Welcome to Ypres

Once a bustling centre of industry ranking alongside Bruges and Ghent, it's now impossible to reference Ypres (Ieper in Dutch) without acknowledging the huge role it played in WWI. After its almost total annihilation, the town was rebuilt to its former specifications – a monumental task – to serve as a memorial to those who lost their lives here in the Great War. Its restored Lakenhalle is one of Belgium's most spectacular buildings.

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Ypres has become a place of pilgrimage for many. It's the gateway to the Salient (aka Flanders Fields), a bow-shaped bulge that formed the front line around town; some 300,000 Allied soldiers and up to 200,000 civilians and German troops lost their lives here.

In recent years visitor numbers from Commonwealth countries have soared; plan your visit well in advance to avoid disappointment.

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Top experiences in Ypres

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Ypres activities

$180.55 Private & Custom Tours

Brussels to Flanders and Ypres Private WWI Battlefields Tour

ItineraryThis is a typical itinerary for this productStop At: Vladslo German War Cemetery, Diksmuide, West Flanders ProvinceHere you will see the moving sculptures made by Käthe Kollwitz: "The Mourning Parents" as her son is burried here. We stay close to the river Yser and we see the observation points of the Belgian Army and the Trench of Death. Further to Diksmuide and the Ysertower.Duration: 1 hourStop At: Saint Julien Memorial, Ieper (Ypres), West Flanders ProvinceHere we are confronted with the horror of war: gas. The first two times this was used by the Germans on allied lines in Steenstraat and in St Julien, later the use was general but with terrible consequenes. We stop also at the site John Mc Crae, the Canadian Doctor who was from the beginning confronted with the terrible results.Duration: 1 hourStop At: In Flanders Fields Museum, Ieper (Ypres), West Flanders ProvinceAfter lunch, you have time to visit the in Flanders Fields Museum that is giving you a very good view on the horrors of warfare during WWI. We continue via St Elooi and its craters we stop in Messines for the monument for the Christmas Truce and for New-Zealand. In Ploegsteert we see the commemoration plate for Winston Churchill, who fought here in the first half of 1916Duration: 3 hoursStop At: Hill 60, Ieper (Ypres), West Flanders ProvinceWe make a stop at the pool of Peace, the biggest mine crater in Flanders that is always filled-up with water. Further to HILL 60 where we do a visit of what then was the front line and that stayed well preserved, and to Polygone Wood with the Australian and New-Zealand Monuments. Via Zonnebeke we reach the biggest cemetery of the Commonwealth, Tyne Cot Cemetery. Then we take the direction of the Brooding Soldier, the monument honouring the 2000 Canadians who fell here with the Gas Attacks.Duration: 2 hoursStop At: Menin Gate Memorial, Ieper (Ypres), West Flanders ProvinceBack in Ypres we see the impressive Gate, a small part of the whole rebuilding process of the City. You have the names of some 52.000 man who are still missing in action. We walk together to the Market and then time for dinner. We attend the Last Post Ceremony that always takes place at 8 pm, and this every evening.Duration: 2 hours
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