Flanders: The Western Front in Belgium

The buglers from the Ieper fire brigade have sounded the Last Post under the Menin Gate every evening at 8pm since 2 July 1928, with the sole exception of the German occupation from 1940 to 1944. The ceremony has been performed by Belgian civilians rather than military personnel since it was established. It lasts about 10 minutes. No advance booking is required; arrive 15 to 20 minutes early for a good position. If you leave before the echo fades, you are doing it wrong.

Coming to the Ypres Salient is not really tourism in the usual sense. In four years of fighting between 1914 and 1918, roughly 250,000 Commonwealth soldiers and a similar number of German troops died within a few kilometres of the Belgian market town of Ypres (Flemish: Ieper). The landscape was reduced to mud and craters. The town was entirely destroyed and rebuilt brick by brick after the war; what you see now is largely a 1920s reconstruction, done carefully enough that it’s easy to forget this.

The Must-See Sites

Tyne Cot Cemetery outside Zonnebeke is the largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in the world: nearly 12,000 graves with Portland stone headstones in uniform rows, and a wall at the back with the names of 34,957 men who have no known grave. The scale requires time to absorb. Open 24 hours, free entry.

The Menin Gate, a memorial arch in the centre of Ieper, is inscribed with 54,896 names. The evening ceremony is the reason to come and it rewards the effort.

In Flanders Fields Museum is inside the rebuilt Cloth Hall on the Grote Markt. The interactive exhibits use first-person accounts and artefacts to trace the war from multiple perspectives. A poppy bracelet with a registration code lets you follow an individual’s story through the museum. Allow 2 to 3 hours. Entry around EUR 12.

Sanctuary Wood (Hill 62) east of Ieper has preserved trench sections you can actually walk through. They have been maintained by the same family since just after the war. The trenches are rough, narrow, and low in ways that photographs don’t convey. A small adjacent museum has extraordinary stereoscopic photographs from the front. Entry around EUR 5 and well worth it.

Getting Around

The sites around Ieper are spread over 30 to 40 kilometres of the Salient. A car is the practical option; cycling is possible but demanding for a single day. Several tour operators in Ieper run half-day and full-day minibus tours at around EUR 35 to 50 per person. The guides are usually excellent and the efficiency of a guided tour is real.

Where to Stay and Eat

Hotel O Ieper on the Grote Markt puts you within 200 metres of the Menin Gate, which matters for the Last Post without needing a car. Rooms from around EUR 90. Talbot House in Poperinge, 12 kilometres west, was an actual First World War rest house (known as Toc H) and still operates as a hostel; staying there is a specific kind of experience.

De Vlaamse Pot does honest Flemish cooking: waterzooi (chicken or fish stew), stoemp (mashed potato and vegetables), local beer. Main courses around EUR 15 to 20.

When to Go

The Last Post happens year-round regardless of weather. November 11 (Armistice Day) sees official ceremonies and significant crowds. Most other times the Salient is relatively quiet outside the school group season in May and June. Autumn balances decent weather with manageable numbers.