From the trenches at Ypres to monuments marking The Somme, our ANZAC tours map Australian and New Zealand troops’ movements in WWI. Please note, the tour runs on selected dates throughout the season.
THE BACK-ROADS DIFFERENCE
- Tailor the tour if you wish to visit relatives’ graves (please contact Back-Roads immediately after booking to confirm)
- Visit to Wellington Tunnels
- Hear the Last Post played at Ypres
Tour Inclusions
- 4 nights in boutique accommodation
- A knowledgeable Back-Roads Driver/Tour Leader
- Premium mini-coach transportation
- European breakfast daily (B), 3 evening meals (D)
- Entrance included to: Hooge Crater Trenches, Hooge Crater Trenches & Museum<, Wellington Tunnels, Victoria School Museum
(ANZACs Day Dawn Service tour) have an amended itinerary and an extra day starting in Amiens where, rising early, we join Australians, New Zealanders and locals to observe the ANZAC Day Dawn Service in Villers-Bretonneux. The rest of the day is yours, before we return to Amiens. For this version of the tour please call us to book.
Countries Visited
- France
- Belgium
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Day 1
DAY 1 LILLE Arrive in Lille and meet with the group in the evening for an included dinner. (D)
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Day 2
DAY 2 LILLE – YPRES Our first day takes us to Ypres via the Messines Ridge and the city itself. After lunch, we will spend time around the Passchendaele battlefields, including Polygon Wood, the Gravenstafel Ridge and Tyne Cot Military Cemetery. We’ll also visit the shell scarred area of Hill 60, before returning to Ypres. The final part of the day includes attendance at the daily playing of the Last Post under the Menin Gate at 8.00 pm. (B) Accommodation: Hotel Brueghel
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Day 3
DAY 3 YPRES – AMIENS Leaving Belgium, we cross into French Flanders and spend time at Fromelles, focusing on the disastrous attack of 19th July 1916, including a visit to Pheasant Wood Cemetery and the new exhibition nearby. Our next encounter includes a visit to the Wellington Quarries, fashioned from existing medieval quarries by New Zealand Engineers in 1916/17 as part of the preparations for the Battle of Arras. Australia’s role in this battle is remembered at Bullecourt, with a stop in the village at the Digger Memorial. (B) Accommodation: Kasteelhof’t Hooghe
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Day 4
DAY 4 AMIENS – THE SOMME – AMIENS The Somme still captivates the soul and it is here that the ANZAC’s first saw major action in the middle of 1916. Engrained upon their very being were the names of Pozières and Mouquet Farm for Australians, and Longueval and Flers for the Kiwis. We’ll also remember the colossal loss experienced by Great Britain with a visit to the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, before reminiscing on our tour at our farewell dinner. (B,D) Accommodation: Hotel le Prieure
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Day 5
DAY 5 AMIENS – VILLERS-BRETONNEUX – LILLE Villers-Bretonneux is central to Australian commemoration and memory, being the location of the National War Memorial. The final day focuses primarily on the final year of the war, 1918, with success at Le Hamel, which we will visit before we begin the journey back to Lille. (B)
