visiting the Wacht am Rhein battlefields.

Jurgen

I have been there and would say "yes" you should go.

Think to take at least three days for a good visit of the area.

That is what the British thought back in 1944 and they stayed for eight days.

So any trip there should be at least as long.

OP seems to only have one hour – which I think would be more frustrating than enjoyable.

If you're doing this kind of trip I assume you need a whole day for each significant area – you don't want to feel rushed – and no 'encumbrances' to moan about 'another' museum or funny old bridge. They could perhaps be sent off to shop but that could end up costing more than the whole trip! If you're blessed with another half and even kids who are genuinely interested it would be different of course – but suspect few of us are.

I think the OP meant is it worth the 1 hour trip from Amsterdam.

I haven't been to Arnhem for a few years, but yes, it was very worthwhile. I cycled it, which was a good compromise between shanks pony (a bit slow) and driving around and missing a load of stuff. The airborne route between Oosterbeek and Arnhem is well worth doing (as above, it is only a few of miles so easily walkable).

There is now a gigantic bridge downstream from Arnhem which would have been very handy in 1944, and there are still fortifications on the Ijssel crossings east of Arnhem.

Nijmegen is also only a few miles south and it is well worth travelling over The Island to get there.

Ah – yes I see that must be it. Few would think of going anywhere just for one hour after all.

Apparently the Bridge is worth seeing- I believe when my mate went, he calculated at 1:300 it would be the entire 6ft table

+1 on the above comments. Definitely worth a visit and at least an overnight stay! Even though the bridge is a replacement it does give you an impression of the size and length of the original. You will also notice that there are no buildings close up to the bridge any more and all of the buildings around the new traffic circle are new.

If you have a car, try and go onto Overloon Museum. It has tons of American tanks and equipment and some good British stuff (including the only surviving WW2 Challenger).

If you only have a short time and are staying in central Amsterdam, then consider the train. Traffic in Holland can be pretty heavy. I don't know about the buses but there are almost certainly ones from the station to the Hartenstein Museum.

Yes I meant driving for an hour..

I appreciate all comments, I'll follow the recommendations, including to avoid the mexican food :).

Thanks for the multiple answers and very useful information, I'll try to do as much as what you guys recommended.

cheers
Francisco

Thanks guys… it was a lightning trip and we tried to see as much as possible in the one day we got to spend there… all the comments helped us optimize and we got a pretty good visit starting in the Airb. Museum…

cheers
Francisco

For the benefit of others….If you don't have a car you can get a train to Oosterbeek and you'll be in the middle of a combat area as soon as you get off the train. The 'Cauldron' area can be pretty thoroughly explored on foot over a just a day or two. You could stay at the Dreyeroord Hotel – a significant location in the battle. My wife and I played a couple of Bolt Action games in the Dreyeroord garden which was a bit ghoulish, but also kind of cool. There's an excellent circular service bus route which carries you round a great deal of the battle area and it is possible to hire horses which is a great way to get around the drop zones.

You might want to take a copy of this book with you:

link

I've never been, but I find books like this useful!

Waddy's guide is highly recommended; you might also want Rob Kershaw's 'It Never Snows in September'.

Purely for Arnhem, Martin Middlebrooks 'Arnhem 1944' is a bit more pocket sized than Kershaws mighty tome (or maybe there is a paperback version now?).

I think there is, but I'm pretty sure there's a kindle version too. The great strength of Middlebrook's book is the raft of well-chosen and skilfully edited eye-witness material – I'd also recommend Buckingham's Arnhem book which I think might just be called 'Arnhem'.
Incidentally if you are going for a visit and want to stay in/near town there's a lot to be said for the NH Rijn hotel. Virtually every Arnhem author (including me – twice) has written that the Rhine Pavilion was destroyed in the battle. This is not so so, it just got repaired and had a hotel stuck onto the side of it. If you get one of the rooms above the dining room you'll be staying in the Rhine Pavilion and you'll have great views up and down the river as well as being in the thick of a combat area.
I have thought about organising a wargame/battlefield visit event there if anyone's interested?

The Overloon museum is good, but the museum at Oosterbeek is way too expensive for what it offers. You'd better spend that money on the petrol and food to go to Soest and spend time in the new army museum there.

And in Arnhem, take a day to do one of the guided tours of the bloody 1940 Grebbeberg battlefield, near Ede, 20km or so west of Arnhem.

Cheers.

True. The Oosterbeek museum is pricey and not that great; at least it's better than the utter dog's dinner at Bannockburn…which is also rather pricey now that I come to think of it.

Yes you should go as you are relatively close. The Cemetery is most humbling. If you have time either go down the corridor to Nijmegan or out to the drop zones. Gives a real idea of what they had to achieve and did.

Might want to try hiring a taxi for a morning or afternoon to get around the drop/landing zones and routes into Oosterbeek/Arnhem, but you'd certainly want to have an efficient route planned out.

I had an all expenses trip from the US Army about 20 years ago, in the Nijmagen volks march. Got to see a lot of cool stuff, and as we where indeed walking had the time to look it over as we went past. however, after 25 miles each day i did not have the extra energy to stagger over to any of the museums. I could barely make it to the beer tent.

I hope to go back someday, but certainly would not walk it all again, much to old for that.

Owen

Yup. I've done my share of distance walking/marching. Happy to have done it, don''t want to do it again.
However if I had to I'd rather do it in flat and temperate Holland than cold, mountainous and midge-infested Scotland.

Lots of Pretty Women at the march. I would think rather fewer of them wandering about scotlands back country

Scenery (and the countryside too) tends to be one of the better aspects of Scotland's back country, but it's not enough compensation for the cold the rain and the midges.