541nessw, Dec 2024

Absolutely brilliant ! Wasn’t far to drive from Disney and was great,

The grounds before going In were beautifully laid out.

There was areas to eat,

There were a lot of car parking spaces .

They have disabled parking if required..

This is suitable for most ages with great exhibits and a lot of memorabilia. headphones are available if required,

We bought our tickets as we arrived not before hand.

Would go again!

Y7568XPmichaelo, Dec 2024

Would have been five stars but for the ridiculous lack of signs to find the Museum on the approach road and then once in the car park. I arrived early and eventually found the entrance hidden behind a concrete wall by the car park with a small sign on the wall. Would no doubt have been easier to find when lots of people around. Mentioned this poor signage at the ticket desk and was told I am not the first to do so !

The museum is excellent. It is the huge collection of uniforms that stood out for me. So useful to add uniform colours to all those black and white films of the war. Also, good to see the French Colonial forces get a mention in a special exhibition.Good background information at the start about the Franco - Prussian War.Lots of interesting objects and good cine films as well. A shame that most of the display cabinet signs are only in French but then it is a French museum !

P3935JTthomast, Dec 2024

One of the best depictions of the Great War (WWI), of course, with a French perspective. That said, it was objective in presenting all sides and highlighting the utter futility and waste of waging war as a means of settling disputes between nations. The exhibits took us from the humiliation of the French in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and the loss of Alsace and Lorraine through the horrors of WWI and up to the 2010s and the continuing conflicts plaguing the world. I would highly recommend it as a side trip from Paris. Make it an overnight so you can fully appreciate the museum and take the two hour ride east to see the sites of the First Battle of the Marne.

TravelerO279, Dec 2024

An excellent museum on the Great War, you could easily spend the better part of an entire day here going through all the exhibits, and then proceed to the north and east to visit the many battlefields of World War I nearby.

There's a short film upon purchasing your ticket followed by an exhibit that begins with the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871 and how these sowed the seeds of discontent decades before the Great War erupted. There's free wifi for following the audio tour on your phone - recommend bringing bluetooth headphones so you can click and listen throughout the tour. Great info and very well laid out information from start to finish with interactive exhibits that kids will find interesting. There are trenches laid out the way they would've looked at the time along with first hand accounts, charts of what happened and when, as well as vehicles, tanks, field guns, etc.. Lots to see. At the end of the tour, there's a rooftop terrace open at times that gives a nice view of the surrounding area along with a path that leads to a monument commending fallen American soldiers - although as of this writing the statue had scaffolding around it for refurbishment and was closed to visitors for the time being. There's a gift shop and toilets at the of the tour as well with what appeared to be vending machines on the ground floor (lift available for those who may need it). World War I - history buffs will especially enjoy this museum.

Free parking on site.

cliu, Dec 2024

First time visiting this museum. We went to Gare de L’Est and took the P train to Meaux…no washrooms on train and trip is covered by Navigo. The train ride was about 40 mins then upon arrival we had to wait for Bus G which goes directly to the museum. Being a Sunday and holiday, bus G was the only one that goes there and every bus comes in 55 mins or so. We just missed one so we took a bus at stop 7 or 8 that stops at Jean Vilas, it is the 3rd stop get odd and walk 35 minutes straight ahead until museum. On a weekday would be much better because there are about 5 different buses that go to the museum unlike the weekends. A very kind lady that works for the trains told us to just walk after getting off at Jean Vilas. She was so helpful and nice, but everything was spoken in French.

The museum is 7 euros for seniors and one can easily spend 3 to 4 hours enjoying all the artifacts, the life sized models, the short videos, the section on the role of the women during WW1, all the exhibits, and the beautiful roof top with a beautiful view. By about 5:15 pm we were at the roof top and had a pate baguette as we did not eat lunch. We could have spent more time on the roof top looking at what was the battle field but security came to close up the roof at 5:30 but museum still open til 6 pm.

Our visit was great and we enjoyed the museum as we learned a lot but my only suggestion is the museum should have more English translations beside many of the French only exhibits like journals and letters written by the women. During the French videos, they should also have English translation perhaps on the screen. There were many exhibits in French only.

To take the bus back to the train station, hop across the street to the right and again the bus comes every 55 minutes. Again on a Sunday and holiday, it was bus G. It was sunny and pleasantly warm sitting on the bus bench so we sat patiently for the bus.