Tour Duration: 3 days / Group Size: 2-5 people / Destinations: Belgium and France
Season: January to December / Airfare Included: No / Tour Customizable: Yes
Minimum Per Person Price: €558 / Maximum Per Person Price: €598
A comprehensive fully guided tour of the Ypres and Somme Battlefields of the Great War. Visiting all the 'must see' locations and many more places of interest known only to the locals. An ideal tour for an in-depth first visit. This is a sample itinerary which can be modified to suit your requirements. Tour vehicle is our brand new luxury Mercedes people carrier, equipped with leather seats, air conditioning and privacy glass, it will ensure you travel in discreet comfort. The tour includes gourmet lunch hampers and evening meals. Your guide is a professional battlefield guide who lives in the area and has many years experience of guiding.
DAY 1 After meeting you we make our way to the historical and ancient City of Ypres, known to the Tommies as 'Wipers'. Your tour will include as much of the Salient as our time will allow, visiting Plugstreet Memorial to the Missing, the Irish Tower, German Blockhouses, Messines Church and the Crypt, where it’s said Hitler was once treated for wounds, Shell Fire Corner, Zillebeke and Church, Hill 60, Hooge Crater. Hill 62, and Hellfire Corner. On to St Martin’s Church, St George’s Chapel then to the Menin Gate. As a fitting end to the day we will attend the Last Post Ceremony. Overnight at a local B&B. Lunch included
DAY 2 Starting at Passchendaele and Tyne Cot – largest Commonwealth Cemetery. 11,976 rest here, of which 8,366 are Unknown. Onto Vancouver Corner and Poelkapelle to visit Pte. Condon, 14 years of age. Then Langemark, and its German Cemetery. Leaving the Ypres Salient we make our way to the Somme, towards the British Front Line down through Serre, Sheffield Memorial Park, the Sunken Road and the Hawthorn Crater before visiting Newfoundland Memorial Park. Then the Ulster Tower, and Thiepval, the largest British Memorial. Here are the 72,000 names of those still missing on the Somme. Finally onto the Leipzig Salient and the Lonsdale cemetery. Overnight at Mailly Maillet. Breakfast, lunch and evening meal included
DAY 3: We begin with Ovillers and La Boisselle, visiting Sausage and Mash Valleys, and the Lochnagar crater. Then we drive to Mansel Copse, the Devonshires Cemetery; this was the jumping-off trench for the Devonshires on 1 July. Fricourt, then the woods: Mametz, Bernafay, Trones, Delville and High Woods. We head back via Pozieres and Mouquet Farm (Mucky Farm), to your return flight/train. Breakfast and lunch included.
Price Includes: Pick up from Lille / 3 days fully guided tour in our executive style vehicle / 2 nights accommodation in a top quality B&B / Breakfast and evening meals and three luxury hamper lunches.
Price Excludes: Evening meal on the first day.
Airfare is not included in the tour price / Drop off at Lille/Paris an additional fee of
€150 / Single supplement of €40
THE BATTLEFIELDS EXPERIENCE
Le Vieux Café Jourdain, 2 Rue des Cordeliers
80560 Mailly Maillet, Somme, France
telephone and fax: 00 33 32 27 62 960