Advice Operation Market Garden?

[JBP|]

The wifey and I are going to Holland in April and are looking in to a visit to Arnhem and maybe do an Operation Market Garden tour. A quick look at some sites have left us rather confused about the experience so any advice we can get would be muchly appreciated.

The current plan is to go to Arnhem on the 6th of April ( Easter Monday) except it now seems some of the museums are closed on Mondays!

And looking at guided tours is another problem, they seem to vary greatly in price. So which would be the better option for us, book a tour and hope for the best or just rock up to John Frost Bridge and see what's going on? Leaving us with the slight problem of transportation between sites.

 

[Turamber]

I did this tour: http://www.battlefieldtours.co.uk/tours2h.htm a number of years ago. It was led by a retired Policeman and had several ex-military personnel on the tour. We met up with former members of the resistance and some of the few old soldiers to still be alive. Absolutely brilliant.

Had hoped that one of the old timers would remember my grandfather who was in the Royal Signals attached to the tank corps but sadly not.

 

[TdC]

From Tur's site link:

Day 3 – From our base in Arnhem we visit the Airborne Drop at Ginkel Heath, Wolfheze, Heelsum and Oosterbeek areas, the Hartenstein Hotel Airborne Museum, Schoonoord Cross-Roads, Oosterbeek Airborne Cemetery and follow the route taken by John Frost into the famous 'Bridge Too Far', seeing en-route the Tafelberg Hotel, the home of Kate Ter Horst (the 'Angel of Arnhem'). We will also visit the scenes of valour where L/Sgt. Baskeyfield, Cpt. Queripel, Cpt. Cain, Lt. Grayburn and Flt Lt. Lord all won the coveted Victoria Cross.

That basically covers everything in and around Arnhem. In the city, there is a route demarked by special tiles set in the ground. At 35 locations, the tiles are embossed with a pegasus horse, to signify a notable spot in the route. The tiles look like this:

The (walkable) route comes with a multi-language brochure you can dl here: http://www.geldersarchief.nl/files/Files/FreedomTrail_brochure.pdf

Note: it's very easy to get around the city and surroundings with public transport, however that does mean you can't really loiter. Some of the places, like the war cemetaries in Oosterbeek, are quite impressive and leaving because you have to get a bus or whatever could be detremental to your experience.