Travelling to Ypres

How to Reach Ypres

Ypres is located in Belgium, about 20 miles inland from the Channel coast. Although you can use public transport to visit sites of interest around Ypres, to make the most of your visit it's best if you have your own vehicle. Travelling to Ypres by car is fairly straightforward, depending of course on where you live in the UK! If you travel by Eurotunnel or by ferry from the Channel Ports to Calais , then it is only around an hour and a quarter drive on the other side.

 

Driving - Crossing the Channel

The most convenient and quickest option to cross the channel  is Eurotunnel; even with the new security arrangements which can make the check in process a little longer, the Eurotunnel crossing time is just over half an hour and of course you drive straight off once you reach the terminal in Calais to get on with your journey.

You can also cross by ferry; there are two companies currently operating Dover to Calais. These are DFDS and P&O. The crossing time is 1½ - 2 hours.

Direct Ferries offer prices for both ferry companies as well as Eurotunnel.

Once you reach Calais, follow the A16 motorway towards Dunkirk (Dunkerque) and Lille. Leave the A16 after about 25 miles at Grand Synthe, following signs for A25:Lille, Ypres(Ieper) and follow the N225 south (towards Lille).

This route goes via Lijsenthoek, site of one of the largest war cemeteries in the Flanders area and also via Poperinghe (known as "Pop" to the soldiers during the war, a pleasant town safely behind the lines, which has several interesting Great War related sites to visit) .

Leave the A25 after 20 miles, at junction 13, signed for Bethune, Hazebrouck and Ieper. You will come to a roundabout and need to go all the way round this and head back over the motorway, following the signs for Ypres. Follow this road (the D948) for about 6 miles, then turn right where the green sign shows for Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery.  Shortly turn right again, and after a mile the cemetery will be on your right. See the page on this cemetery for more information. From here, return to the main road, and Poperinghe is about three miles further on.  Alternatively to travel directly to Ypres, follow the ring road around Poperinghe (Ypres is signposted) and it's around another 10 miles on the N38 to reach Ypres.

Rail

It’s also possible to reach Ypres by rail from the UK via Eurostar. You can go via Lille rather than Brussels; it takes about 95 minutes by train from Lille. From Brussels trains run hourly to Ypres and the journey takes just under 2 hours, changing trains at Ghent.

Fly

The nearest airports to Ypres are Brussels and Antwerp, although from the UK you can only fly from London City to Antwerp. Brussels however has flights from a number of UK regional airports. From Brussels airport the route by train to Ypres is via Ghent or via Kortik, and the journey takes about 2 ½ hours.