Belgian Battlefield Day Tour from Lille: Ypres Salient

Lille, France

Tour the Salient, the hottest spot on the front held by Imperial and Empire troops in World War One. Over a quarter of a million men gave their lives to hold this last bit of Belgium from the Germans. History records three great battles fought at Ypres, but it was in fact a constant battle against shell, bullet, bomb, gas and rats.

On your day touring the Salient you'll tour some of the most important WWI sites, in the company of a first-class guide. You'll see the German cemetery in Langemark, the site of the first gas attack by Vancouver Corner, where flame throwers were introduced into modern warfare, John McRae's Essex Farm site, Hooge crater and museum; Passchendaele; and Tyne Cot cemetery.

You'll walk the moonscape of the Hill 60 battlefield and see literally dozens of memorials to British, Australian and Canadian regiments. You'll also spend time in Ypres itself, with the opportunity to visit St. George's Chapel and the Menin Gate Memorial.

With a maximum group size of 16 and a university-educated guide/driver to lead the way, you are sure to have a memorable and personal experience on this poignant tour of battlefield sites from World War One.

USD $181.70

Traveler Reviews

Review by: Maryanne R, Australia	January 2010
Excellent tour! The guide was fantastic. He was waiting at the train station. The bus was very comfortable. It was only a small group, so the trip had a one-on-one feel. The guide knew so much information about the sites and was extremely interesting. Lunch was great and very cheap. The lunch stop even had a museum attached, which was wonderful as we had a tour through there after we finished eating. I would definitely recommend this trip to all my friends, and I would even go on it again.

Review by: Beverley H, United Kingdom	June 2009
Our driver/guide was very knowledgable, considerate and helpful in every way. The content of tour made it excellent and worth the expense. It was a brilliant experience.

Review by: James S, United Kingdom	April 2009
If you have anywhere you particularly want to look at, make it known to the driver, otherwise he might not stop. A good tour with good transport and well driven. Take your own lunch or buy a sandwich at the Hooge Crater Museum. Verify departure time and meeting place by phone as there can be ambiguity.

Review by: Anonymous, Australia	March 2009
Very good.

Review by: Vincent M, Ireland	August 2008
Excellent idea to have air conditioned coach. Excellent idea to have tour guide with loudspeakers on coach. Your tour guide knew his history, spoke with authority, and was obviously enthusiastic about the subject matter! Your tour guide asked if any person had a particular site they may want to see, he showed us the Irish Memorial which we had forgotten existed it moved us to tears when we saw it, also moved Australian tourists as well! Liked the way we had time to reflect when we visited the WW1 memorials and graves the enormity of the death toll requires a little time to absorb. Good lunch served without much time lost. Really good educational day, hard work to remember all, but that's what we came for!

Review by: Viv & Neal G, United States of America	August 2008
The tour was excellent, as was our guide. He was knowledgeable, caring and very willing to answer our questions. The scenes, in some cases, spoke for themselves. The rebuilt town of Ypres, the now-tranquil land filled with well-tended cemeteries, the crater in the middle of quiet woods, created by explosions, and the Allied and German 'pillboxes' still dotting the landscape. I suppose it would have been interesting to see a trench but apparently there aren't many around, a good thing in many ways.

Review by: Cheryl S, Canada	June 2008
The tour was great, however the non-air conditioned van was uncomfortable. It was difficult to hear most of the driver's commentary, since there were no headphones or speaker system.

Review by: Anonymous, United Kingdom	June 2008
Very interesting and moving experience to visit a place that is considered sacred.

Review by: Richard H, Canada	June 2008
An overall enjoyable day! The guide was knowledgeable and friendly, and we got to see things we may not have bothered to search out if we were doing it ourselves, as the whole battlefields area is so large. The only down side was the omission on my part to specifically request a stop that I presumed would be on the tour. The tour was also only one day of a possible three or four day tour. We were basically the interlopers in other peoples' tour.

Review by: Peter L, Australia	October 2007
This was the best tour I have ever been on and would recommend it without reservation to anyone interested in WWI history or who, like me, wanted to see the land where relatives lay who did not make it home from this terrible war.

Review by: Trevor W, Canada	October 2007
It was not exactly what I expected, I thought I would see more trenches and WWI bunkers etc. The guide was knowledgeable and did an excellent job. It would help if you had maps of the area, battle lines and events during the drive, maybe maps you could over lay, to provide context to events as the driver is talking.

Review by: Andrew L, United Kingdom	September 2007
Our tour was truly made by the guide who spoke at length and with real insight. We joined an existing multi day tour for this day and she made a big effort to get us up to speed on what had gone on and make sure we got the best we could from the experience. It had really only been after the tour when telling others that I have appreciated just how much information we picked up. Thank you.