- Duration
- 8 hours
- Location
- Ypres
- Spend a day discovering the Flanders' battlefields, memorials and cemeteries of WWI
- Includes private car service accompanied by a WWI historian
Sites Visited
- WW1 Cemeteries (e.g. Essex Farm, Tyne Cot, Langemark)
- Ypres city center
- 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battle of Ypres Sites
- Menin Gate
- Langemark
- Trenches (German, Belgian)
- Itinerary customizable - please note this tour can be adapted according to client interests/requests
- Optional: 8 pm Last Post Ceremony
Included
- Private car and driver/guide for the duration of the day
- Expert Historian guide
Itinerary Detail
FAQ
The standard meeting and ending point for this tour is in Ypres, in West Flanders. If you'd like to be picked up nearby, please let us know. If you're staying further away, we may be able to pick you up for an additional fee depending on where you're staying. Please contact us to discuss.
Your website won't allow me to book more than 7 people for this tour. Can I book for a larger group?
Please contact us to discuss your group size and needs and we will inquire with our car provider about larger car options. A group larger than 7 will incur a higher fee given the need to rent a larger vehicle.
No. However, if you make your way to Ypres, we can meet there.
I’m interested in attending the Last Post ceremony at 8 pm. Can we lengthen the tour?
Absolutely. Please contact us to discuss.
What is a private tour?
Our private tours are limited exclusively to travelers in your party. They are designed to provide a learning experience that is completely tailored to you and your traveling companions. Private tours give you more flexibility with scheduling (you decide when the walk best fits in your trip), the ability to tailor your itinerary (we'll work to match the itinerary to the interests and dynamics of your group), and more personalized time with your guide.
During his studies in history at the University of Brussels, Chris decided to enroll simultaneously at the Royal Military Academy, to submerge himself in the history of the First World War. After completing all the qualifications, he returned back to his roots: the battlefields of Flanders Fields, where he has grown up. He knows the story behind every corner, every monument, bunker or crater and has been taking his clients around the area for the past five years. He is actively involved in war heritage conservation, and has offered his services and knowledge to a spectrum of research teams, publishers and documentary filmmakers. He has identified and categorized countless war sites that were about to be forgotten in time, combining his passion for military history, heritage, and archaeology. He has initiated numerous visitors in the stories and strategies of the Western Front, always prepared to go the extra mile, keen on taking care of his guests and truly understand their needs and expectations. When not touring former military sites, Chris is a keen diver, motorcycle enthusiast and 'beerologist'.
As a youngster from a neighbouring village, Emanuel passed the many Great War cemeteries and sites day by day heading into Ypres. To him, these were such an obvious feature in the landscape. Growing into adolescence, weariness about the many graves and how men from all over the world ended up here, turned into respect, remembrance and passion. When he researched the path of soldiers at the frontline through the project ‘Passchendaele Archives', working in the Memorial Museum Passchendaele, the gratitude of the relatives made an enormous impact on him. Since then, Emanuel's involvement in the remembrance of the Great War and local history has become personal. Since 2009 he takes people around the battlefields. His aim is not simply to welcome and guide guests around the battlefields, he wants you to experience history. Let him guide you to the sites where so many men lived in agony and here he will explain how life as a soldier was and the personal stories of love, hardship and sacrifice.
