blakejared

I'm doing preliminary planning for a trip, and my main interest is to visit Vimy and Ypres.

I'll be flying in to Paris on a Tuesday and I will need to catch a plane in Amsterdam the following Tuesday.

So I was thinking of doing this. My limitation is that I will be travelling by train.

Is it worth getting a train pass, or would it be less expensive to just buy each leg?

Day 1: Arrive in Paris, take train to Arras, stay there overnight

Day 2: Taxi to Vimy ridge (since I won't have a car and this seems to be the only viable alternative), and spend the day there. Overnight in Arras again.

I wasn't sure if I should devote a day in Arras or not?

Day 3: Arras to Ypres. Spend day in Ypres. Stay night at Ypres

I wasn't sure if Lille would be a better place to stay overnight than Ypres?

Day 4: Finish touring Ypres. Train somewhere?

Day 5: ?

Day 6,7 Two days in Amsterdam. I guess I could add another day to Amsterdam to keep it simple.

Day 8 Flight out

Any suggestions or advice? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

lavandula

Hi, if your interest is the war history in Ypres, then you should stay in Ypres. There is quite a lot to do there around the theme of WWI history, including the Menin Gate (see the Last Post at sunset) and Flanders Fields Museum. You might consider doing a tour of the battlefields and visiting the Tyne Cot cemetery and Passendale (Passchendale) (for which you will need a car, or possibly you can get them included in a tour, I don't know). Lille is a little bigger and quite pretty but IMO there is more to do in Ypres.

After Ypres, on your way to Amsterdam you might fit in Antwerp. Just enough time to have a good look around, shop, drink, eat, visit museums.

Lavandula

di2315

While you're in Arras, be sure to visit the underground tunnels from WW1. See http://gofrance.about.com/od/nordpas...y-in-Arras.htm for details.
We drove there, but I'm sure there must be public transport options as well.

I second lavandula's comments re Ypres; the Menin Gate ceremony each evening is very moving. We stayed 2 nights in Ypres and went to the ceremony both evenings.

Each night was different - on the first there was a group of Irish students who participated; on the second a small group of people were laying wreaths on the memorial. It seems there is a 'standard' service, then other visitors can pre-arrange to take part as well.

If you have the time, you can spend several hours doing a self-guided walk around the significant sites of Ypres. The map is available from the Information centre inside the Flanders Field Museum.

We stayed at the Novotel Ieper Centrum Flanders Fields Hotel. It's literally just around the corner from the main square where the bus terminus is. I definitely would prefer to stay there rather than in Lille. Di

reddun

A tour might be an option for Vimy Ridge as well. We used Salient Tours and were very pleased. We started from Ypres in the morning for the Flanders battlefields tour, went to Vimy in the afternoon and were dropped off in Arras to catch our train to Paris. There was plenty of room for our bags in the minibus. Perhaps you could do the opposite, joining the afternoon tour of Vimy Ridge and continue to Ypres, overnight in Ypres, and maybe do the other tour the next morning? The guide even included a stop at a cemetery so we could visit a relative’s grave. Otherwise, I would think the morning of your Day 2 would be sufficient to see Vimy and then proceed to Ypres later in the day.

We also had 4 nights in Amsterdam and 2 in Bruges and enjoyed both very much. In Amsterdam one of the things we did was the WWII walking tour and would recommend it.