For four long years, Flanders Fields was the dramatic stage for a number of the bloodiest battles in the First World War. Now, more than one hundred years after the outbreak of the war, the landscape still tells the tale of what transpired. It is home to hundreds of monuments and cemeteries that have great historic meaning for people around the world.
This route relates what happened in the front around Ypres. You’ll discover the story of the First World War in the Westhoek area of Belgium. Important tourist attractions such as the Tyne Cot Cemetery, the In Flanders Fields museum, the Menin Gate, the Studentenfriedhof in Langemark, the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917, Talbot House, Hill 60 and the Site John McCrae take participants to a period that lasted from 1914 to 1918.
The largest Commonwealth cemetery on the European mainland is Tyne Cot Cemetery. There are approximately 12,000 soldiers buried here. The Tyne Cot Memorial features the names of another 35,000 soldiers buried without grave markers.
The In Flanders Fields Museum is in the historic Cloth Hall in Ypres. Although the building has a history dating back to its construction in 1304, the museum focuses primarily on personal experiences from during the First World War. The area around Ypres was in the centre of the conflict a hundred years ago, and the landscape still pays testament. This war museum is the link to the human horror from that time. The name, In Flanders Fields, comes from the famous poem written by the surviving soldier John McCrae.
The Menin Gate could be considered to symbolise the First World War. It is a memorial for approximately 55,000 Commonwealth soldiers who have been given up as missing. Every evening since 1928, the Last Post ceremony takes place to remember the fallen soldiers from the First World War.
After free time for lunch, you visit the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 in nearby Zonnebeke. In a poignant, graphic manner, the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 tells the historic story of the First World War, with particular attention paid to the Battle of Passchendaele. This 1917 campaign is known as one of the more horrible battles from the entire First World War, with almost 600,000 soldiers laying down their lives for a terrain shift of just eight kilometres. ‘Passchendaele’ is not just a part of the First World War; it has become a symbol of the senselessness of the violence of war.
The Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 combines the interactive presentations of a modern museum with the exceptional experience of the Dugout & Trenches exhibit. Ending the visit, it is a true-to-life reconstruction of German and British trenches along which original shelters were built. Discover the terrifying emotions that soldiers experienced as they sat here in the ‘prisons’. A poignant visit that will only enrich your experience of the battle sites in the area.
During the First World War, Poperinge was part of a small area of Belgium that was not occupied. Away from the turmoil of the front at Ypres, the city grew to become the nerve centre of the British sector. In December 1915, in the middle of this busy city, the chaplains Neville Talbot and Philip ‘Tubby’ Clayton opened a clubhouse: Talbot House. For three years, regardless of rank, soldiers could go there for a moment of peace and relaxation. Today, as then, the site is a peaceful stop among the sites of the Great War in the Westhoek.
| Tuesday 6 September 2022 | 8:30 |
| Wednesday 7 September 2022 | 8:30 |
| Thursday 8 September 2022 | 8:30 |
| Duration of the tour | 8 hours |
| Price per person | €92,00 per person |
Please note that this tour will only be organized if there is a minimum of registrations. An alternative date will be proposed, or you can request a reimbursement.
