Most visitors recommend starting their journey at a museum that gives insight into the Great War. The most popular options are the In Flanders Fields Museum in Ypres or the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 in Zonnebeke. Both museums offer comprehensive insights, with the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 emphasizing the Third Battle of Ypres, also known as The Battle of Passchendaele. As many trenches and dugouts were filled in after the war, as farmers re-claimed their fields, the museum contains replica trenches and a dugout to give insight into conditions soldiers from both sides experienced when at the front lines. 

In Ypres, The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing commemorates over 54,000 soldiers who have no known grave, of which more than 6,000 are australians. Volunteers of the local fire brigade honour them with a nightly Last Post Ceremony that takes place promptly at 8 PM. The imposing memorial was still not large enough to honor all the missing soldiers from the Commonwealth, so the Tyne Cot Memorial at Tyne Cot Cemetery commemorates an additional 35,000 of those with no known grave. Soldiers from New Zealand are listed on their own memorials: one also at Tyne Cot, another at Buttes New British Cemetery and Messines Ridge British Cemetery.

Memorials to forces from the UK, Canada, the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, France, India and many other countries whose soldiers fought in WW1 are also scattered around Flanders Fields. A full list can be found here 

No less than 247 cemeteries, large and small, dot the landscape of the Ypres salient in Flanders Fields. Of these countless cemeteries, Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing is the largest Commonwealth cemetery, not only in Flanders, but in the world. Lijssenthoek Cemetery, Buttes New British Cemetery, and New Irish Farm Cemetery are also significant in size. John McCrae, the poet behind In Flanders Fields, wrote his famous poem at Essex Farm Cemetery after burying his friend and brother-in-arms Alexis Helmer.

Cemeteries and memorials stretch from the coastline, past Ypres, all the way to the French border. If you are seeking out a personal connection to a battle, it’s best to make a list of the ones you would like to visit, before starting your journey.

There are four German cemeteries also located in Flanders Fields. Vladslo is home to the “Grieving Parents” sculpture by Kathe Kollwitz. Langemark German Military Cemetery is the burial place of more than 44,000 soldiers, 25,000 of whom are buried in the “Comrades Grave.”

While most original trenches have been filled in or lost to time, a few restored examples still remain. The Trench of Death at Dixmude is the last remnant of the Belgian First World War trench system. Closer to Ypres, Bayernwald is a restored German trench system. Here, you can also learn how underground tunnelling played a role in the battles of WW1.

During the Battle of Messines, the work of Commonwealth tunnellers played a heavy role in not only battle, but in physically changing the landscape of Flanders Fields. In the summer of 1917, 19 massive underground mines were detonated, the largest non-nuclear explosions in history. Evidence of these massive explosions can be seen at the Caterpillar Crater (Hill 60), the Pool of Peace, and more. The shelled landscape can still be viewed at Hill 60, as well as bunkers from both German and Commonwealth forces.

German bunkers can also be seen at Polygon Wood closer to the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917, and in many other places.