The Long, Long Trail's Battlefield Guide
The battlefields of the Great War are evocative and fascinating places to visit. This section of the Long, Long Trail will be helpful for anyone planning a trip to the sacred ground of the Western Front in France and Flanders.
The view from the Longueval-Bazentin road towards High Wood. Hard to believe this was hell on earth in the summer of 1916.
A large British military cemetery and the memorial to the New Zealand Division can be seen in the distance.
General tourist advice
My guides to each area of the Western Front give you specific information: how to get there, where to stay, local amenities and the sites to see. You can see them listed below: click through for all the detail.
If you plan to travel to the battlefields independently, perhaps have not been before, remember this advice: take a good guide book. You will get much more out of your visit. If all you do is go to the main sites and stick to the main roads, you will definitely miss out on the most interesting places and sights:
| There aren't too many good general battlefield guide books. This is what I consider to be the first and still the best: Rose Coombs "Before Endeavours Fade". A series of routes covering the areas in which the British army fought in France and Flanders, describing what happened, the sites to see and the route to take. A classic. | |
| Also a very good guide, full of photographs: Major & Mrs Holt's "Concise illustrated guide to the Western Front - North". This book not only covers the British areas well but also takes us into the areas occupied and fought over by the French and Belgian armies. | |
| Similar in style and taking us all the way down to Verdun: Major & Mrs Holt's "Concise illustrated guide to the Western Front - South". This book covers the area of the Somme battlefields, one of the most popular areas for British, Australian and Canadian tourists. |
Tip: how long do I need? It obviously depends on what you want to achieve, how much you wish to spend and where you want to go, but you should probably budget on a trip of 2-5 days to either study one area in detail or to see the main sites of the British front.
Your travel options
There are many ways in which you can see the battlefields, and they have pros and cons depending on your own requirements and preferences. I will not add links to these businesses unless they link to this site. You can find them all by Googling.
Organised package tours (UK departures)
Several specialist and some general coach tour operators run trips to the battlefields of France and Flanders. They will cater for parties of all sizes. This category includes some specialist firms that cater for school trips. Generally these tours operate to a fixed itinerary and have little opportunity to add in a special visit on your behalf. It is difficult to generalise as these companies cover a broad spectrum, but remember to check not only their tour itineraries but where the accommodation is (it can be many miles from the battlefields) and the standard of the battlefield guides who will conduct the tour.
Organised tours (local battlefield departures)
Based mainly at Ypres and Albert (Somme) are a number of tour operators that operate frequent local day or half day tours of their area. These are generally minibus- or people-carrier-based so cater for parties typically between 1 and 10 travellers. Many will organise special visits to, for example, a chosen cemetery and blend it into their pre-determined travel itineraries. It goes without saying that to take advantage of these tours you need to get to the area first and that these trips do not include accommodation.
Independent travel
This is so broad an area that all I will say is - it is easy to travel to France and Belgium from the UK; easy to travel by car or public transport to your chosen area; accommodation is plentiful and generally of a good standard. The battlefields are easy to travel by car, motorcycle, bike or on foot as long as you have good maps and take advantage of my advice in the area-by-area pages linked below.
"There are three ways to travel the battlefields: you can do it independently, and if so you'll find my guides on this page helpful. You could alternatively join others on an organised bus tour. Both have pros and cons. And now you can have a high quality, personal tour with me. Why not look me up? "