ANZACs on the Western Front - a sample itinerary

Tailor-made tours for small private groups - friends, families & social groups

The Paris Skyline

From the first Australian Western Front action at Fromelles in July 1916 (left - Le Trou Aid Post Military Cemetery) to the Hindenberg Line actions in October 1918, you can follow them all on our suggested 3-day (2 nights) itinerary.


We can include - or give prime focus to - New Zealand’s story from the Somme in September 1916 to the storming of the walls in Le Quesnoy in November 1918.


Naturally we can put together a family-specific tour, and tours of different durations. Only got a day? We offer a Day Trip from Amiens or Lille.

Day One Ypres  


START/END LILLE (1hr 25mins train from London; Paris 1 hr)


Meet at a Lille hotel or at the station: 1 hr 25 from London St Pancras; 1 hour from Paris by train. 45 min drive to Ypres: tour taking in the Messines Ridge (June 1917), Caterpillar/Hill 60 (site of Australian mining operations), Menin Road & Polygon Wood (September 1917; 5th Australian Division memorial), and Passchendaele - then into Ypres itself for night in hotel, with attendance at the 8 p.m. Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate memorial to the Missing.


Day Two Fromelles, Bullecourt, Villers-Bretonneux


Travel 45 minutes south to Fromelles (July 1916 - the first Australian battle on the Western Front; 1 hour here) a further 45 minutes to Bullecourt (April/May 1917 battle: 1 hour here), then on [via snack lunch stop] a final 50 minutes to Villers-Bretonneux: Adelaide Cemetery (from which the Unknown Soldier was taken to Canberra in 1993), the Australian Memorial (with the list of all the Australian missing in France), and the Franco-Australian Museum.  30 minutes drive to Amiens for the night.


Day Three The Somme 1916


Day tour taking in Pozieres village (July/August 1916: Gibraltar and Windmill memorial sites) and Mouquet Farm, scenes of the principal Australian fighting in 1916.  We will also visit Flers/Guedecourt (New Zealand and Australian fighting in September & October 1916), the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing, and preserved trenches at Beaumont Hamel.  Leave mid-afternoon, for a 45 minute drive back to Lille to finish.


This tour could be adapted to start/finish at a Paris hotel if the tour involves a minibus - it is an approximately 3 hr drive to the first & 2 hour drive back from the last sites.

The Windmill site at Pozieres

The Digger statue at Bullecourt

How we operate


* We organise tours DIRECT with you – we have no public list of tours

* We handle numbers from 2 to 10 – families, small groups of friends.

* We provide personal guiding, but also organise itineraries, book hotels and site entries, and find you a minibus company if your group is larger than 4 people.

* We step onboard your car / rental car *, or a minibus that we can arrange (but you pay direct to the company, in advance). NB: we do not organise travel to/from the tour start/finish point(s) - eg flights, trains.

* You pay our guiding & organising fee, and then pay as you go for your accommodation, meals and museum entries (and, if you need one, you pay for your minibus direct, in advance).

* Go to our Prices & References page for an idea of cost, then email us at aat@drttours.co.uk 

                         *  (happy to drive if you can add us as an Additional Driver)

Dr Thomson’s Tours

Private Guide & Tour Organiser


All text, maps & photos © Dr Thomson’s Tours Ltd.

Website design by Joseph Thomson

Last updated November 2023

Bethany, 37 The Crescent

Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7AW

England


+44-7885-662714

aat@drttours.co.uk