Battlefields of France & Flanders

You will stay in a comfortable 2-star hotel such as the Ibis Lille Roubaix on the outskirts of Lille. The hotel has a bar, restaurant, lift and all bedrooms are comfortably furnished with private facilities, telephone and TV. Your hotel will be confirmed in your final documents.

Day 1: UK/Lille

Local departure and an afternoon crossing to Calais. Early evening arrival at your hotel in the Lille area for a three night stay.

Days 2 - 3: Lille

Free to relax and enjoy our included excursions as follows:

Meals: Breakfast

The Somme & Vimy Ridge

A full day excursion, including a visit to Beaumont Hamel Newfoundland Memorial Park. Amongst the preserved trenches, our guided tour recounts the disastrous attack of July 1st 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme. We move to the Thiepval Anglo-French Memorial, which records the names of some 73,000 British and South African soldiers, missing or who fell at the Somme between 1916 and 1918. We continue to Vimy Ridge, a vital part of the German defence system captured by the Canadians in April 1917.

Poperinge, Ypres Salient, Tyne Cot & the Last Post Ceremony

A full day excursion beginning with a visit to the town of Poperinge and the Talbot House, or TOC H as it was known in army signallers’ code. This is followed by a visit to the infamous Ypres Salient and Tyne Cot Cemetery, the largest British war cemetery in the world, where you’ll see countless rows of graves from the notorious Battle of Passchendaele in 1917.

In the afternoon we visit Ypres, devastated during some of the worst fighting of World War I but now beautifully restored, attending the moving Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate in the evening.

Day 4: Lille/UK

Included return visit to Ypres and a visit to the In Flanders Fields Museum or alternative museum before continuing to Calais for a late afternoon crossing back to the UK. Return to your original departure point in the evening.

Please note: the In Flanders Fields museum will be closed for renovation until June 2012. We will visit an alternative museum for dates affected.

Meals: Breakfast