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Somme Battlefields Tours › The Somme Battlefields or Ypres: Which First World War Front to VisitUpdated 2026-09-25

The Somme Battlefields or Ypres: Which First World War Front to Visit

Hours, prices and access verified by the Somme Battlefields Tours team — last checked 2026-09-25.

Grassed-over trench lines and shell holes, sheep grazing beyond

The short answer. Go to the Somme for 1916: the first day, the Thiepval Memorial, the Lochnagar crater, the Newfoundland trenches and the Australian battles of 1916 and 1918. Go to Ypres for the Ypres Salient, the Menin Gate and its Last Post at 8 pm every evening. With a single day, follow the story that brought you. With two, do both.

The Somme and Ypres side by side

The two fronts sit either side of the Belgian border, and a day on either is a long one. The real question is which story you came for, and where you are sleeping.

The SommeYpres
The battle1 July-18 November 1916, and 1918The Ypres Salient, 1914-1918
Names of the missingThiepval: 72,000+Menin Gate: 54,000+
EntryMemorials free; museums EUR 6-10The Last Post is free, no booking
Best for1 July, Newfoundland, AustraliansBritish, Canadian and Australian salient history
A day starts inParis, Amiens, Albert or ArrasYpres itself
The eveningNothing fixedThe Last Post, 8 pm, every day

Comparing the Somme's Somme Battlefields ticket prices with a day in Flanders? The fares sit side by side, with what each one includes.

The case for the Somme

Choose the Somme if 1916 is your story. You stand at Lochnagar Crater, blown at 7:28 am on 1 July 1916, and at the Thiepval Memorial, which names more than 72,000 men with no known grave. You walk the Newfoundland trenches at Beaumont-Hamel, where 30 hectares of the battlefield were kept as they were left.

It is also the front for Australians. Pozières in 1916 and Villers-Bretonneux in 1918 are both here, and so is the Sir John Monash Centre. And it is the easier front from Paris: the small-group day from Paris leaves at 7 am and gives you about five hours at the sites. The whole route is in the Somme memorials stop by stop.

The case for Ypres

Choose Ypres if your relative served in the salient, or if you want the Last Post. Every evening at exactly 8 pm the police stop the traffic under the Menin Gate and the buglers of the Last Post Association play. It has been played since 2 July 1928. It is free, and you need no reservation to attend.

The Menin Gate carries more than 54,000 names of men with no known grave. It was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield and unveiled by Lord Plumer on 24 July 1927. It names men of Australia, Canada, India, South Africa and the United Kingdom who died in the salient. United Kingdom and New Zealand soldiers who died after 16 August 1917 are named at Tyne Cot instead, at the furthest point Commonwealth forces reached in Belgium until nearly the end of the war. The In Flanders Fields Museum in the Cloth Hall tells the story of the salient.

Did you know? The Last Post Association has played at the Menin Gate every evening since 1928. The ceremony counter on its own site passed 34,000 in 2026.

Doing both

You can, and there are two ways. The first is one long day from Ypres: the Canadian day from Ypres picks you up at 8:30 am, spends three hours at Vimy Ridge, then covers Courcelette, Lochnagar, Thiepval and Beaumont-Hamel in nine hours, with lunch in the fare. You are back in time for the Last Post.

The second is two days. Spend one on the Somme from Amiens or Albert, move north, and give Ypres its own day and evening. That is the better plan if a relative lies on each front. Book the Somme half first: the private Australian day from Amiens or the private half day from Albert.

  • One day only: choose the front your family's story is on.
  • One day from Paris: the Somme; it is the nearer front.
  • Two days: the Somme first, then Ypres, so your second evening ends at the Last Post.

How a day on each front starts, and what it costs

The fronts differ most in where you sleep the night before.

  • The Somme from Paris. A shared day leaves a Paris kerb at 6:30 or 7 am, runs 11 to 13 hours and costs $261 to $289 a person. About four of those hours are the drive.
  • The Somme from Albert or Amiens. Private days start at the museum in Albert, at Albert or Arras station, or at your Amiens hotel. A half day costs from $289 for a group of up to three.
  • Ypres. The Canadian day collects you from your Ypres hotel at 8:30 am and costs $651 a person, lunch included. The Last Post costs nothing.
  • Lille or Arras. The Canadian day from there costs $654 a person, with lunch, and covers Vimy and the Somme.

If you are staying in Paris, the Somme is the practical choice: the shared days leave the city early and bring you back the same evening. Every starting point is set out on how to get to the Somme battlefields, and the Paris days on Somme battlefield tours from Paris.

Which front for you

  • British: both fronts matter. If the family story is 1 July 1916, the Somme; if it is 1917 in Flanders, Ypres.
  • Australian: the Somme for Pozières, Villers-Bretonneux and the Monash Centre; Ypres too if you have time, as the Menin Gate names Australians.
  • Canadian: Vimy Ridge, in the Pas-de-Calais near Arras, and Courcelette on the Somme. The Canadian days fit both into one.
  • Newfoundlander: Beaumont-Hamel, on the Somme.
  • New Zealander: the New Zealand memorial at Longueval is on the Somme, and Tyne Cot near Ypres names New Zealand's missing from late 1917.
Useful tip. Starting in Lille or Arras? The Canadian day from there reaches Vimy and the Somme in nine hours too; the day's Vimy and Beaumont-Hamel stops are described on things to do on the Somme battlefields.

The verdict

If you can give only one day, choose by the family's story. If there is no single soldier behind the trip, the Somme gives you the more complete picture in a day: the first day's sites, the memorial to the missing, the trenches and the crater, all within a short drive of Albert. The fees on each site are on the Somme battlefields visitor guide.

Where these facts come from

Every hour, fee and date here comes from the body that runs the site. Hours move with the season, so check yours before you travel.

Days that cross both fronts

Next: Plan the Somme half with how to visit the Somme battlefields. Every fare, from Paris and from the battlefield towns, sits side by side on Somme Battlefields Tours.