Footsteps of WWII · Belgium & Luxembourg
Bastogne War Museum
Museum · Dec 1944 – Jan 1945
The story
Opened on 21 March 2014 on the site of the former Bastogne Historical Center, the museum tells the story of the Battle of the Bulge from its origins to its aftermath. Bastogne mattered because all seven main roads through the central Ardennes met there. The 101st Airborne Division arrived on 19 December 1944 and, with Combat Command B of the 10th Armored Division and a scratch force of stragglers called Team SNAFU, held the town after Lüttwitz's XLVII Panzer Corps cut the roads on 20–21 December. The exhibition follows four fictional characters, an American paratrooper, a German Volksgrenadier officer, a Bastogne teacher and a 13-year-old boy, through the siege, with three immersive shows along the way.
What to look for
A long chronological walk-through with audio guide: original weapons, uniforms and vehicles, three immersive shows including a cellar scene under bombing, and near the end a restored 11th Armored Division tank stopped on 30 December 1944. The Mardasson Memorial stands next door.
Plan your visit
Open daily 09:30–18:00 in October 2026. Tickets are sold online in time slots; booking ahead is advised in summer and around the December anniversaries. The ticket also covers the Bois Jacques Battlefield trail. Allow at least two hours. Check the website for prices.
Things change, so check opening times before you travel.
Nearby sites
- Mardasson Memorial, Bastogne · under 1 km
- Bastogne Barracks (McAuliffe's HQ) · 1 km
- Bois Jacques foxholes, Foy · 2 km
- Recogne German war cemetery · 4 km
- Houffalize and its Panther tank · 14 km
- National Museum of Military History, Diekirch · 34 km
All 160 sites in Footsteps of WWII →
Footsteps of WWII: Europe 1939–1945
A free field guide for your phone: the route, the maps and the stories built in, even with no signal. The whole Second World War in Europe, from the first shots at Westerplatte on 1 September 1939 to the German surrender in May 1945: Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, Normandy, Arnhem, Bastogne, Stalingrad, Berlin and the camps, in 15 areas from Britain to Russia.
Open the guide