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Ypres Battlefields Private Half Day Tour: Enjoy Private Touring with a Battlefield Historian
5.0
10 Ratings
Ieper
Explore Ypres Battlefields with a private historian guide. Enjoy personalized insights, flexible itineraries, and local expertise. Book your exclusive tour today.
Explore Ypres Battlefields with a private historian guide. Enjoy personalized insights, flexible itineraries, and local expertise. Book your exclusive tour today.
Duration:
3 hours, 30 minutes
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- Hill 62 (sanctuary Wood) Canadian Memorial - First stop is an overview of the geography of the area and the battles that take place around Ypres. Using a map and field equipment i will fully explain the who, whys and whats.
- Sanctuary Wood Museum - A visit to the excellent Sanctuary Wood museum to see its unbelievable collection of artifacts…
- Hill 62 (sanctuary Wood) Canadian Memorial - First stop is an overview of the geography of the area and the battles that take place around Ypres. Using a map and field equipment i will fully explain the who, whys and whats.
- Sanctuary Wood Museum - A visit to the excellent Sanctuary Wood museum to see its unbelievable collection of artifacts and extensive preserved British trench system
- Essex Farm Cemetery - A visit to the preserved dressing station bunkers and the memorial to Lt Col John McCrae and the story of the In Flanders Fields Poem
- Langemark Cemetery - The German cemetery in Langemark, with its mass grave and links to the Nazis makes it a fascinating visit.
- The Brooding Soldier - The iconic Canadian monument, “The Brooding Soldier” commemorates the Canadian soldiers lost in the gas attacks of 1915. The gardens are also beautiful.
- Tyne Cot Cemetery - After driving through the battlefields of Passchendaele we finish the morning at the beautiful Tyne Cot cemetery the largest British and Commonwealth war grave cemetery in the world.
What's Included
- Private transportation
- Museum entrance fee
- In-vehicle air conditioning
- Private transportation
- Museum entrance fee
- In-vehicle air conditioning
Additional Information
Experience the luxury of a private tour led by a renowned battlefield historian and First World War author, complete with private transportation. The operator has been guiding tours in the Ypres Salient for the past 15 years, offering expert insights into the battlefields of Flanders and a deep familiarity with the area. The operator is the author of…
Experience the luxury of a private tour led by a renowned battlefield historian and First World War author, complete with private transportation. The operator has been guiding tours in the Ypres Salient for the past 15 years, offering expert insights into the battlefields of Flanders and a deep familiarity with the area. The operator is the author of two acclaimed books, “Studentenfriedhof to Soldatenfriedhof: A History of Langemark German Cemetery” and the best-selling “Reclaiming the Salient,” both of which are available for purchase during the tour, signed by the author.
As a prominent and active member of the remembrance community, the operator served as Chairman of the RBL Ypres branch from 2014 to 2016 and is now the co-founder and Chairman of a local remembrance organization, the “New Ypres League.”
Join this journey back in time to explore the historic battlefield sites of the renowned Ypres Salient, hear the stories of the soldiers who fought there, and discover some fascinating facts!
Location
Colaertplein 33
Colaertplein
Meeting place is the main entrance at Ypres railway station. I will be waiting in a black minibus marked Ypres Battlefield Tours. Please arrive by 9.45 am
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
5.0
(10 Ratings)
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Grapefruit12
Jun 8, 2024
The highlight of our Belgium trip! - What an INCREDIBLE experience this was!!! We went as a family of 8, from a 6 month old baby, to teenagers, to adults, and every single one of us was engaged and fascinated the entire time. Roger has such a wealth of knowledge and expertise to share, and he tells the most amazing stories. I could have spent an entire day with him, just listening and learning. We all felt so lucky that we found him. I can't imagine anyone else could even come close to his expertise and knowledge on this subject (he's written two books). He was also very flexible and accommodating to us, especially having a baby in the group. We recommend this experience 300%!!! Don't hesitated to book, you will learn so much!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
920travisk
Jan 10, 2024
Ypres Battlefield Tours - Roger took us around the battlefields of Ypres. We saw so many amazing places. We were lucky to have Roger all for ourselves and he was brilliant. Superbly knowledgeable and friendly he took us in comfort around the major sites, explaining the battles and answering our questions in detail. We’d recommend a tour with him any day!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Kellyhu6712tz
Dec 2, 2023
What a tour! Engaging, insightful, deeply moving - Roger's tour was amazing - something we will never forget. He is extremely knowledgeable, engaging, and also made great effort on the day to tailor the tour for us so that it shed greater light on the experiences of Australian troops (we are Australian). In line other reviews, he conveyed the experiences of both sides with great respect & dignity. Arguably, the best tour we have ever been on. Thank you, Roger.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Traceyllm
Sep 15, 2023
Exceptional WWI personalised experience! - We are so grateful and delighted to recommend Roger.
He organised a bespoke tour for us around my grandfather’s history and participation in WWI together with locating his point of capture at an outpost.
Our experience was more than we could have hoped for and Roger’s knowledge and experience is outstanding.
To put it all into perspective for us we then visited the actual trenches from Hill 62 and the Polygon Woods site where my grandfather’s regiment have achieved a significant victory.
A most amazing personal experience and depth of insight that we could ever have wished for. So thankful!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
L6956fysaraw
Jul 19, 2023
Personalised tour in Ypres - Roger was very accommodating and made our personalised tour very interesting, I contacted him with what I thought would be a problem and he had solutions! Roger knows his stuff, he went to above and beyond what I was expecting. My great aunt will return to Australia so happy. Roger has a way of explaining things that really puts things in perspective. It's taken me 2 days to process what I have learnt.
Thank you so much for our tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Kirsty
May 26, 2023
Amazing Tour with Roger - Roger is an amazing guide! Not only is he hugely knowledgeable & articulate but able to convey the scale of losses on all sides with respect & dignity for the many men who never came home. I would highly recommend his tours - we learnt so much and were able to understand the sequence of events from beginning to end. Visiting these sites make history come alive & Roger has a passion for sharing his vast expertise without it ever feeling overwhelming. At each location we had plenty of time to wander, soak up the atmosphere, ask questions, take photos & really try to comprehend all that happened.
It was thoroughly enjoyable & we all absolutely loved it. Thank you Roger, you do a fantastic job of honouring the many men who lost their lives.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Gerouldkern
May 9, 2023
A deeply moving tour of Ypres - Our tour of Ypres battlefields was very moving and truly education. Roger Steward is a fabulous guide, extremely knowledgeable, personable and accommodating. Even though we had read a lot about Ypres, we left with new perspectives thanks to his expertise. Roger’s books are must reading for those who want to learn more.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
M8404mrjamesn
Oct 7, 2022
A Most Educational Tour About Four Years of Tragic Battles - I was so impressed the depth of knowledge Roger has for the Ypres battlefields.
But it was even more than that. We really appreciated that he both picked us up and dripped us off from our hotel in Poperinge. You can read all you want about this subject but until you can have a person like Roger put things into perspective and then show you the views of the combatants as you tour the area, only then do you realize what you have been missing and the enormity of the titantic struggle that took place there 1914-1918.
I also appreciated that Roger included a German military cemetery into the tour so there was a sense of completeness about our tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Stovjust
Oct 3, 2022
Perfect half-day tour! - This is an intimate, entertaining, and meaningful tour full of unique personal touches. Roger collected me from my hotel and led an absolutely brilliant tour. He really contextualized the war in the Ypres salient, highlighting the role of environment and space, and thus brought to life the now silent landscape.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Helenhextall
Sep 27, 2022
An amazing 4 hour trip where WW1 is brought to life - Roger has such a passion for WW1 and a knowledge that any scholar would be envious of.
His tour was varied, we visited trenches, bunkers, cemeteries, monuments all within a 4 mile radius. At every point Roger explained what happened at these points, even down to explaining the colours around the trees.
My husband and I came away with a much deeper understanding of the war and how treacherous life was for all concerned.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
