New Zealand Ypres Day Tour from Arras
Arras, France
Trip Type: Historical & Heritage Tours
Duration: 12 hours
This small group tour of up to 8 people has been written specifically for those wishing to follow in the path of the New Zealand Soldiers of WW1. Starting and finishing in Arras, it includes the moving Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate as well as the must see sites such as Messines, Polygon Wood and Tyne Cot. The small group enables you to include a visit to a cemetery or follow in the footsteps of a relative where it falls within the itinerary area.
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This small group tour of up to 8 people has been written specifically for those wishing to follow in the path of the New Zealand Soldiers of WW1. Starting and finishing in Arras, it includes the moving Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate as well as the must see sites such as Messines, Polygon Wood and Tyne Cot. The small group enables you to include a visit to a cemetery or follow in the footsteps of a relative where it falls within the itinerary area.9:30am: after meeting your guide at Arras Railway station drive through the preserved and cratered landscape of Vimy Ridge on route to Flerbaix, passing on route perfectly preserved German Machine and Command bunkers. As you drive through the towns where the New Zealanders spent time between offensives your guide will talk about how the War evolved from 1914 to 1918.
Pass through 'Plugstreet' and some of the Christmas truce sites onto the Messines Ridge, where you will visit the New Zealand Memorial Park and German bunkers overlooking the battlefield. You will also stop at the Messines Cemetery where the missing of the 3rd Rifle Brigade are listed on the memorial.
Pass by the statue of Sgt Frickleton VC on route to Poperinge, where you will vist the Nine Elms Cemetery and see the grave of Sgt Dave Gallaher, former Captain of the All Blacks Rugby team and one of 13 All Blacks team members who died in WW1.
Have a light lunch in the charming town of Poperinge, famous for its beer, where so many soldiers came to relax and be treated for their wounds, and where so many never left. After lunch travel to Polygon Wood and the New Butts Cemetery and New Zealand Memorial (don't forget to bring some sugar for the donkey), before visiting the World class Passchendaele Museum with its reconstructed trenches and dugouts.
Your final stop of the day is Tyne Cot, the largest WW1 Commonwealth Cemetery in the World and where more New Zealand soldiers who have non known grave are commemorated.
In the evening, your guide will take you to Ypres, where you will have time to have something to eat before attending the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate at 8pm: After the service say goodbye to Ypres and return to Arras, where the tour concludes.
Pass through 'Plugstreet' and some of the Christmas truce sites onto the Messines Ridge, where you will visit the New Zealand Memorial Park and German bunkers overlooking the battlefield. You will also stop at the Messines Cemetery where the missing of the 3rd Rifle Brigade are listed on the memorial.
Pass by the statue of Sgt Frickleton VC on route to Poperinge, where you will vist the Nine Elms Cemetery and see the grave of Sgt Dave Gallaher, former Captain of the All Blacks Rugby team and one of 13 All Blacks team members who died in WW1.
Have a light lunch in the charming town of Poperinge, famous for its beer, where so many soldiers came to relax and be treated for their wounds, and where so many never left. After lunch travel to Polygon Wood and the New Butts Cemetery and New Zealand Memorial (don't forget to bring some sugar for the donkey), before visiting the World class Passchendaele Museum with its reconstructed trenches and dugouts.
Your final stop of the day is Tyne Cot, the largest WW1 Commonwealth Cemetery in the World and where more New Zealand soldiers who have non known grave are commemorated.
In the evening, your guide will take you to Ypres, where you will have time to have something to eat before attending the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate at 8pm: After the service say goodbye to Ypres and return to Arras, where the tour concludes.
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