Flanders /Ypres
Visiting Ypres and the Salient - Belgian Flanders
This website went live in 2004, and is regularly updated to provide an online guide to areas of the Western Front as they are today, with historical information and photographs alongside modern photos of each area. It provides practical information – see pages on Visiting the Somme and Visiting Ypres. There is information on how to best reach the battlefields of the Somme and Flanders and also where to stay (Somme and Flanders). For those with limited time, there is a page listing Five must-see Somme sites – useful if you have only one day to spend in the area. Helping you to make the most of your battlefield visit is the main purpose of this website.
There are many more pages on what to see in the two main areas of interest on the Western Front, Ypres/Flanders and the Somme. For Flanders, these include Tyne Cot, the Menin Gate in Ypres and Passchendaele, whilst in the Somme, there are pages on the Thiepval Memorial, the Newfoundland Memorial Park and Beaumont Hamel, among others.
There are also pages on other key sites on the Western Front, such as Vimy Ridge, Arras and Verdun.
The latest updates to the website are from a trip e to the Somme in summer, 2021. There were few visitors, and I took some aerial photographs and video footage of some of the sites. The most recent updates are to the Ulster Tower page; other recent updates have been made to the Beaumont Hamel, Thiepval, High Wood and Trones Wood pages.
There are some excellent guidebooks and other resources for visiting the battlefields. These are also listed on the relevant pages.
Sections covering the main battlefields of interest on the Western Front can be accessed via the links below: