"Top 5 Napoleonic Battlefields to Visit?" Topic

Which battlefields do you recommend visiting?

With mention of best dining and drinking establishments nearby :3

Trafalgar – it's been preserved beautifully.

I would recommend 4 of the ones I've been to:
Austerlitz – this isn't easy to get to, but it's pristine
Waterloo – easy to get to, epic
Bussaco – occasionally you step onto a battlefield and immediately understand it in a way you couldn't by reading about it; Bussaco is one of those battlefields
Salamanca – another one not really close to much, but it's great, pristine, and the town of Salamanca is a great uni town to hang out in

Borodino. I think it's impossible to understand the terrain without seeing it first-hand (even with the increased trees cutting down sight lines).

Waterloo. Big new museum. The best eatery is right on the corner, opposite the Gordon monument.

Ligny. A fine museum. Places to eat in nearby Fleurus or Sombreffe.

Aspern-Essling/Wagram. Just across the Danube from Vienna. Eating. Vienna!

Borodino. Don't miss the "panorama"(cyclorama)of the battle in Moscow.

Ciudad Rodrigo/Badajoz. Evocative. Plenty of places to eat.

Jena, Auerstadt, Teugn Hausen, Aspern-Essling/Wagram.

Jena has a bunch of great restaurants. Regensburg has a lot of great restauants if visiting Teugn Hausen which is not far away. Eckmuhl is also not far away.

New Orleans
Fort Meigs
Queenston Heights
Lake Erie (Put-in-Bay)
Mississinewa
River Raisin (okay, that is six)

Yep, War of 1812 sites, but part of the overall Napoleonic Wars, yes?

Aspern-Essling is pretty much paved over by suburban sprawl. We had devil of a time trying to find the Granary, which was well hidden by apartment buildings.

1. Austerlitz (best preserved)
2. Waterloo
3. Jena & Auerstadt
4. the various battlefields that comprise the Ulm Campaign
5. Durrenstein (surrounded by vineyards)

I concur with Der Alte Fritz that Aspern-Essling is lost, but Wagram is still featureless farmland and is worth a bicycle tour. Plus you're right there in Vienna with the excellent Austrian Military Museum to hand.

Some of the 1814 battlefields haven't changed much, and are a day trip from Paris.

The one on your tabletop?

Oporto – great city to visit and you can easily comprehend the action of crossing the Douro. Then go and drink port.

Buçaco – no book I've ever seen quite prepares you for this one. To me it's not a hill but a mountain and the idea of throwing Napoleonic battalions up it in attack changed my comprehension of the warfare of the period. Epic.

Waterloo as it's tiny and in entire contrast to the previous battlefield it's a shock as it is so small and the carnage must have been truly horrific.

Trafalgar – I swear I saw a pale ghostly shape of the Santissma Trinidad on the horizon. : )

Rivoli. When I visited the battlefield in 1995, virtually the whole area (apart from the expected new roads etc) was as it was when Napoleon defeated the Austrians there in 1797. It is an excellent battlefield to walk and the area is very scenic, plus it has the bonus of being not that far away from Lake Garda and the brilliant 1796 battlefields of Castiglione and Arcole. Well worth a visit.

I can only comment on the ones I've been to, so:

Austerlitz
Waterloo
Jena-Auerstadt (stayed in Hassenhausen)
Fishguard (great pubs)
Leipzig (seems lost and is too vast)

Washington, D.C..

A fresh coat of paint afterwards, and the White House looked as good as ever.

Rick

The best ones I have been to in order:

Austerlitz – was there last week and biked it (use a car!). Well preserved and you get a very good idea of Napoleon's strategic thinking before the battle.

Waterloo – exceptional, easy to get to, compact, good museum etc.

Wagram – not greatly changed, get good idea of problems facing French crossing the Russbach and the Wagram plateau, great museum open on Sundays

Aspern-Essling – only the church and granary to see nothing else, have good museums (the diorama in the granary is well worth it) open on Sundays.

Grossberren – big monument, church with monuments, some parts of Western side unchanged

Dresden – grossgarden and parts of northern bank still recognisable, good military museum, city museum has some Saxon uniforms.

Hope to do Eggmuhl, Leipzig, Leuthen, Gördhe some day. Google Earth makes it easier to check things these days

Arcole
Rivoli
Marengo
Lonato
Montenotte

Excellent landscape and moreover excellent food and wine as well.

Two I have been to which are virtually unchanged are Salamanca and Albuera, although at the latter we had to be careful not to trample on the crops on the hillside where the main action took place.

Rod

If you take the time to go to Borodino, also remember to go to the Borodino museum on the Kutusovsky Prospekt in Moscow. It is on the site of Kutusov's conference at Fili after the battle where the decision was made as to what to do. The panorama is stunning.

I was recently at Vimiero. The battlefield itself is little changed though the village is bigger. There is now a visitors' centre with a panoramic view of most of the field and an excellent range of museum artifacts with the battle told in traditional tile 'frescos'. Very helpful staff too. Highly recommended.

Waterloo
Wagram and Aspern-Essling
Austerlitz
Borodino
Marengo