-Day 1 Overnight flight to France (Paris)
Day 2 Bonjour Paris
Meet your tour director and check into hotel
Dinner in Latin Quarter
Details: Paris city walk
This city was made for walking. Stroll grand boulevards with sweeping views of the city, pristine parks with trees planted in perfect rows, and narrow streets crowded with vendors selling flowers, pastries and cheese. Then head to the Île de la Cité, a small island in the Seine, to see Notre Dame Cathedral. Please note Notre Dame Cathedral is currently closed due to fire damage.
Details: Notre-Dame Cathedral
View the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Work began in 1163 on a spot that had been a holy shrine since Roman times. Over the centuries, the cathedral has been the scene of some of France's most momentous occasions, including the coronation of Napoleon.
Day 3 Paris--Flanders
Travel to Flanders
Somme Trench Museum visit
Details: Beaumont Hamel visit
Newfoundland’s most significant single military action was on July 1, 1916 at Beaumont Hamel, at the opening day of the Battle of the Somme. The day proved the bloodiest in history for the British army, and caused the greatest military loss in history for Newfoundland. To honour the regiment’s bravery, King George V added “Royal” to the regiment’s name, making it the only regiment in the British Empire to receive such a designation.
Day 4 Flanders
Seclin Fort
Details: St Julien Memorial
German soldiers fighting on the Western Front first used mustard gas during the Battle of Ypres, and the St Julien Memorial marks the spot where Canadian soldiers first confronted this new weapon of war.
Details: In Flanders Fields Museum visit
In Flanders Fields Museum presents the story of the First World War from the invasion of Belgium, to 4 years of trench warfare and peace in the region since. Visit the Museum and honor over 600,000 who fell
Details: Tyne Cot National Cemetery
Visit the largest Commonwealth world war cemetery. Almost 12,000 soldiers are buried here, and additional 35,000 names of missing soldiers are inscribed on the back wall. The list of missing continues on the Menin Memorial Gate.
Details: Attend Last Post Ceremony at Menin Gate
At 8pm traffic is stopped while buglers from the Ypres Fire Brigade play the Last Post and Reveille. Since 1929, this nightly ceremony has commemorated the almost 55,000 British Commonwealth soldiers who died nearby that could not be identified or found. The only time this Ceremony has not taken place was during the Second World War.
Note the Menin Gate will undergo renovations from April 2023 to March 2025. During that time, scaffolding will partially cover the memorial and the name panels will not be visible to visitors. However, the names on the monument will be made accessible by means of a digital search application in the CWGC Ypres Information Center in Ypres, only a few meters away from the monument. During that time, the Last Post Ceremony will continue to take place daily at 8PM.
Day 5 Flanders
German Command Post
Details: Vimy Ridge excursion
Visit Vimy Ridge and the World War I trenches and tunnels. View the endless graves made famous in the poem 'In Flanders Fields'. The Canadian War Monument is the largest monument from World War I honouring the Canadian soliders who lost their lives.
Details: Vimy Ridge guided visit
Visit Vimy Ridge and the World War I trenches. View the endless graves made famous in the poem 'In Flanders Fields'. The Canadian War Monument is the largest monument from World War I honouring the Canadian soliders who lost their lives.
Details: Vimy Trenches visit
Learn the meaning of trench warfare at the reconstructed trench line at Vimy Ridge. Stand where Canadian troops fought in the spring of 1917, and see the view of how little land stood between them and their German enemies. See the frontlines of the Canadian Corps victory that helped shape Canada’s national identity.
Details: Vimy Tunnels visit
Visit the Grange Tunnel at Vimy Memorial Battlefield Park. Over six miles of tunnel were either newly built or created from existing caves and medieval mine works. Learn how these tunnels helped the Canadian Corps plan their military strategy and win the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
Details: Wellington Quarry visit
Travel twenty metres below the streets of Arras to the Wellington Quarry, where thousands of soldiers hid underground before a surprise attack on the German front lines on April 9, 1917. Learn about the Battle of Arras and the troops who built and lived in the tunnels below the town. Discover the military strategy behind the tunnels and how it helped win the First World War.
Day 6 Flanders--Paris
Travel to Paris via Compiegne
Arc de Triomphe Flame Ceremony
Details: The Armistice Clearing visit
On November 11, 1918, the Armistice was signed in the Compiegne Forest, bringing the First World War to an end. Today, step back in time and visit the exact replica of the railway carriage where the events unfolded.
Day 7 Paris
Details: Paris guided sightseeing tour
What's that huge white arch at the end of the Champs-Élysées? The Arc de Triomphe, commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 after his victory at Austerlitz. Your licensed local guide will elaborate on this, and other Parisian landmarks. See some of the most famous sites, including the ornate 19th-century Opera, the Presidential residence and the Place de la Concorde, where in the center you’ll find the Obelisk of Luxor, a gift from Egypt in 1836. Spot chic locals (and tons of tourists) strolling the Champs-Élysées. Look up at the iron girders of the Eiffel Tower, built for the 1889 World's Fair to commemorate the centenary of the French Revolution. See Les Invalides (a refuge for war wounded) and the École Militaire (Napoleon's alma mater).
Day 8 Paris
Details: Louvre visit
The world's largest art museum, the Louvre is housed in a Medieval fortress-turned-castle so grand it's worth a tour itself. You walk through the 71-foot glass pyramid designed by I.M. Pei and added in 1989, and step into another world--one with carved ceilings, deep-set windows, and so many architectural details you could spend a week just admiring the rooms. The Mona Lisa is here, as well as the Venus de Milo and Winged Victory (the headless statue, circa 200 BC, discovered at Samothrace). The Louvre has seven different departments of paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures and antiquities. Don't miss the Egyptian collection, complete with creepy sarcophagi, or the collection of Greek ceramics, one of the largest in the world. (Please note the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays.)
Details: Les Invalides and Napoleon's Tomb visit
Explore this immense complex of museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as the burial site of some of France’s greatest war heroes, including the infamous Napoleon Bonaparte.
Day 9 Flight home from Paris
Day 9 Start Extension to London
Details: Eurostar Chunnel crossing
You're so close, why not continue to London? Take the Eurostar under the English Channel. Faster than you can say...anything, in French, you'll whiz through a tunnel and arrive in London.
Details: London guided sightseeing tour
Join a licensed local guide for an in-depth look at London, from the royal haunt of Buckingham Palace (the official London residence of King Charles III) to the slightly more democratic Speakers’ Corner of Hyde Park, where anyone can pull up a soapbox and orate to his heart’s content. You’ll see the changing of the guard (season permitting), the clock tower of Big Ben with its 14-ton bell, and Westminster Abbey, where almost every English king and queen since William the Conqueror has been crowned. After a stop at the Houses of Parliament, continue on to the magnificent St. Paul’s Cathedral, the masterpiece of London architect Christopher Wren.
Details: Cabinet War Rooms with Churchill Museum visit
Explore the basement of the Whitehall building that became the air raid shelter and famous cabinet war rooms of Winston Churchill during WWII. See the fully restored Churchill Suite, where the Prime Minister and his wife lived and worked during the air raids on London and learn about the life history of this heroic man, from his childhood, to his finest hour and beyond.
Day 10 London Landmarks
Details: Imperial War Museum visit
Explore this unique museum, dedicated to covering conflicts from World War I through the present. Tanks and aircraft, paintings, letters, films, and other exhibits trace the influence of modern war and its effects on our lives.
Details: Tower of London visit
Get up close and personal with the Tower of London. Towers, rather. Twenty stone towers, as well as tunnels, winding staircases and narrow passageways comprise this huge fortress covering 18 acres on the banks of the Thames. A royal residence from the 11th - 16th centuries, the Tower also served as a jewel safe and a prison. The headless skeletons of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard (Henry VIII's former wives who were executed here) are believed to be buried here. The Crown Jewels are housed here, including the largest cut diamond in the world (530-carats). Beefeaters (guards) lead tours through the Tower.
Details: Classic fish & chips dinner
Nothing's more British than fish and chips-there are eight fish and chips shops ("chippies") for every McDonald's in the county. Head to an authentic pub with your Tour Director for a taste of this national food, generally served with malt vinegar.
Day 11 Flight home from London
Tour Includes:
- Round-trip airfare
- 7 overnight stays (9 with extension) in hotels with private bathrooms
- Full European breakfast daily
- Dinner daily
- Full-time services of a professional tour director
- Guided sightseeing tours and city walks as per itinerary
- Visits to select attractions as per itinerary
- 2 Paris Métro carnets
- Guided sightseeing tours with high-tech headset as per itinerary
- High-Speed Eurostar Chunnel crossing on extension
- Tour Diary™
- Local Guide and Local Bus Driver tips; see note regarding other important tips
- Note: On arrival day only dinner is provided; on departure day, only breakfast is provided
- Note: Tour cost does not include airline-imposed baggage fees, or fees for any required passport or visa. Optional excursions, optional pre-paid Tour Director and multi-day bus driver tipping, among other individual and group customizations will be listed as separate line items in the total trip cost, if included.
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