Our wish list has always included a tour of the cemeteries, memorials and War Museums throughout Belgium and so we based ourselves in Ypres to not only take advantage of many of them in the area, but to experience the Menin Gate service. It is thought that 300,000 soldiers lost their lives on the front line here, known as Salient.

We chose to stay in a small hotel called B&B Carpediem which was actually located at the back of a hairdressing salon, on the top floor. What a delightful place it was, located in the heart of this lovely little town. The staff were amazing and nothing was too much trouble.

If you are to see and experience the moving tributes to the battles in and around this area you need to allow yourself a couple of days at the very least. It is a lot to take in, and you do not want to be rushed through. The cemeteries especially are deeply moving so take time to explore them and read the headstones. The magnitude of lives lost and the sense of grief you will experience is quite profound and you will leave each of these sites reflecting on the senseless loss of so many.

We think the best way of doing this area is to take a personal guided tour. We went with a company called Camalou Battlefield Tours. Not only do you have a very experienced guide, but as you travel some distance to reach the key sights it is so much easier to be driven around. We cannot recommend this company highly enough and they will tailor-make a tour for you depending on your particular interests.

During the course of our tour we visited the following:

  • Fromelles to visit the:
    • VC Corner Australian Cemetery and Memorial – it contains the graves of 410 Australian soldiers whose bodies were found on the battlefield, but unfortunately not a single body could be identified.
    • Cobber Memorial – a memorial to Sgt Simon Fraser and others who left the trenches to recover their wounded companions left lying on the battlefield in No Man’s Land. A very moving memorial.
    • Pheasant Wood –  dedicated in 2010 it was specifically built to accommodate soldiers whose bodies were exhumed from the nearby mass graves. These three sites are all within easy distance of each other.
  • Messines Ridge where we visited a couple of craters. We did not visit the Messines Ridge British Cemetery but we have provided a link for your information.
  • Hill 60 – visited whilst driving through Ploegsteert Wood on the way to see the memorial for the 1914 Christmas Truce. We stop for lunch at Hill 60 which was included in our tour.
  • Zonnebeke – where we visit a replica of an underground dugout system which was used during the battle of Passchendaele. There is also a Memorial Museum Passchendaele which provides an overview of the five battles of Ypres.
  • Tyne Cot – after the Armistice, remains were brought in from the battlefields of Passchendaele and Langemarck, and from a few other small burial grounds, making this the largest Commonwealth cemetery in the world in terms of burials.
  • Polygon Wood Cemetery – a well maintained cemetery containing 107 burials from WW1, 19 of those unidentified.

Whilst in Ypres make sure you visit:

  • Menin Gate – you cannot miss the Last Post ceremony which takes place every day at 8.00pm under the Menin Gate Memorial. Crowds appear out of nowhere to watch this moving ceremony. A fallen soldier is remembered and wreaths are laid. It is an extremely popular ceremony with people arriving up to 45 minutes before it commences, so it is best to be a little early so that you can ensure you feel part of the overall ceremony.
  • In Flanders Fields Museum – occupying the second floor of the Cloth Hall this museum is dedicated to World War I. The Cloth Hall itself served as the main market and warehouse for the city’s prosperous cloth industry of the Middle Ages. The Cloth Hall was meticulously reconstructed during the years 1933 and 1967 to its pre-war condition and dominates the town square of Ypres.
  • St Martin’s Cathedral – standing 102 metres tall it is one of the tallest buildings in Belgium. It is located behind the Cloth Hall.

Travel Tips

  • Try and stay in the centre of this small town, close to the Menin Gate. It will allow you to get there in plenty of time for the ceremony held at 8.00pm, but be ready for a lot of tourists. You can request to be part of the ceremony and lay a wreath, which you must provide. We have provided the contact form in case this is something you are keen to do.

Travel Alerts

  • A safe area for tourists, so we have no travel alerts for Ypres.

Travel Adventures

  • Walk the Vauban Ramparts around Ypres. They are the best preserved ones in the country.
  • Ypres holds a triennial Cat Parade. We have no idea what this is about, but people dress up as cats and there are floats and stalls. Sounds rather interesting!