Ypres is unusual in that it has retained extensive sections of its city fortifications. Designed by French military engineer Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, these sturdy brick-faced walls line the town’s southeastern moat and are topped by pleasant gardens. The tourist office's free Ramparts Route leaflet introduces a dozen of the historical fortifications, but most visitors simply stroll from the Menin Gate to the medieval Rijselpoort, just beyond which is the Ramparts Cemetery.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
27.47 MILES
Dominating Tournai’s skyline are the five spires of its remarkable cathedral, which survived WWII bombs only for a freak 1999 tornado to compromise its…
16.79 MILES
Inaugurated in 1892, Lille's illustrious Fine Arts Museum claims France's second-largest collection after Paris' Musée du Louvre. Its cache of sublime…
28.84 MILES
The heart of ancient Bruges, the old market square is lined with pavement cafes beneath step-gabled facades. The buildings aren't always quite as medieval…
0.35 MILES
No museum gives a more balanced yet moving and user-friendly introduction to WWI history. It’s a multisensory experience combining soundscapes, videos,…
27.41 MILES
Tournai’s gorgeous triangular main square is ringed with cafes in fine gable-fronted guildhouses merrily flying guild banners. Kids play in ‘dare-you’…
28.7 MILES
Bruges’ most celebrated art gallery boasts an astonishingly rich collection that's strong in superb Flemish Primitive and Renaissance works, depicting the…
28.54 MILES
In the restored chapel of a 12th-century hospital building with superb timber beamwork, this museum shows various torturous-looking medical implements,…
28.82 MILES
Towering 83m above the square like a gigantic medieval rocket is this fabulous 13th-century belfry. There’s relatively little to see inside, but it’s…
Nearby Ypres attractions
0.19 MILES
Unrelated to WWI, this museum faithfully reproduces a French manor house dating from 1774 and is filled with period antiques and artworks. The catch: it's…
0.23 MILES
This decent little gallery is set in a three-storey 1555 almshouse complex. Exhibitions change regularly but usually feature 19th-century paintings.
0.26 MILES
A single small chapel room featuring some unexpectedly high-quality medieval art, mostly religious.
0.26 MILES
One of Ypres' most attractive military graveyards, this Commonwealth War Graves Commission site is found 1km south of the Grote Markt.
0.27 MILES
Every night at 8pm, traffic through the Menin Gate is halted while buglers sound the Last Post in remembrance of the WWI dead, a moving tradition started…
0.27 MILES
A block east of Grote Markt, the famous Menin Gate is a huge stone gateway straddling the main road at the city moat. It's inscribed with the names of 54…
0.27 MILES
This excellent visitors centre should be your first port of call if you're a Commonwealth citizen looking for information about a family member who died…