Ypres 2026 Calendar of Events

Søren gave an excellent tour of the WW1 sites. He was very accommodating and his knowledge made the tour very interesting. We all enjoy it tremendously and we highly recommend it!!

The tour was brilliant. Well organized, efficient and relaxed. Roger is a published author and a man who really knows his stuff. He is able to customise the tour to best suit his customers and it was lovely to have a good bit of New Zealand content which was interesting to everyone in the group. Thank you so much Roger, from Ritch and Sandra

Thank you Roger for a great day out, it was so enjoyable and your knowledge knew no bounds.

Most enjoyable and informative. A whole day was spent in WWI history, especially impressive the Tune Cot and the brooding soldier

In June, my husband and I travelled to Ypres from Bruges to take this tour, and we met up with Roger, the guide, and the other 3 tourists in the train station parking lot. Easy peasy.Roger was very knowledgeable and clearly passionate about sharing the WWI history of the area.Our first stop on the tour was at the Sanctuary Wood/Trenches museum. It was sobering to see some of the trenches firsthand, as well as the craters left by the shelling. What horrors the foot soldiers endured in WWI! Even more horrifying were some of the photos in the museum. There were a dozen or more stereoscopes, each loaded with multiple photographs documenting the battles. Many of these were photographs taken for the government and not intended for public viewing, so they did not pull any punches.Roger tries to personalize his tours to be meaningful to his guests, so once he learned that my husband and I are First Nations, he took us to a memorial to Alex Decoteau, a Cree soldier killed at Passchendale. He was an Olympic Athlete, Canada’s first Indigenous police officer, and a member of Red Pheasant First Nation in Saskatchewan. (Our First Nation is also in Saskatchewan.) We really appreciated the trouble Roger takes to customize his tours whenever possible.We visited Tyne Cot cemetery where my husband and I took note of how there were many, many tombstones etched with maple leafs. We saw a couple of German “pillbox” bunkers there, too. We also stopped at the Passchendale New British cemetery, where Alex Decoteau is buried, and DH and I visited his grave. We visited a German cemetery, also, as well as the “Brooding Soldier” Saint Julien memorial, which towers 11 metres over the battlefield site where 18000 Canadian soldiers were gassed in the first German gas attacks and 2000 of them perished (and many of the others had long-term health problems as a result of the gassing). Finally, we stopped at “The Long Road to Passchendale” monument, with its Celtic Cross and silhouettes of Scottish, British, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and South African soldiers, as well as a signpost showing how far they had been from their homes.When Roger dropped us off in central Ypres (our choice), he recommended we visit the Menin Gate, so we did so. This was another worthwhile stop, where we saw memorials to Canadian and other Commonwealth soldiers and the wreaths of poppies that lined the staircases. The sweetest was a wreath made by young children, with poppies fashioned from pieces of egg cartons.This was an excellent tour, made even more meaningful by the effort Roger made to personalize the sights and information he shared with us.

Soren is an excellent tour guide. I highly recommend this tour . He was organized, and informative .

This is a great tour of the major significant sites related to the WWI battles for the Ypres salient. Soren is an enthusiastic, engaging and knowledgeable guide. We covered a tremendous amount of history in a short amount of time (a day) without feeling rushed. We saw the most we could reasonably see in a day with time to consider each site and its somber significance. A well paced tour with a great guide. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

Soren was so incredibly knowledgeable and fun to spend the day with. One of the best guided tours I have ever been on. I can’t recommend him highly enough.

I found it expensive for what it was and the lunch provided was just adequate

VoiceMap is incredibly easy, flexible, and engaging.Narrator,Derek Blyth's, wonderful storytelling voice truly brought Ypres to life! As a first-time user, I was very pleased and will definitely use this app again.Handy Tips for your:Pack a Power Bank: Continuous GPS use drains your phone battery quickly.Watch for Off-Track Beeps: Missing a point can disrupt the story. If you wander off, just check the map and use the audio forward/reverse buttons to get back on track.Check the Storyteller: Content quality can vary since tours are made by independent creators.Total Freedom: Pause whenever you want for a coffee break and resume whenever you're ready. 👏

We had a wonderful afternoon with the family. We split up into four groups and held a friendly competition to see who could score the most points. The mix of questions and challenges made sure there was something for everyone. Since we didn’t have to follow a fixed route, we could decide ourselves when to stop for a drink — which was definitely welcome given the beautiful weather.We discovered new spots in Ypres that we didn’t know before and learned an extra piece of the city’s history. Definitely worth repeating, and perfect to try out in other cities as well.

Very clear and easy to follow guide. Worked well with a clearance concise narrator

Exceptionally good tour hosted by Mike, a local historian with excellent English speaking skills. Mike collected us in a very comfortable minibus and showed us many sites and memorials around Ypres. His knowledge was superb and he answered every question we had with authority. Mike also owns a really interesting shop close to the Menin Gate which I would also recommend visiting.

We had a very nice afternoon. Learned and discovered fun things. We will definitely do it again in another city.

Soren was an outstanding tour guide and made my visit to the Ypres Salient truly memorable. He took me all across the area, visiting the key WWI sites, and his depth of knowledge was exceptional. He explained the history clearly and thoughtfully, bringing the events of the First World War to life with context, detail, and respect. His passion for the subject really showed, and he was happy to answer questions and tailor the tour to my interests. The experience was not only informative but also deeply moving. I would highly recommend this to anyone wanting to understand the history of Ypres and the Great War.

Soren did a wonderful job.. He is a walking encyclopedia of The Battle of Ypres.. Took his time with explaining all aspects of the siege.. Highly , recommend this tour..