The Ypres Salient battlefield tour

Visit the battlefields of the Ypres Salient and the mine battle of Messines Ridge. Tours can be tailored to your specific wishes, from specific nationalities to specific interests.

There are few battlefields that can tell the story of the Great War as detailed as the battlefields of the Ypres Salient and Messines Ridge. Having been fought over for 5 years, the area is dotted with memorials, military cemeteries and military museums. With 5 big offensives and lots of smaller battles, the area tells the story of the first gas attacks on the Western front, the first use of the German flamethrowers, the largest battle in underground warfare and the first Indian VC winner of WW1. Legendary places like Passchendaele, Hill 60 and Polygon Wood became synonym for the carnage of the First World War. All nationalities are represented in the Ypres Salient, both with memorials and on cemeteries.

Half day tour available. The standard half day tour itinerary includes visits to Essex Farm Cemetery & the John McCrae Memorial, Pilckem Ridge, the German military cemetery at Langemark, the Brooding Soldier Memorial, Tyne Cot Cemetery, Passchendaele and the Brothers In Arms Memorial Park.
Full day tour available. The full day tour itinerary adds the sites of the Mine Battle of Messines Ridge to the half day tour itinerary: Hill 60 and the Caterpillar Crater, the Pool of Peace, the New Zealand Memorial Park and the Irish Peace Park at Messines, and the Christmas Truce Memorial site at Ploegsteert.
Museums can be added to the tour. The well-known museums like the In Flanders Fields Museum, the Passchendaele 1917 Memorial Museum, Talbot House, Hooge Crater Museum, Sanctuary Wood Museum (Hill 62) and the Plugstreet 1418 Interpretation Centre can be added to the itinerary (with a full day tour).
Walking distances: short to moderate on mostly even terrain.
Entrance fees: depending on the itinerary, but most sites are free to visit.