You will not find one site called the Somme. You find a ring of memorials, cemeteries, a crater and three museums spread over the ridges north-east of Amiens. Here they are site by site, with the hours, the fees and the time a day gives each. If you are weighing up a Somme Battlefields booking, start with the places you most want to stand.
The Thiepval Memorial is the memorial to the missing of the Somme. It carries the names of more than 72,000 men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died on the Somme before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of them died between July and November 1916.
Sir Edwin Lutyens designed it, and it was built from 1928 to 1932. At its foot lies a small cemetery with equal numbers of Commonwealth and French graves. You can walk up to the arches at any hour, with no ticket.
The Thiepval Museum beside it costs EUR 6 for an adult. It holds Joe Sacco's 60-metre drawing of 1 July 1916. The visitor-centre area itself is free, and most days give you 30 minutes to an hour here.
The British 179th Tunnelling Company blew the Lochnagar mine at 7:28 am on 1 July 1916. It was the largest of 19 mines fired that morning. The crater it left is 100.5 m across and 21 m deep, the largest man-made crater of the war on the Western Front.
A path runs round the rim, so you look down into the pit from every side. Lochnagar Crater is free and open in daylight, and a donation is welcome. Every tour stops here, and you usually get about 30 minutes.
Beaumont-Hamel is the place to see real trenches. The 30-hectare park, 9 km north of Albert, keeps the ground where the Newfoundland Regiment attacked on 1 July 1916. The trench lines and shell holes are grassed over but still clear to read.
A bronze caribou by Basil Gotto stands over the field, and 820 names of Newfoundlanders with no known grave are cut beside it. Entry is free. When the visitor centre is open, Canadian student guides lead free tours. Plan on 45 minutes to an hour and a half.
The Musée Somme 1916 in Albert runs through a 1930s air-raid-shelter tunnel 10 m under the town. You go down 62 steps, so it is not wheelchair accessible. It is open daily from 9 am to 6 pm, last entry 5:30 pm, and costs EUR 8 for an adult and EUR 5 from 6 to 18.
The Historial de la Grande Guerre fills the château in Péronne. It costs EUR 10 for an adult, EUR 5 for children from 7 to 16, or EUR 25 for a family. A combined ticket with the Thiepval Museum costs EUR 12 and lasts a year. Both Historial sites close from 6 December into mid-January.
The Australian National Memorial stands on the hill above Villers-Bretonneux. Behind it, the Sir John Monash Centre tells the Australian story on the Western Front, where about 295,000 Australians served and about 46,000 were killed.
Entry is free, and earphones cost EUR 3. It opens daily 9:30 am to 6 pm from March to October and 10 am to 5 pm in winter. It closes for maintenance in February and on 1 May. The Australian days give it an hour to an hour and a half.
The Ulster Tower stands on the Schwaben Redoubt, facing Thiepval Wood. It was the first official memorial on the Western Front, dedicated on 19 November 1921. It opens from March to November, Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm. Thiepval Wood itself is by booked guided tour only.
At Pozières, the Australians fought from 23 July 1916. The tours stop at the windmill site, the Gibraltar bunker or the British cemetery. The fuller story is on the history of the battlefields.
Delville Wood at Longueval is the South African National Memorial. Its museum is free, and a donation is welcome. It closes on Mondays, and for December and January. Live shells remain in the wood, so you keep to the rides. In strong wind the wood is locked.
Vimy Ridge is not on the Somme. It lies in the Pas-de-Calais near Arras, and the Canadian days pair it with Beaumont-Hamel and Courcelette. Its tunnel and trench tour takes 30 minutes, is free and runs first come, first served.
Amiens Cathedral closes the shared days from Paris, with 20 to 30 minutes inside before the drive home. If you would rather spend that time on the battlefield, a day that starts in Albert gives you all of it there.
Lochnagar Crater is on every day. After that, where you start decides what you see. The table reads across from each site to the days that include it.
| Site | Entry | Hours | Which tours stop there |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thiepval Memorial | Free | Open access, every day | Every day except the Australian shared day from the Champs-Élysées |
| Lochnagar Crater | Free; donation welcome | Daylight | Every day |
| Beaumont-Hamel | Free; free student guides | Park every day; centre closed mid-December to early February | Every day except the Australian shared day |
| Musée Somme 1916 | EUR 8 adult | Daily 9 am-6 pm | In the fare from Amiens, from Arras and on a private Paris day; extra on the Albert half day that meets there |
| Historial, Péronne | EUR 10 adult | Daily in summer; closed Mondays October-March | In the fare on the Australian shared day and a private Paris day |
| Sir John Monash Centre | Free; earphones EUR 3 | Daily; closed in February and 1 May | The shared Paris days, the Amiens and Arras days, the private Paris days |
| Ulster Tower | Free | March-November, closed Mondays | The Beaucourt historian's day and a private Paris day |
| Delville Wood | Free; donation welcome | Museum closed Mondays, December and January | The private full day from Arras or Albert |
| Vimy Ridge (Pas-de-Calais) | Free | Park every day | The Canadian days and a private Paris day |
Two museums sit inside some fares. The Musée Somme 1916 is paid for on the days from Amiens and Arras, and the Historial on the Australian shared day. The meeting points for each day are on how to get to the Somme battlefields.
Every day stops at Lochnagar. The Australian, Canadian and 1916 days part ways after that, and each card shows its own stops.
A half day of four hours covers Lochnagar, Pozières, the Thiepval Memorial and Beaumont-Hamel. You get 30 minutes to an hour at each. Add the Musée Somme 1916 and you need another hour.
A full day adds Villers-Bretonneux and the Sir John Monash Centre, or the German cemeteries at Fricourt and Proyart, or Delville Wood. From Paris, you have four to six hours on the ground, so the days keep each stop to about half an hour.
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.
A private day for up to three from Arras or Albert station at 9 am: Beaumont-Hamel, Thiepval, Lochnagar, the Sunken Lane, the German cemetery at Fricourt and an hour at Delville Wood.
From $521 per group, up to 3
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A full day with a historian who rides in your own car from the guide's B&B in Beaucourt-sur-l'Ancre: the Sunken Lane, the Ulster Tower and Thiepval Wood, then Caterpillar Valley and Adanac, for up to four.
From $405 per group, up to 4
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A private day from your Paris hotel at 7:30 am: Villers-Bretonneux, the Musée Somme 1916, Thiepval, the Ulster Tower and an hour at Beaumont-Hamel, then Vimy Ridge in the Pas-de-Calais.
From $637 per person
Check AvailabilityNext: read what happened on this ground in the Battle of the Somme, check hours and fees on the visitor guide, or compare every day on Somme Battlefields Tours.