You do not need a ticket for the Somme battlefields. The memorials, the war cemeteries and the crater are free and open; only three museums charge. If you are pricing Somme Battlefields tickets, what you are really paying for is a guide, a car and your time.
No gate stands in front of the Somme. The battlefields are the chalk ridges around Albert, north-east of Amiens, where the battle was fought from 1 July to 18 November 1916. You walk onto them from a lane or a car park.
The Thiepval Memorial, the Commonwealth war cemeteries, Lochnagar Crater and the Newfoundland park at Beaumont-Hamel cost you nothing. So does the Sir John Monash Centre at Villers-Bretonneux, the Australian museum. You pay at three museums only: the Musée Somme 1916 in Albert, the Thiepval Museum beside the memorial, and the Historial in Péronne.
Hours move with the season, so check the month you are travelling in. The winter closures catch people out: the two Historial museums shut from 6 December into mid-January, and the Canadian visitor centres close from mid-December to early February.
| Site | Opening hours | Entry |
|---|---|---|
| Thiepval Memorial | Open access, every day | Free |
| Thiepval Museum | Daily 9:30 am-6 pm, March to October; 9:30 am-5 pm, November to February; closed 6 December-17 January | EUR 6 adult; EUR 12 with Péronne |
| Lochnagar Crater | Daylight hours, every day | Free; a donation is welcome |
| Beaumont-Hamel | The park every day; the visitor centre Tuesday-Sunday 10 am-6 pm (April-September) or 9 am-5 pm (October-March), Mondays from noon or 11 am; centre closed mid-December to early February | Free, with free student-guided tours |
| Musée Somme 1916, Albert | Daily 9 am-6 pm, last entry 5:30 pm | EUR 8 adult, EUR 5 ages 6-18 |
| Historial, Péronne | Daily 9:30 am-6 pm, April-September; 9:30 am-5 pm and closed Mondays, October-March; closed 6 December-18 January | EUR 10 adult, EUR 25 family |
| Sir John Monash Centre | Daily 9:30 am-6 pm, March-October; 10 am-5 pm, November-February; closed for maintenance in February and on 1 May | Free; earphones EUR 3 |
| Ulster Tower | 1 March-30 November, Tuesday-Sunday 10 am-5 pm | Memorial Room open; Thiepval Wood by booked tour only |
The memorials themselves never close. Lochnagar Crater is open in daylight, and the car park at Beaumont-Hamel is always open. The Ulster Tower opens its Memorial Room from March to November and is closed on Mondays all year. Short answers on each site are in the Somme battlefields FAQs.
Your fare pays for the driving and the guiding, not for entry. Some fares add one museum ticket, and the Canadian days add lunch. Everything else you pay on the day.
| The day | What you pay | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Shared day from Paris | $261 to $289 per person | 11 to 13 hours with seven or eight others, about four of them on the road; lunch at your own cost |
| Private half day from Albert | $289 or $301 per group of up to 3 | Four hours on the 1916 front for your party alone |
| Private full day, per person | $324 to $654 per person, most with two to book | Hotel pickup; a museum inside some fares, lunch on the Canadian days |
| Private full day, per group | $521 for up to 3, or $405 for up to 4 in your own car | One fare for the party; lunch and museums at your cost |
| A museum at the desk | EUR 6 to EUR 10 an adult | Only where your fare leaves it out: Albert EUR 8, Thiepval EUR 6, Péronne EUR 10 |
The fares are the operators' own, in US dollars. A per-group price covers your whole party up to its cap, so for three people a private half day can cost less a head than a shared seat from Paris.
The shared days leave Paris before 7 am. The private days collect you from your hotel or meet your train in Albert or Arras.
A half day of four hours covers the heart of the 1916 front: Lochnagar Crater, Pozières, the Thiepval Memorial and the preserved trenches at Beaumont-Hamel. A full day on the ground gives you the Australian sites around Villers-Bretonneux as well, or the Canadian ones.
From Paris, plan on a day of 11 to 13 hours with about two hours' drive each way. You get four or five hours at the sites. If you have two days, you gain more by sleeping in Amiens or Albert than by adding a second day trip.
You reach the Somme in one of three ways. The shared days from Paris meet at a kerb in the city at 6:30 or 7 am. The private days pick you up at your hotel in Paris, Amiens, Lille, Arras or Ypres. Or you take the train to Albert and meet a local guide at Albert station or at the Musée Somme 1916.
Once you are there, no bus runs between the memorials, so you need a car or a guide who has one. Every meeting point is set out on how to get to the Somme battlefields.
Wear waterproof shoes with a good grip. The trench paths and cemetery lawns turn soft after rain, and the ridges are open to the wind. Bring a layer even in summer.
Amiens averages highs of 22 to 24°C in June, July and August and about 7°C in December and January. It sees rain on 8 to 12 days in every month, most in November and December. The months are laid out one by one on Somme battlefields weather.
Children come on most tours: families have brought teenagers and a riveted 9-year-old. The shared days from avenue des Ternes take you from age 7. At the Musée Somme 1916 a child pays EUR 5 from 6 to 18 and nothing under 6.
Most listings say they are not wheelchair accessible. The memorial grounds are grass and uneven earth, so ask the operator before you book if anyone in your party uses a chair.
The anniversary of the first day brings thousands to the ridges. Lochnagar Crater holds its ceremony at 7:28 am, the minute the mine was blown in 1916. In 2026 the Beaumont-Hamel park was open only to registered guests on 1 July, and its visitor centre was closed.
On 25 April the Anzac Day Dawn Service at Villers-Bretonneux needs an attendance pass. If you want the Somme quiet, avoid both dates. The full calendar is on what's on at the Somme battlefields.
A day tour stops in a village for lunch. The shared days from Paris eat at Le Tommy in Pozières, and the private day from Amiens stops in Albert. Lunch is inside the fare only on the Canadian days; everywhere else you pay for your own meal.
If you drive and read up, you can see the Somme alone for the price of fuel, and the gallery shows what you will find. A guide earns the fare in three ways. You do not have to drive the lanes between the ridges. The ground makes sense, because a field is only a field until someone tells you what happened in it. And on a private day, your own family's story can be researched before you arrive.
One reviewer planned to go alone and chose a guide for the poor signage. Another stood at a great-uncle's grave the guide had found.
A small-group day from Café Dada Ternes in Paris at 7 am: Thiepval, Lochnagar and Beaumont-Hamel, lunch at Le Tommy in Pozières at your own cost, then Villers-Bretonneux and Amiens Cathedral.
From $266 per person
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A private half day for up to three from the main doors of Albert station: an hour at Thiepval and its visitor centre, an hour in the Beaumont-Hamel trenches, then Lochnagar and Pozières.
From $289 per group, up to 3
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A private Canadian day from Lille or Arras at 8:30 am: Vimy Ridge and the Grange Tunnel, lunch in the fare, then Courcelette, Lochnagar, Thiepval and the caribou at Beaumont-Hamel.
From $654 per person
Check AvailabilityNext: see the memorials site by site in things to do on the Somme battlefields, compare every tour on Somme Battlefields Tours, or read what travellers said in the reviews.