Group Tour Operator & DMC for holidays to Belgium

Depart the UK

Take the short sea ferry crossing from Dover to Calais and continue by coach to your hotel in the Ypres area.  Dinner will be taken in the hotel this evening.

Ypres and the In Flanders Fields Museum

Make a self-guided visit of the ‘In Flanders Fields Museum’ which has been renovated and improved in recent years.  It is located in the former Cloth Halls of Ypres, in the centre of the town and presents the stories of and includes personal accounts of those involved in the conflict in the West Flanders Front region. Using bracelets given to you on arrival, you can activate the exhibits and read accounts of people from the First World War, tailored to be personal to yourself. There are also several films showing clips of the battles and a retelling of life in a WWI Hospital. (N.B. The museum is closed for most of January and on Mondays between November and March.)

After spending a few hours at the museum, the rest of the day can be spent exploring more of the town.  Perhaps visit St. Martin’s Cathedral with its soaring spire that was completely demolished during the war and rebuilt.  There are many other memorial churches, museums and sites in and around the town.

After an early evening dinner taken together in a local restaurant we can witness the Last Post ceremony taking place at the **Menin Gate at 8pm.  During the war this was the call for all soldiers fighting in the fields outside the gates to head back to the city for the evening. However, many did not return back through the gates. The tradition continues each evening to this day and is one of the most poignant elements to any battlefields tour. We recommend arriving early to be able to see the ceremony taking place and the wreaths being carried.

**Note:  The Menin Gate is currently under renovation which expects to be complete by May 2025 so the ceremony will take place close by.

In Flanders Fields ’14-18′ route

Meet up with an experienced guide for a journey by coach around the 14-18 route.  This suggested tour gives you an overview of the Ypres Salient visiting several battlegrounds and memorials that could include Essex Farm (Advanced Dressing Station and John McCrae’s poem “In Flanders Fields”), Pilckem Ridge (Gas Attack 1915), Langemarck German Cemetery, Vancouver Corner- The Brooding Soldier Memorial, New Zealand War Memorial Gravenstafel, Tyne Cot Cemetery (The Third Battle of Ypres aka Passchendaele) and Hill 62 (Sanctuary Wood) Museum with trenches, returning back to Ypres via Hellfire Corner.

Other museums/memorials include Yser Tower, Talbot House and the Death Cells in Poperinge and the Irish Peace Tower in the Island of Ireland Peace Park.

(We can be more specific with the itinerary at time of booking – duration of tour around 4 hours)

Back in Ypres there may be some more time to explore the town further or do some shopping before having dinner at the hotel.

Return to the UK

Drive to Calais for the short sea ferry crossing to the UK

If you require a more specialised tour to a particular site or area then please let us know and we can tailor-make the tour to suit your requirements. There are numerous cemeteries, war graves and monuments dedicated to certain battalions, regions or divisions that can be included on tours.

Other areas including the Battle of Verdun and Mons, where the first and last shots of the war were fired, are possible along with tours specifically looking at The Somme or the Ypres Salient.