Ypres

The memorial arch carries the names of ~54,000 Commonwealth soldiers with no known grave. Every evening at 20:00 sharp, traffic stops and buglers sound the Last Post — as they have since 1928. Be there by 19:30.

One of the largest commercial buildings of the medieval world, reduced to rubble by 1918 and rebuilt exactly as it was by 1967. Photos of the ruins are displayed around the square — the contrast is staggering.

Inside the rebuilt Cloth Hall, the definitive museum of the war in Flanders — personal stories over statistics, and a belfry climb over the former battlefields for those who add the tower ticket.

The largest Commonwealth war cemetery in the world — nearly 12,000 graves on the Passchendaele ridge, 9 km from town. Silent, immaculate and unforgettable; combine with the Passchendaele Museum in Zonnebeke.

In Zonnebeke castle grounds: walk through reconstructed dugouts and trenches that make the mud of 1917 physically real in a way no film can. Pairs naturally with Tyne Cot, 3 km away.

A peaceful 2.6 km walk on top of the Vauban ramparts, from the Menin Gate past moats and swans to the Lille Gate and the small Ramparts Cemetery — the prettiest war cemetery of them all, right on the water.