WWI Tour:
Battlefields of Ypres and Sightseeing in Bruges
No of nights: | 3 or 4 nights |
Key sites: | Essex Farm & Yorkshire Trench Dugout |
Transport: | Car, minibus/coach & ferry |
* The 8 – 13 November is a special 5 days, 4 nights or 6 days, 5 nights tour for Remembrance Day.
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The town of Ypres (Ieper) is at the heart of the battlefields of Belgium and will always be home for the British Army of WW1 in the fight for Belgium.
If ever there were a corner of a foreign field that was forever England, it would surely be Ypres. This 4/5-day tour will take in the major sites of the Ypres battlefields and give us chance to explore the history of the First World War.
With a maximum of 15 guests, you will have a truly personalised trip, getting the most from your own personal guide and meeting others that are passionate about First World War remembrance.
Your Guide
Hello, I am Andy Oliver, your guide.
I am now retired from 22 years in the military service which took me around the world and the battlefields of the Western Front and Far East.
I have studied, toured, and guided on the Western Front battlefields for the last few years since retiring from the Armed Forces. I have built up an extensive knowledge of the Great War and I look forward to sharing it with you.
Once we left the ferry terminal Andy presented me with an information pack. This gives information about each of the places we visited, in the order of our tour, and a copy of the itinerary. Also, a copy of info found for our families, inc military records. At each stop Andy explained what had happened at that site and the part it played in the Great War.”
Tracy & Neil Tindall
Tour Highlights
Essex Farm Cemetery
Tyne Cot Cemetery
Menin Gate
Sights of Bruges
Bray Dunes at Dunkirk
Personalise the Tour
I can personalise the tour for you and your family history. I can ensure the tour covers places where your family has fought or fallen. If you are unsure of your family's involvement in the First World War, I can complete that research for you and make a tour based on what I find. For a tour that's all about you and your family, get in touch.
Tour Itinerary
Day 1 - Meet and greet and travel to Ypres or overnight ferry
- Pick up from a convenient location for you – we make our way to Ypres
- Check into the Novotel in Ypres for the first of a two-night stay
- Walking tour of the beautiful town of Ypres
- Or we can meet up at convenient location for you at Hull train station or P&O Ferry terminal at King George Docks in Hull
- Check into the P&O Ferries, Hull for the overnight ferry to Rotterdam
Day 2 - Ypres & Passchendaele
- After a good breakfast we make our way to Essex Farm Dressing Station and cemetery, close to where ‘In Flanders Fields’ was written and see the grave of Valentine Strudwick, just 15 years old when he was killed
- We visit the Yorkshire Trench which highlights the preserved trench system around the town of Ypres
- Visit the German cemetery at Langemark and see the difference in styles of remembrance
- Take in the Canadian Memorial at Vancouver Corner and discuss the use of gas in the First World War
- Head to Tyne Cot, the largest Commonwealth War Graves site in the world
- Walk through original trenches at Hill 62 (Sanctuary Wood)
- We return to the Novotel hotel or our first night stay
- Attend the moving Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate
- We finish off the evening with a meal at Captain Cook restaurant (meal included in overall cost)
Day 3 - Sightseeing in Bruges
- We take our leave of Ypres and head for the sights of Bruges
- At the end of the day, we check into the Radisson Blu hotel for the night
- We see what the sights Bruges has to offer at night
Day 4 - Dunkirk and drop off or overnight ferry
- We make our way back towards home, but before we leave the region, we visit the town of Dunkirk, and the beaches at Bray Dunes for an understanding of the evacuation of Dunkirk
- Ferry home and drop off at a convenient location for you
- Or we return to Rotterdam for the overnight ferry back to Hull
Trip Includes
4 days, 3 nights or 5 days, 4 nights
- Services of a full-time guide
- Pick up & drop off from a convenient location
- All transportation and return ferry crossing or overnight crossing, plus 2 or 3 nights in 3* or 4* hotels (based on 2 sharing)
- Restaurant on night 1, 2, & 4
- Breakfast every day
- Any applicable entry fees
- Welcome drink on arrival
Email me to Discuss Dates and Costs
Call me and we can discuss this tour, the best dates and the costs