WW1 - Explore

World War I is still felt in the landscape of Ypres and the Westhoek. A large number of sites and cemeteries can be visited daily in and around Ypres.

Entry points of the Ypres Salient

At three locations along the Ypres Salient you can explore the landscape of 100 years ago via boarding points. At each of these free entry points you will find an interesting film about the local war story, information panels and a walking leaflet.

View the entry points

Essex Farm Cemetery (Ypres)

Address: Diksmuidseweg, 8900 Ypres
Opening hours: open daily from sunrise to sunset
Free entrance

Along the Ypres-Ieper Canal, just outside Ypres, you will find the Essex Farm Cemetery. During World War I, this site was an "Advanced Dressing Station," an aid station for wounded soldiers. This place is also known for as "site John McCrae. Canadian physician John McCrae wrote the world-famous poem "In Flanders Fields" here in May 1915, following the death of a friend during a gas attack. John McCrae died in 1918 and is buried in Wimereux, France.
The'Commonwealth War Graves Commission' (CWGC), as the administrator, is responsible for the maintenance of this cemetery.

Hill 60 (Ypres)

Address: Zwarteleenstraat, 8902 Ypres
Opening hours: open daily from sunrise to sunset.
Free entrance

The artificial hill 'Hill 60' was created before World War I due to the construction of the railroad. This artificial hill from 1850 was at a height of about 60 meters, hence the name Hill 60. During 1914-1918, there was heavy fighting here between the Germans and the Allies. Both dug tunnels under the hill in which mines were detonated starting in 1915. The explosion of the deep mines on June 7, 1917 (during the Battle of the Mines), created the current landscape of Hill 60. Many soldiers are still buried under this hill.

Hill 62 - Canadian Monument (Ypres)

Address: Canadalaan 26, 8902 Zillebeke
Opening hours: open daily from sunrise to sunset.
Free entrance

Hill 62 is a hill in Zillebeke (borough of Ypres). The hill got this name because it is 62 meters above sea level. Hill 62 or Höhe 62 came into German hands in 1916 until Canadian troops captured the hill. The Canadians suffered great losses during this conquest. The monument at the top commemorates the fallen Canadian soldiers. From Hill 62 you have a beautiful view of the towers of Ypres and immediately notice the strategic importance of an altitude during WWI.

Saint-Charles de Potyze - French military cemetery (Ypres)

Address: Zonnebeekseweg, 8900 Ypres
Opening hours: open daily from sunrise to sunset.
Free entrance

During World War I, a small school was located near this cemetery. The French troops used this small school as a medical post "Poste de secours de Saint-Charles de Potyze". Fallen soldiers were buried in the adjacent garden. This grew into a veritable cemetery, but many graves were destroyed during the war. The current French cemetery is the largest on Belgian soil. Some 4,200 French soldiers are buried here, 616 of them in the mass grave. Here you will also find 69 Islamic headstones, rounded at the top with a horseshoe arch.

German Military Cemetery - Studentenfriedhof (Langemark)

Address: Klerkenstraat 86A - 8920 Langemark-Poelkapelle
Opening hours: open daily from sunrise to sunset
Free entrance

The German military cemetery in Langemark is one of the 4 German assembly cemeteries in Belgium. This cemetery is also called the "Studentenfriedhof. It got the name because many young German volunteer soldiers are buried here. They died near this cemetery during the First Battle of Ypres in 1914. More than 44,300 German soldiers are buried here at this site. More than half rest together in the comrades' grave near the cemetery entrance. About 17,000 soldiers from this mass grave could be identified. Their names can be found on the blocks surrounding the comrade's grave.

Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery (Poperinge)

Address: Boescheepseweg 35A , 8970 Poperinge
Cemetery opening hours: open daily from sunrise to sunset
Opening hours visitors center: open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Facilities: toilets, parking and accessible for disabled
Free access

Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery is the impressive witness to more than four years of war. From 1915-1920, the hamlet of Lijssenthoek housed the largest evacuation hospital in the Ypres Salient. Today the cemetery reflects the Great War.

In the visitor center you can learn all about hospital life and the (re)construction of the cemetery.

• You can search the database and browse the hospital diaries.
• Along the listening wall, voices from the past speak to you.
• Each day, the tear-off calendar presents a different story of someone buried at Lijssenthoek.
• On the memorial wall are their portraits.

Since 2023, the site has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with 26 other cemeteries and monuments in the region. Discover all Unesco Sites.

Tyne Cot Cemetery (Zonnebeke)

Address: Vijfwegestraat, 8980 Zonnebeke
Opening hours cemetery: open daily from sunrise to sunset
Visitor center: open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Facilities: toilets, parking and handicapped accessible
Free access

Tyne Cot Cemetery is the largest Commonwealth cemetery in the world. Since 2023, this site has been a Unesco World Heritage Site and also the main witness to the bloody Third Battle of Ypres (also known as the Battle of Passchendaele).
Originally, Tyne Cot was a fortified position of the German Flandern I position, where Australian troops established a first-aid post in October 1917.

About 12,000 soldiers are buried here. The impressive Tyne Cot Memorial lists another 35,000 names of soldiers with no known grave who fell after Aug. 15, 1917.

From the visitor center you have a unique view of the old battlefields and get to hear and see the moving story of Tyne Cot Cemetery and the dead of Passchendaele.
The 'Commonwealth War Graves Commission' (CWGC), as caretaker, is responsible for the maintenance of this cemetery.

The Western Front Way - Via Sacra

The Western Front Way (1000 km walking route) follows the front line of World War I from Nieuwpoort on the Belgian coast to Pfetterhouse on the French-Swiss border. The first 95 km of the route runs on Flemish soil and connects Nieuwpoort, Diksmuide and Ypres.
Since spring 2022, there has also been an additional loop "The Road to Passchendaele.

This walking route is a statement for peace and cooperation between the United Kingdom and Belgium. The inspiration for 'The Western Front Way' comes from a letter home from a young British soldier, who described his hopes for peace after the war as follows: 'When peace comes, our government might combine with the French government to make one long avenue between the lines from Voges to the sea....'.
2nd LT Alexander Gillespie died a few days later at the Battle of Loos.

The first part of the route, from Nieuwpoort to Albert in De Somme, can be downloaded for free at www.thewesternfrontway.com. Signage has already been placed on Flemish soil (95 km).
A hiking brochure of this route has been available since 2022.
You can purchase this in the tourism services in Ypres, Diksmuide and Nieuwpoort.

Multi-day hiking

You can also spread the walk between Ypres and Nieuwpoort over several days.
For this purpose a cooperation has been worked out between Ypres, Diksmuide and Nieuwpoort.
There is luggage service at the participating accommodation providers.

Practical information

By bicycle: cycling routes WWI

You can also explore the story of World War I by bike.

See the cycling routes

By car: Ypres Salient autoroute

• 70 km
• Starting point: Ypres Station

This car route tells the story of the front around Ypres.
Along the way you will discover the story of the Great War in the Westhoek. Important sights such as Tyne Cot Cemetery, the Student Friedhof in Langemark, the Passchendaele 1917 Museum, Hill 60 and the John McCrae site take you back to the period 1914-1918.

Check out the WW1 sites