WW1 Flanders to the Somme by Overnight Ferry
5 days from £799pp
NEW About the tour: WW1 Flanders to the Somme by Overnight Ferry
Tour Introduction
Join us on the perfect introductory tour to the Battlefields of the First World War, visiting key locations at Arras, the Somme and Ypres.
Tour Includes
- 2 nights overnight ferry in an inside low berth cabin
- 2 nights hotel with continental breakfast
- Extensive buffet breakfast and buffet dinner on board the overnight ferries
- 1 lunch
- Specialist Battlefield Guide
- Local joining points
- Porterage at the hotel
(Deposits from £50pp)
We offer flexible payment options
Once you have booked your battlefield tour either online, or by telephone 01709 385 624, you have the flexibility of how you pay off the remainder of your balance. You can -
- Use our balance payment facility online to make and track your card payments. You can pay as much as you want up until your final due date or pay it all, the choice is yours.
- Send payments via online banking.
- Send payments via cheque.
- Call us and make a card payment, either a small amount or as lump sum until your final due date.
Our contact and online banking payment details will be on your confirmation invoice to remind you of your choices.
Tour Itinerary
For customers living outside of the UK, if you want to make a booking you will need to provide a UK postcode on our online booking system. If you are not able to provide a relevant UK postcode then you can enter the postcode for London Victoria Coach Station – SW1W 9TP. You should then be able to proceed to complete your booking.
If you do encounter a problem then you can speak to one of our friendly advisors who will be happy to help.
Please Note : After completing your booking, a member of our Customer Service team will be in touch to make sure everything is okay.
Either e-mail our Reservations Department or call on 01709 830 333 and they will check to see whether you can visit a particular cemetery on any of our Battlefield Tours, if we are not able to fit it into our itinerary then you could take some time out of the tour and do this independently by taxi or public transport.
Day 1
Local departure by coach or Door-to-Door service and we continue towards Newcastle for our overnight crossing to the Netherlands.
We have an included meal package on board, including an extensive buffet breakfast and buffet dinner. Afterwards, enjoy the variety of other facilities on board, including bars and live entertainment.
Included meals: Dinner
Day 2 - Trenches at Hooge – Ypres Battlefields
We depart our ferry and head for Flanders, arriving for an included late lunch at the Hooge Crater Café and Museum. Located in the heart of the battlefields at Ypres, where over four years a quarter of a million men from British and the Commonwealth died, here we visit the superb private museum, go into a system of specially reconstructed trenches and begin our look at the fighting on the Western Front.
In the afternoon, we go to Tyne Cot near Passchendaele and visit the largest British Military Cemetery in the world. We learn about the stories of gas warfare in WW1 at the Canadian Memorial at Vancouver Corner – the so-called ‘Brooding Soldier’. At Essex Farm, we see the grave of one of the youngest to die, aged only 15, and some original WW1 bunkers used as a Dressing Station for the wounded. This was also where Canadian Poet John McCrae wrote ‘In Flanders Fields’ in 1915.
We then continue to our hotel in central Ypres for two nights, where you will be able to attend the moving Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate.
Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Tyne Cot Cemetery (5)
Key Visits
- Tyne Cot Cemetery
- Hooge Crater Café and Museum
- Essex Farm
- Vancouver Corner Canadian Memorial
Day 3 - Vimy Ridge & the Somme
We travel down into northern France and visit the impressive Canadian Memorial on the crest of Vimy Ridge. Here, the Canadians took the ridge in April 1917, and we see the memorial, preserved trenches and mine craters.
Later we visit the Arras Memorial to the Missing, which commemorates over 35,000 with no known grave. After lunch in Arras, we head down to the Somme battlefields of 1916. Here, we go into the preserved trenches in the Newfoundland Park at Beaumont-Hamel, see the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing which commemorates over 72,000 ‘missing of the Somme’, and end at the Lochnagar Mine Crater at La Boisselle, the largest British mine crater surviving on the Western Front.
Included meals: Breakfast
Vimy Ridge Memorial (7)
Key Visits
- Lochnagar Crater
- Vimy Trenches
- Vimy Ridge Memorial
- Newfoundland Park
- Thiepval Memorial
- Arras Memorial to the Missing
Day 4 - Flanders Fields
We return to the Battlefields at Ypres, visiting the Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing, driving along the Messines Ridge, seeing the Visitor Centre at Messines itself, and then visiting the preserved mine craters at Hill 60, along with bunkers and shell-holes from WW1.
In Ypres, we spend time at the Menin Gate to understand its history, hearing some of the stories of those commemorated here. You then have some free time in Ypres before we continue to Ijmuiden for our return overnight crossing to the UK. We have an included meal package on board, including extensive buffets for breakfast and dinner.
Included meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Menin Gate (5)
Key Visits
- Menin Gate
- Ploegsteert Memorial
- Hill 60
- Messines Ridge & Visitor Centre
Day 5
We disembark this morning and continue our journey home via an en route stop in York.
Included meals: Breakfast
York (2)
Key Visits
- York
Specialist Battlefield Guides
All of Leger’s battlefield tours are accompanied by specialist guides. Their individual in-depth knowledge of warfare will be informative, as well as enhance your overall experience, as they recreate a fascinating perception of the history and factual events of each battle. Discover the actual catalysts for war, the strategies employed and the final, inevitable outcomes, as well as experiencing the emotional human side of the front line.
Please note: On certain tours, you may get tour guides other that the ones listed below.
Hotel
If you prefer, then you can join the tour at the hotel. To do this, we will require a copy of your passport for identification purposes and you must advise us at the time of booking.
No reduction will be given if you should choose to do this.
All hotel rooms benefit from private bathroom facilities.
Some hotels have tea and coffee making facilities. Please check the tour pages for more information or call our Customer Service Department on 01709 830333
Most hotels have a lift, please call our Customer Service Department on 01709 830333 for more information.
Some hotels have ground floor rooms. Please email for information on individual hotels or call our Customer Service Department on 01709 830333.
Your hotels will supply towels in your room.
We are unable to guarantee that the hotel will be able to meet your dietary requirements. We find that the majority of European countries do not generally cater for vegetarians and that the meal supplied may well be what everyone else is having minus the meat.
We will of course endeavour to arrange for a vegetarian meal at the hotel. We do however suggest that you advise us of your dietary requests at the time of booking and recommend that you speak to the receptionist on arrival with regard to your request.
You will stay for two nights in the Novotel Ypres, located in the centre of Ypres just a short walk from Menin Gate.
Overnight ferry accommodation is in an inside cabin with low berth.
Novotel Ypres Centrum
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About the hotel
The Novotel Ypres Centrum is located in the heart of historic town of Ypres, just a short walk from the Menin Gate. The hotel makes the ideal base for exploring the rich military heritage of the area.
Hotel Features
- Bar
- English Speaking Staff
- Guest Lounge
- Lift
- Restaurant
- WiFi Available
Room Features
- Bath and/or Shower
- Hairdryer
- Tea and Coffee Making Facilities
- Telephone
- TV
Travel Options
Departure times given for each region are approximate. Please check your travel documents to confirm the actual timings.
Front row seats can be reserved for £14pp (up to 6 days duration), £22pp (7 & 8 days duration) and £25pp (9 days duration and over) on all European tours. In addition to this seats on the second row can be reserved for £7pp (up to 6 days duration), £14pp (7 & 8 days duration) and £15pp (9 days duration and over). This offer is only available for bookings of two or four persons on the front row and is subject to availability. Guaranteed front/second row seats cannot be reserved on feeder journeys to/from the U.K. port. Children under 15 years cannot occupy a front row seat due to French Law. Central view seats are free.
Please note: On some coaches the legroom on front seats may be slightly less than that available on other seats due to the presence of a modesty board in front.
If your tour is cancelled for any reason and front/second row seats are not available on your new tour you will be refunded the supplement. No other compensation will be payable.
Alternatively, we can take seating requests on your booking. However, requests are not guaranteed. All seat numbers are confirmed on travel documents approximately 7-10 days prior to departure.
We guarantee that all passengers on the same booking will be seated together on the main tour coach. Seats on the transfer coaches to and from the U.K. port are not allocated.
Hot and cold drinks are served on the main tour coaches. Prices are approximately £1 or 1.25 Euro per drink. Prices will be confirmed by the driver. Drinks may also be served on the transfer coaches but this is not guaranteed.
Transfer vehicles are routed approximately 2-3 weeks before departure and will depend on where passengers are booked to travel from on any particular date as to which route is taken. If you require further detailed information regarding the route to the port you can contact our Customer Service Department on 01709 830333 two weeks before you are due to travel.
With regard to the route taken by the main tour coach, this is determined by the driver.
All main tour coaches have on-board toilets. Transfer vehicles to and from the U.K. port may not have on-board toilets. When non-British coaches are used on transfers and tours (air holidays only) an on-board toilet may not be available. However, comfort stops will be made during long journeys.
All coaches feature air-conditioning. Should the air-conditioning system break down for a period exceeding 12 hours, compensation will be awarded up to a maximum of £10 per fare-paying passenger per tour.
Depending on the location of your pickup point, you may be picked up by coach (not necessarily the on you are touring on), minibus, taxi, National Express or Megabus service. You may then be taken to another centralised pickup location or service station. We operate a passenger interchange at Folkestone Services, where you will meet the tour coach you are holidaying on and then continue on with your outbound journey. Similarly, on the way home, you may also change transfer vehicles at another location, to take you to your final drop off point.
One medium sized suitcase per person, which should weigh no more than 20kg when full. We may refuse to carry larger or heavier cases. Hand luggage can be stored in the overhead racks aboard the coach.
It could be either - This will be confirmed in your travel documents.
When it comes to getting to the Battlefields, Leger Holidays make it easy, with a selection of travel options for you choose from.
Silver Service Coach
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Silver Service Features
- Sit back and relax in specially-designed, deluxe reclining seats, with leather headrests, footrests and more legroom than standard coaches.
- Enjoy the perfect temperature onboard with climate control.
- Relax and have a chat in the spacious rear lounge.
- Servery on board offering a range of refreshments.
- Porterage* at most hotels, so you really don’t have to lift a finger.
- Time flies with our onboard entertainment system.
- With free personal headphones you can tune into the music channel, listen to the radio or watch DVDs.
- Onboard toilet
Silver Service Seating Plan
Silver Service Virtual Tour
Travel Extras
With an overnight stay or the option to meet us at the interchange, our travel extras allow you to create a travel experience to suit your needs...
Join coach at Interchange
+ Find out moreJoin your tour coach at the interchange.
On most tours if you’d prefer to join your tour coach at Folkestone Services, you can park your car in the car park which is accredited by the Park Mark safer parking scheme and is monitored 24 hours a day by CCTV. Payment for the parking is made on arrival using the self-service machines.
Excludes tours to Ireland and the U.K. and tours travelling via Brittany Ferries.
