Flanders' Fields

Flanders

The northern part of Belgium is known as Flanders. All Flemish towns are brimming with quaint medieval squares, tree-lined canals, gorgeous architectural facades, world class museums, trendy fashion and designer boutiques, and friendly outdoor cafés perfect for sipping on one of the many hundreds of different local beers. And – not to forget – the best chocolate in the world...Travelling to Flanders is an unforgettable experience!

For four long years Flanders Fields was the scene of the First World War. Homes and fields were turned into a battlefield in 1914 â devastation that lasted until 1918.

The Great War raged through large parts of the province of West-Flanders. A million soldiers were wounded, missing or killed in action. Some tens of thousands of citizens became refugees. Entire cities and villages were destroyed.

The landscape of the region still tells the story of the war. It contains hundreds of monuments and cemeteries, and many museums recount fascinating stories of bravery and hope.

And memories don't fade: the Last Post is played each day at the Menin Gate in Ypres, since 1928, to exclaim the burning desire for peace. For all...

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Not to Miss

In Flanders Fields Museum

The In Flanders Fields Museum presents the story of the First World War in the West Flanders front region. It is located in the renovated Cloth Halls of Ypres, an important symbol of wartime hardship and later recovery.

Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917

Using vivid dioramas, soil finds and a unique reconstruction of an underground shelter 6m in depth from 1917, the museum tells the story of the Battle of Passendale also known as the Third Battle of Ypres.

Last Post

Every evening at 8pm precisely, the Last Post has been sounded since 1928 under the imposing arches of the Menin Gate in Ypres. This memorial, shaped like a Roman triumphal arch, displays the names of 54,896 soldiers of the then British empire who went missing in action.

Essex Farm Cemetery

One of the best known First World War sites in the Ypres salient is Essex Farm Cemetery and Advanced Dressing Station where John McCrae wrote his famous poem "In Flanders Fields" at the beginning of May 1915.

Tyne Cot Military Cemetery

The name Passendale is indelibly etched on the collective consciousness of Great-Britain and her Commonwealth. During the Third Battle of Ieper (1917) the British Army lost nearly 300,000 men to capture this ruined village ‘Passion Dale' – the valley of suffering. The cost in human life to achieve this 'victory' is all too evident in Tyne Cot Cemetery, the largest British war cemetery on mainland Europe.