Private Tour: WWI Canadian Battlefields Including Thiepval Memorial, Beamont-Hamel, Vimy Ridge and Last Post Ceremony in Ypres from Brussels

After morning pickup from your Brussels hotel by luxury private vehicle, listen to your guide explain the history of World War I and Canada's role in the war as you journey two hours across the Belgium border to the French town of Vimy. It was here where, during the Battle of Arras in 1917, Canadian forces secured a vital victory over the Germans, one of Canada’s most important contributions to the Battle of the Somme.

Visit former war trenches and gain insight into the horrors and hardships of trench warfare, and pause to take in the poignant Canadian National Vimy Memorial, a stark-white beacon in the quiet French countryside.

Commemorate fallen Commonwealth soldiers at the Messines Ridge British Cemetery and Irish Peace Park, and learn of the significance behind the Pool of Peace (Spanbroekmolen), a bomb crater now filled with water. Continue along a tree-lined road to Hill 62 and Sanctuary Wood, once the front line between the opposing forces during the war. From your hillside vantage point, look out across the peaceful landscape, once a bloodied battleground.

Your next stop is the Tyne Cot Cemetery, the largest Commonwealth military cemetery in the world, with 13,000 men laid to rest here, plus an additional 35,000 names in honor of those who were never found. Stop by the St Julien Memorial, honoring soldiers killed in WWI’s first gas attacks in 1915, and visit the Essex Farm Cemetery, where Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae wrote his famous war poem, ‘In Flanders Fields.'

Your last stop is the city of Ypres. Have free time for dinner (own expense) and then head to the Menin Gate Memorial to take part in the Last Post memorial service. It takes place every evening to honor of those who sacrificed their lives, including 55,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers who remain unaccounted for.

At the end of the ceremony, travel by luxury minivan back to your Brussels hotel where your tour ends.