Private Somme Battlefields tours put your party alone in the car with a guide who plans the day around you. They start at your hotel or at a station or museum near the battlefield, and can follow a relative's footsteps.
One price for up to three. Four hours from the Musée Somme 1916 in Albert, starting in its tunnel, then Lochnagar, Pozières, Thiepval and Beaumont-Hamel. Choose a morning or an afternoon start, and pay the museum's EUR 8 at the desk.
From $301 per group, up to 3
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Pickup at 9 am from your hotel in Amiens, back there nine hours later. The Australian story in order: Pozières and Mouquet Farm, Le Hamel, then Villers-Bretonneux and the Sir John Monash Centre. Admission everywhere is paid; lunch in Albert is not.
From $324 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Your own guide for four hours from the main doors of Albert station, or a pickup you arrange. Thiepval and its visitor centre, the Beaumont-Hamel trenches, Lochnagar and Pozières, for up to three at the lowest group fare we list.
From $289 per group, up to 3
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Eight and a half hours for up to three at one price, from Arras or Albert station or your hotel. The 1 July line in depth: Beaumont-Hamel, the Sunken Lane, Dartmoor Cemetery, the German cemetery at Fricourt, and Delville Wood.
From $521 per group, up to 3
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Look for the minibus with the Battlefield Guided Tours sign opposite Arras station at 9 am, or ask for a hotel pickup. Beaumont-Hamel, the Gibraltar bunker, ninety minutes in the Musée Somme 1916, Proyart and the Australian memorial. Two to book.
From $324 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
A historian joins you in your own car at the guide's B&B in Beaucourt-sur-l'Ancre at 9 am. Eight hours and nine stops, from the Sunken Lane and Thiepval Wood to Caterpillar Valley and Adanac. Up to four people; lunch is EUR 10 extra.
From $405 per group, up to 4
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Collected at 8:30 am from your hotel or the station in Lille or Arras. Three hours at Vimy Ridge with the tunnel, lunch in the fare, then Courcelette, Lochnagar, Thiepval and the caribou. A booklet recording the day comes with it.
From $654 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Pickup at your hotel in Ypres at 8:30 am, across the border into France. Vimy Ridge and the Grange Tunnel for three hours, lunch and bottled water in the fare, then Courcelette, Thiepval and ninety minutes at Beaumont-Hamel.
From $651 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
A private car and driver with a guide, from your Paris hotel. The Monash Centre, Lochnagar, Pozières, Thiepval and Beaumont-Hamel, ending at the Historial in Péronne. Museum and memorial entry is paid; meals are yours.
From $563 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
From your Paris hotel at 7:30 am to Vimy Ridge by evening, with Villers-Bretonneux, Le Hamel, the Albert museum, Thiepval, the Ulster Tower and Beaumont-Hamel on the way. Wi-Fi and water in the car; two to book.
From $637 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Four hours for up to three at one price: Thiepval, Beaumont-Hamel, Lochnagar and Pozières, from the station doors.
Check availabilityIt is a guide and a car for your party and nobody else. You choose the pace, stop where you want, and ask as many questions as you like. On many, the guide will research a soldier or a unit before you arrive.
Private days start in more places than shared ones: your hotel in Paris, Amiens, Lille, Arras or Ypres, Albert station, the Musée Somme 1916, or a B&B in Beaucourt-sur-l'Ancre. They run from four hours to a full day.
No other guests set the pace or the questions. If you want an hour at one grave, you have it.
Several private listings offer to research a name before you come. Send the soldier's name, regiment and service number when you book, and the day is planned around that name. See choosing between an Australian, a Canadian and a whole-front day for how the days differ.
The private days from Paris, Amiens, Lille, Arras and Ypres collect you from your hotel. The half days meet you at Albert station or the museum.
Some private fares are one price for up to three or four. For three people, the half day from Albert station costs $96 each, less than a shared seat from Paris.
The shared days are the cheapest way to go alone. For a couple or a family, the gap narrows fast.
| Private | Shared, from Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Who is in the vehicle | Your party only | Up to 7 or 8 guests |
| Where it starts | Your hotel, or a station or museum near the battlefield | A Paris kerb at 6:30 or 7 am |
| How it is priced | Per person with two to book, or one price for up to 3 or 4 | Per person |
| Two people pay | $289 to $1,309 | $523 to $579 |
| The route | Bends to you, and to a relative's grave | Fixed |
| Lunch | In the fare on the Canadian days | Never in the fare |
If you are alone and on a budget, the shared day wins. If you are three, or there is a name you want to find, go private. The shared days are on Somme battlefield tours from Paris.
Pickup at your Amiens hotel at 9 am for Pozières, Le Hamel and Villers-Bretonneux, with every museum ticket in the fare.
Check availabilityA solo traveller on a budget. A per-group fare costs the same for one as for three. A shared seat from avenue des Ternes costs $261; see the small-group day from Paris.
Anyone who drives and has read up. The memorials are free and open every day, so you can go on your own; see visiting the Somme without a tour.
Anyone who would rather share the day. A shared minibus of seven or eight guests from Paris is a different kind of day, and it costs less a seat.
Private days, shared days and every fare sit side by side on Somme Battlefields Tours.