A guide to World War II Battlefield Tours

Written by James Matsuoka

In addition to our storytelling programs, the Veterans Breakfast Club also organizes veteran-related travel experiences, from day-trips to nearby museums, bases, and historic sites to two-week battlefield tours of Europe and Vietnam. Our next trip is to England to visit WWII airfields. We will return to Western Europe in September 2025 for a WWII Battlefields Tour and January 2026 for our fourth trip to Vietnam.

I recently heard from WWII enthusiast James Matsuoka, from Carson City, Nevada. James has taken an astounding 25 World War II battlefield tours to Europe, the Pacific and North Africa since he retired in 2012.

I was intrigued, and asked him to send me his thoughts on his various trips and the tour companies he’s used to explore the globe in search of all things WWII. He sent his account and reviews below, which serve as a useful guide to WWII battlefield tour providers (except for the VBC!).

Alpventures (https://worldwar2tours.com)

I’ve taken six tours with Alpventures:

Holocaust Memorial Tour in 2013 (https://worldwar2tours.com/ww2-holocaust-tour)

Munich, Dachau, Nuremberg, Berlin, Germany; Prague, Terezin, Czech Republic; Warsaw, Krakow, Gliwice, and Auschwitz, Poland. It also in includes a history of the Nazi Party and Hitler’s rise to power.

Normandy to the Eagles Nest Tour in 2014 (Back then, the tour was Normandy to the Bulge) (https://worldwar2tours.com/ww2-normandy-tour)

Normandy, Calais, France; Bastogne, Foy, Belgium; Luxembourg; Rhine River, Rothenburg, Munich, Nuremberg and Berchtesgaden, Germany

Battleground Italy Tour (South) in 2014 (https://worldwar2tours.com/ww2-sicily-italy-tour)

Palermo, Licata, Gela, Taormina, Sicily; Salerno, Monte Lungo, San Pietro, Cassino, Gran Sasso, and Anzio to Rome, Italy (There is also a north Italy tour: From Rome to the Alps: The battles to break the Gothic Line with Orvieto, Florence, Lucca, Pisa, Bologna, Verona, and Lake Garda, Italy (https://worldwar2tours.com/ww2-battleground-italy-tour-2)

Wolf’s Lair Tour to Poland in 2016 (https://worldwar2tours.com/ww2-wolfs-lair-tour)

Berlin, Germany; Wolf’s Lair (Rastenburg), Mauerwald, Warsaw, Krakow, Auschwitz, Gliwice, Walbrzych, and Zagan, Poland

Men, Monuments and Masterpieces in 2016 (https://worldwar2tours.com/ww2-monuments-men-tour)

Paris, France; Aachen, Cologne, Siegen, Merkers Salt Mines; Berchtesgaden, Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany; Altaussee, Austria

Alpventures usually limits tours to about eight people. In the small group tours, we often stay in places other than the standard hotels. We stay in 13th century castles and 19th century French chateaus. In San Pietro, we stayed at a small hotel at the base of the ghost town. I got to wander through the ruins for a couple of hours. For the Italian Campaign Tour, we stayed at the hotel atop the Gran Sasso mountain ski resort for two nights. This is where Benito Mussolini was held captive before being rescued. We were able to see his room, which has been preserved in its 1943 state.

Most of the meals are eaten in restaurants away from the hotel. You can order anything from the restaurant menu and it’s included in the tour price.

Tony Cisneros is the owner/bus driver/guide. He was the US Army Eagle’s Nest official tour guide for three years. We ate breakfast up at the Eagle’s Nest all by ourselves before the place opened up to the public! He’s fluent in German. Our original hotel in the Eagle’s Nest did not have air conditioning. Due to an early heat wave, Tony re-booked us into a better hotel with a/c, without charging us extra money.

Stephen Ambrose Tours (https://stephenambrosetours.com)

I’ve taken three tour with Stephen Ambrose Tours:

Operation Overlord Tour in 2015 (https://stephenambrosetours.com/tour/operation-overlord-d-day-tour/)

London, Portsmouth, Ste-Mere-Eglise, Normandy Beaches

In Patton’s Footsteps Tour in 2015 (https://stephenambrosetours.com/tour/in-pattons-footsteps-the-battle-of-normandy-tour/)

Brittany, Mont-St-Michel, Battlegrounds of Falaise Pocket, Bastogne, Manheim, Luxembourg

Band of Brothers Tour in 2017 (https://stephenambrosetours.com/tour/band-of-brothers-tour/)

Optional Toccoa Extension Option, Georgia

Aldbourne, England; Beaches of Normandy; Brecourt Manor in Normandy; Sainte-Mère-Église; Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands; Bastogne and the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium and Luxembourg; Hitler’s Alpine Retreat, Berchtesgaden; Zell Am See

Stephen Ambrose Tours include about 30 travelers. The Operation Overlord Tour was led by historian and author Ron Drez. In Patton’s Footsteps Tour was led by a historian and author Kevin Hymel. My Band of Brothers Tour was led by Chris Anderson, who helped Stephen Amrbose with research for his Band of Brothers book and TV series. He reads some of the unpublished memoirs of the Band of Brothers as we travel on the bus. Most of the dinners were eaten in the hotel’s restaurant from a preset menu. We had lunch at the Eagle’s Nest.

Valor Tours (https://www.valortours.com)

I’ve taken seven trips with Valor Tours:

Operation Dragoon in 2016 (https://www.valortours.com/ITINERARYOperationDragoon2024.pdf)

Marseilles to Strausburg

Iwo Jima in 2017 (https://www.valortours.com/ITINERARYiwojima2025.pdf)

Guam, Saipan, Tinian, Iwo Jima, Peleliu

Return to Guadalcanal in 2018 (https://www.valortours.com/ITINERARYGuadalcanaltour2024.pdf)

El Alamein in 2019 (not currently offered)

Operation Torch in 2022 (not currently offered)

Ghost Soldiers of Bataan and Hell Ships to Philippines in 2023 (https://www.valortours.com/ITINERARYGhostSoldiers2025.pdf)

Manila, Corregidor, Bataan, Subic Bay, Camp O’Donnell, Cabanatuan with optional extension to Leyte

Return to Okinawa in 2023 (https://www.valortours.com/ITINERARY80thAnniversaryReturntoOkinawa2025.pdf)

Valor Tours run small groups. My Operation Dragoon tour had only five people. The Iwo Jima Tour had about 8-15 depending upon how many people were on the three different parts of the tour. Most dinners were eaten in the hotel on your own. My New Guinea Tour had only four people, and Guadalcanal only 11 people. You paid for most of your own meals on these two tours.

The El Alamein Tour had 10 people, we used two minivans. All of the dinners were in the hotel. The Operation Torch tour only had three people on it. We only visited a couple of WWII sites, the rest were French Foreign Legion sites. All of the dinners were in the hotel.

For the Ghost Soldiers and Return to Okinawa Tours, both had about 20 people and we bought almost all of our dinners.

For the Mariana Islands, Peleliu and El Alamein tours, bring packets of Gatorade, Propel, etc., for the heat and humidity. On Peleliu, one day I used the bathroom at 8AM, drank 90-100 ounces of fluids during the hike/driving tour and didn’t have to use the bathroom again until 5PM!

Cultural Experience (https://www.theculturalexperience.com)

I’ve taken five trips with Cultural Experience, a British tour company

Operation Mercury: The Battle for Crete in 2017 (https://www.theculturalexperience.com/tours/operation-mercury-battlefield-tour/?sid=bae372bc97d96266e5e66a11f64277d1)

Fortress Malta in 2017 (https://www.theculturalexperience.com/tours/fortress-malta-battlefield-tour/?sid=bae372bc97d96266e5e66a11f64277d1)

Finland 1939: The Winter War in 2022 (https://www.theculturalexperience.com/tours/finland-1939-battlefield-tour/?sid=bae372bc97d96266e5e66a11f64277d1)

End in Italy (Northeastern Italy, Bologna area) in 2022 (not currently offered)

Battle for Berlin in 2024 (not currently offered)

Cultural Experience had about 30 people for Operation Mercury and 15 people for Malta. The tour guides are retired British military officers. Crete and Winter War was led by a retired army colonel, historian and author Robert Kershaw. Malta was led by a retired army general Ashley Truluck. The End in Italy was led by Col. Patrick Mercer.

For Crete and Malta, most of the dinners were eaten in restaurants away from the hotel. You were driven to the restaurant by taxi and we walked back, sometimes it seems like up to a mile or more, to the hotel or you could take a taxi back at your own expense. For the Winter War and End in Italy tours, we ate most of the dinners in the hotel.

The Winter War had 17 people on it. The End of the War in italy had 10 people on it.

Tour guide Mercer would ask you questions as if you’re a company commander, i.e., you’re the defender, where would you put your troops or as the attacker, how would you attack this place. He made you think instead of just telling you facts of the battle. He’s the only tour guide I’ve had that did that. Unfortunately, my tour was his last tour before he retired as a tour guide.

My Battle for Berlin tour had 12 people on it. The tour guide was Dr. Matthias Strohn, a lecturer at Sandhurst and the German Staff College. Most of the dinners were eaten in the hotel.

Military Historical Tours (https://miltours.com)

I’ve taken one trip with Military Historical Tours:

The Eastern Front in 2013 (postponed indefinitely https://miltours.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=17&product_id=138)

Moscow, Stalingrad (Volgograd), Kursk, Leningrad (St Petersburg)

Military Historical Tours had about 40 people. Except for our farewell dinner, all of the dinners were eaten in hotels. The Moscow Hotel did not have good air conditioning. We had to leave to windows open all night with the freeway noise about 100-200 yards away.

National World War II Museum Travel (https://www.nationalww2museum.org/visit/museum-tours)

East Meets West in 2018 (not currently offered)

Masters of the Air in 2022 (https://www.nationalww2museum.org/events-programs/educational-travel/masters-air)

East Anglia, England

Megastructures Tour in 2023 (not currently offered)

Italy 1944 in 2024 (https://www.nationalww2museum.org/events-programs/educational-travel/italy-1944)

Rome, Anzio, Florence, Lucca, Ponzalla, Futa Pass

The National World War II Museum Elbe cruise had 38 people on it. We were split into two 19-person groups. Each group had a museum tour escort and local guide: historians and authors, James holland and Dr. Alex Richie. They were on the cruise with us and gave WWII history lectures once or twice a day. All of the dinners were eaten aboard the river cruise ship.

The Masters of the Air Tour had 15 people on it with a full size coach bus. Dr. Donald Miller was our tour guide. All of the dinners were eaten in the hotel. The Rise and Fall Tour had 28 people on it and used a full size coach bus. About 20% of the dinners were on our own.

The Italy 1944 tour had 12 people on it and used a full size coach bus. Most of the dinners were eaten in the hotel. Most of the hotels used the museum tours are 4 or 5 stars, making the tours more expensive. You’re possibly paying a little extra for the author(s) being on the tour giving the extra lectures.

If you plan to visit the Normandy Beaches, try not visit there in the first two weeks of June unless you absolutely want to be part of the anniversary activities.

I visited the Normandy area with Alpventures in late May and then again later with Ambrose’s Band of Brothers in early September. With both of those tours we stayed in Bayeux, the first French city to be liberated and in the heart of all the D-Day beaches. When I took the Patton’s Footsteps Tour, we went to the Normandy area around June 3-4. We stayed at a hotel 45+ minutes away from Bayeux. The streets in Arromanche were so crowded with bumper-to-bumper traffic, we couldn’t get to our planned museum visit there.

The one thing that I thought was odd about the Band of Brothers tour was that in Bastogne, we did not go into the 101st Airborne Museum there. I did visit that museum with my Alpventures D-Day to the Bulge Tour.

If you arrive a day or two early or stay a couple of days after your WWII tour, check out the Traces of War website: https://www.tracesofwar.com. This website lists almost all of the WWII sights to see: museums, monuments, memorials, cemeteries etc.

You can search by country, region or city. Once you click on a “pin” on the map, it tells you what you’re looking at with a little story about it. On the right side of the page will be a local map and it will also list the other closest items of interest. If you don’t have a rental car, go to a taxi stand, show the drivers what sites you’d like to see, from printout pages, and ask the drivers how much they’ll charge you for a couple of hours of touring.

You may also want to consider attending the National WWII Museum’s annual conference in New Orleans. It’s usually held the weekend before Thanksgiving. Thursday is a one topic subject. Friday and Saturday covers different areas of WWII. Attendance is limited to 250 people. Most of the lectures/talks can be viewed on YouTube.

National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force (https://www.mightyeighth.org/)

Mark Copeland with the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force sent a note reminding us that his museum also leads World War II tours in Europe. You can see their travel itineraries at their website.

The museum specializes in immersive trips where you walk in the footsteps of the WWII Mighty Eighth heroes.

They have upcoming tours in England and France to heavy bomber bases, fighter group airfields, and select sites that are off the beaten path. The tours delve into the Mighty Eighth’s legacy while allowing travelers to explore all that these beautiful countries have to offer on their own.

Tour Leaders and Managers are both experienced authorities on the history of the Eighth Air Force and Royal Air Force Bomber Command during WWII.

For more details or questions about educational tours with the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, contact Educational Tour Director, Mark Copeland, at mcopeland@mightyeighth.org

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