Western Front End to End
About the tour: Western Front End to End
Tour Introduction
We take a unique journey along the whole length of the Western Front from End to End, starting on the Belgian coast and reaching the far end on the border with Switzerland. As we set out along the Western Front, we see many sites from the beaches near Nieuport, to the battlefields of the Somme, the trench systems at Massiges and at Le Linge and Verdun, the ‘Meat-Grinder’ of WW1.
Tour Includes
- 8 nights hotel with continental breakfast
- Specialist Battlefield Guide
- Convenient local joining points
We offer flexible payment options
Once you have booked your battlefield tour either online, or by telephone (), you have the flexibility of how you pay off the remainder of your balance. You can -
- Use our balance payment facility online to make and track your card payments. You can pay as much as you want up until your final due date or pay it all, the choice is yours.
- Send payments via online banking.
- Send payments via cheque.
- Call us and make a card payment, either a small amount or as lump sum until your final due date.
Our contact and online banking payment details will be on your confirmation invoice to remind you of your choices.
Tour Itinerary
For customers living outside of the UK, if you want to make a booking you will need to provide a UK postcode on our online booking system. If you are not able to provide a relevant UK postcode then you can enter the postcode for London Victoria Coach Station – SW1W 9TP. You should then be able to proceed to complete your booking.
If you do encounter a problem then you can speak to one of our friendly advisors who will be happy to help.
Please Note : After completing your booking, a member of our Customer Service team will be in touch to make sure everything is okay.
Either e-mail our Reservations Department or call on 01709 830 333 and they will check to see whether you can visit a particular cemetery on any of our Battlefield Tours, if we are not able to fit it into our itinerary then you could take some time out of the tour and do this independently by taxi or public transport.
Day 1
Local departure by coach or Door-to-Door service, then to Belgium for and overnight stay.
Day 2 - Nieuport and Flanders
We start on the beach near Nieuport where the Western Front began in the sand dunes. We visit the new Yser Museum and then travel through Flanders to Hooge where we see the trenches and museums and have lunch. In the afternoon we travel across the Messines Ridge for an overnight stay in the Albert area.
Included meals: Breakfast
Messines Ridge (4)
Key Visits
- Messines Ridge
- Hooge Museum
- Yser Musuem
- Nieuport
Day 3 - Somme and Chemin des Dames
Today we see the battlefields of the Somme visiting the Thiepval Memorial with its museum and visitors’ centre. We walk the trenches in Newfoundland Park and have lunch at the Ulster Tower before visiting the Chemin des Dames, then onto Reims for a two-night stay.
Included meals: Breakfast
Newfoundland Park (5)
Key Visits
- Newfoundland Park
- Thiepval Memorial
- Ulster Tower
- Thiepval Museum
- Chemin des Dames
Day 4 - Marne and Château-Thierry
We proceed to Meaux and look at the Battle of the Marne in September 1914, seeing the excellent Meaux WW1 Museum, and after lunch, follow the Old Contemptibles at La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, the Americans at Château-Thierry and then proceed to the battlefields around Soissons where the Second Battle of the Marne took place in 1918.
Included meals: Breakfast
Marne (4)
Key Visits
- Meaux
- Marne
- WF End to End: Soissons Memorial
- Château-Thierry
- La Ferté-sous-Jouarre
Day 5 - Massiges Trenches and Meuse-Argonne
Departing Reims we visit the impressive reconstructed trench system at Massiges, where a whole battlefield has been restored to what it looked like in WW1, with an amazing system of trenches to explore. In the afternoon we look at the Meuse-Argonne Offensive involving American troops, seeing the impressive cemetery and museum at Romagne. We then travel to Nancy for an overnight stay.
Included meals: Breakfast
Massiges (3)
Key Visits
- Romagne Museum
- Meuse-Argonne Offensive
- Massiges
Day 6 - Vosges Mountains
We follow the Western Front from Nancy down into the Vosges and see the amazing trenches at Le Linge; trenches cut into rock and the scene of fierce combat on what was then German soil. We then spend two nights in the Colmar area.
Included meals: Breakfast
Trenches at Le Linge (2)
Key Visits
- Trenches at Le Linge
- Vosges
- Nancy
Day 7 - The End of the Front
Today we visit the end of the Western Front at Pfetterhouse, seeing where the front lines ended, visiting the area on the Swiss border and seeing some of the bunkers. After lunch in Altkirch we look at the battlefield around Hartmannsvillerkopf, where fighting took place in the Vosges Mountains.
Included meals: Breakfast
Key Visits
- Pfetterhouse
- Hartmannsvillerkopf battlefield
Day 8 - Verdun Battlefields
Leaving the Vosges we travel to Verdun, the ‘Meat-Grinder’ of WW1, and visit the impressive new museum at Fleury and also the battlefield around Douaumont. We then travel to Reims for our final night.
Included meals: Breakfast
Verdun: Trench of Bayonets (3)
Key Visits
- Verdun: Trench of Bayonets
- Douaumont Cemetery
- Verdun Memorial & Museum
Day 9
Return home.
Included meals: Breakfast
Thiepval
Thiepval Memorial is undergoing major restoration work from March 2020 through to 2021. We will still be visiting Thiepval Memorial during your tour but various parts of the structure will be inaccessible. Visitors wishing to see relatives’ names, will be able view the relevant panels via a new digital exhibition. The exhibition will also feature some of the casualties commemorated and the wider work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Specialist Battlefield Guides
All of Leger’s battlefield tours are accompanied by specialist guides. Their individual in-depth knowledge of warfare will be informative, as well as enhance your overall experience, as they recreate a fascinating perception of the history and factual events of each battle. Discover the actual catalysts for war, the strategies employed and the final, inevitable outcomes, as well as experiencing the emotional human side of the front line.
Please note: On certain tours, you may get tour guides other that the ones listed below.
Hotel
If you prefer, then you can join the tour at the hotel. To do this, we will require a copy of your passport for identification purposes and you must advise us at the time of booking.
No reduction will be given if you should choose to do this.
All hotel rooms benefit from private bathroom facilities.
Some hotels have tea and coffee making facilities. Please check the tour pages for more information or call our Customer Service Department on 01709 830333
Most hotels have a lift, please call our Customer Service Department on 01709 830333 for more information.
Some hotels have ground floor rooms. Please email for information on individual hotels or call our Customer Service Department on 01709 830333.
Your hotels will supply towels in your room.
We are unable to guarantee that the hotel will be able to meet your dietary requirements. We find that the majority of European countries do not generally cater for vegetarians and that the meal supplied may well be what everyone else is having minus the meat.
We will of course endeavour to arrange for a vegetarian meal at the hotel. We do however suggest that you advise us of your dietary requests at the time of booking and recommend that you speak to the receptionist on arrival with regard to your request.
You will stay overnight in Belgium, followed by one night in the Albert area. You will then have a two-night stay in Reims., before an overnight stay in the Nancy area. You then stay for two nights in the Colmar area, Finally, you will stay for one night in Reims.
All hotels throughout the tour will be minimum 3-star hotels.
Travel Options
Departure times given for each region are approximate. Please check your travel documents to confirm the actual timings.
Front row seats can be reserved for £14pp (up to 6 days duration), £22pp (7 & 8 days duration) and £25pp (9 days duration and over) on all European tours. In addition to this seats on the second row can be reserved for £7pp (up to 6 days duration), £14pp (7 & 8 days duration) and £15pp (9 days duration and over). This offer is only available for bookings of two or four persons on the front row and is subject to availability. Guaranteed front/second row seats cannot be reserved on feeder journeys to/from the U.K. port. Children under 15 years cannot occupy a front row seat due to French Law. Central view seats are free.
Please note: On some coaches the legroom on front seats may be slightly less than that available on other seats due to the presence of a modesty board in front.
If your tour is cancelled for any reason and front/second row seats are not available on your new tour you will be refunded the supplement. No other compensation will be payable.
Alternatively, we can take seating requests on your booking. However, requests are not guaranteed. All seat numbers are confirmed on travel documents approximately 7-10 days prior to departure.
We guarantee that all passengers on the same booking will be seated together on the main tour coach. Seats on the transfer coaches to and from the U.K. port are not allocated.
Hot and cold drinks are served on the main tour coaches. Prices are approximately £1 or 1.25 Euro per drink. Prices will be confirmed by the driver. Drinks may also be served on the transfer coaches but this is not guaranteed.
Transfer vehicles are routed approximately 2-3 weeks before departure and will depend on where passengers are booked to travel from on any particular date as to which route is taken. If you require further detailed information regarding the route to the port you can contact our Customer Service Department on 01709 830333 two weeks before you are due to travel.
With regard to the route taken by the main tour coach, this is determined by the driver.
All main tour coaches have on-board toilets. Transfer vehicles to and from the U.K. port may not have on-board toilets. When non-British coaches are used on transfers and tours (air holidays only) an on-board toilet may not be available. However, comfort stops will be made during long journeys.
All coaches feature air-conditioning. Should the air-conditioning system break down for a period exceeding 12 hours, compensation will be awarded up to a maximum of £10 per fare-paying passenger per tour.
Depending on the location of your pickup point, you may be picked up by coach (not necessarily the on you are touring on), minibus, taxi, National Express or Megabus service. You may then be taken to another centralised pickup location or service station. We operate a passenger interchange at Stop 24 Services, where you will meet the tour coach you are holidaying on and then continue on with your outbound journey. Similarly, on the way home, you may also change transfer vehicles at another location, to take you to your final drop off point.
One medium sized suitcase per person, which should weigh no more than 20kg when full. We may refuse to carry larger or heavier cases. Hand luggage can be stored in the overhead racks aboard the coach.
It could be either - This will be confirmed in your travel documents.
When it comes to getting to the Battlefields, Leger Holidays make it easy, with a selection of travel options for you choose from.
Travel Extras
With an overnight stay, a Door-to-Door pick up or the option to meet us at the interchange, our travel extras allow you to create a travel experience to suit your needs...
Join coach at Interchange
+ Find out moreJoin your tour coach at the interchange.
On most tours if you’d prefer to join your tour coach at Stop 24 services, you can park your car in the car park which is accredited by the Park Mark safer parking scheme and is monitored 24 hours a day by CCTV. Payment for the parking is made on arrival using the self-service machines.
Excludes tours to Ireland and the U.K. and tours travelling via Brittany Ferries.
Door-to-Door service
+ Find out moreOn Battlefield tours of 7 days’ duration or more, you don’t even have to think about getting to your local joining point. Our Door-to-Door Service collects you from your home and takes you to meet your transfer vehicile, then brings you back at the end of the holiday. Door-to-Door Service is available within a 20-mile radius of one of our free joining points and is from £90 per car, return (up to 4 passengers per vehicle).
If you live a little further afield, you can also take advantage of this convenient option for an additional charge – please enquire at the time of booking.
