• visit to Tyne Cot Cemetery - Passchendaele or other memorial on request
• Last Post Ceremony (20.00 pm) at the Menin Gate in Ypres (info www.lastpost.be)
• drop-off at your hotel/hostel/B&B (or other place as agreed)
→ Included: comfortable transportation (airco, umbrellas) , guidance, insurance
→ Price : 35 €
• Active family tour - educational tour for kids
• Retrace the footsteps of your ancestor
• Special remembrance tour (e.g. in honour of your ancestor)
• include a visit to West-Vleteren ....
• lot’s of possibilities - please contact me in advance for a custom designed tour
→ Key to successfully customizing your Flanders Fields tour depends on information you provide us. Tell me about your objectives, date of departure, duration of your visit, specific interests, any other services you may need.
→ We always strive to bring you outstanding value for money. Comfortable accomodation, comfortable transportation and good food are always a priority and can only contribute to what should become the trip of a lifetime.
Ypres Salient Tour
This popular battlefield tour takes you to the frontline around Ypres (also known as Ieper or Wipers for the British soldiers), where the Allied Forces withstood the Germans for 4 years, denying them the passage to the channel ports. This medieval town was almost completely destroyed by German artillery, but remained in Allied hands and finally became a symbol of determination for the British. In 1919 Winston Churhill said of Ypres : “ A more sacred place for the British race does not exist “
During the Great War this part of Flanders, nowadays known as the Ypres Salient, witnessed the worst losses of soldiers lives. The Passchendaele campaign alone, known as the Third Battle of Ypres, inflicted 500.000 casualties for a territorial gain of only 5 miles.
Over the years this tour has earned excellent reviews and is known to be one of the best in its kind. You will be provided with a fascinating insight into the realities of the First World War, by visiting battlefields, cemeteries, memorials and private collections. A briefing for each site, with relevant and accurate information, combined with the use of pictures, maps and aerial footage, will bring the former battlefields alive.
- Essex Farm Cemetery & Dressing Station where John McCrae wrote his most famous poem “In Flanders Fields”
- Studentenfriedhof Langemarck (German Student Cemetery) : “Slaughter of the innocents”
- Brooding Soldier at Vancouver Corner : most impressive Canadian memorial in the Ypres Salient - 1st use of gas
- Tyne Cot Cemetery Passchendaele : largest Commonwealth War Cemetery in the world
- The Road to Passchendaele & Frank Hurley, the mad war photographer
- Polygon Wood : sacred Australian ground - The Zonnebeke Five (recovery of 5 Australian soldiers after 89 years
“ Lost in Flanders ” ) - Home of the underground war / Brothers in Arms : an extraordinary story
- Menin Road - Hooge Crater War Museum - Birr Cross Roads - Railway Wood - Hellfire Corner
- Hill 62 / Sanctuary Wood / private museum with a preserved WW1 trench
- Hill 60 : incredible witness of concentrated battles with the huge “Caterpillar” crater nearby - “ Beneath Hill 60 “
- Talbot House Poperinghe : every man’s club behind the lines
- Battle of Messines :New Zealand Memorial Park - Ireland Peace Park - minecraters 1917 - Pool of Peace
- Flanders Hills : Mount Kemmel & the Lettenberg shelters ( 5 dug-outs cut in to the bank)
- Ploegsteert (Plugstreet) Wood : the famous “Christmas Truce”
- In Flanders Fields Museum Ypres (Cloth Hall) or Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917
- Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing : 54,896 names of Commonwealth soldiers who died without graves
We support the Brothers-In-Arms Memorial Project
Mob : +32 (0) 475 51 98 28
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All tours start with an introduction briefing (map of the Western Front - zoom in on the Ypres Salient - Battles of Ypres)
The famous Menin Gate Memorial, Tyne Cot Cemetery and Memorial at Passchendaele, The Brooding Soldier at Vancouver Corner, Essex Farm (John McCrae - “In Flanders Fields”), the Menin Road, Hellfire Corner and the preserved battlefield at Hill 60 with the Caterpillar Crater nearby are some of the highlights of the day which are a “must -see” for first-time visitors.
Whether your interests are general, specific requests, or you want to visit your ancestor’s grave, we always adapt the tour to your interests and needs.
• adjustment of the selected sites to your country of origin or to your specific interests - visit to ancestor’s grave
• pick up and drop off at your hotel/B&B (or other place as agreed) / comfortable transportation
→ ½ day tour : 50 € / full day tour : 80 €
→ private / custom made tours possible
