A balloon flight over the Ypres battlefields
Every year, thousands of visitors from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand come to Ypres to stand where their ancestors served. A hot-air balloon flight shows you the same ground from a different angle: silent, unhurried and high enough to see how the Ypres Salient fits together.
From the basket, the war is still readable in the landscape. Many of the small, round ponds in the fields are former shell and mine craters. In places the outline of old trench lines shows through the farmland, and concrete bunkers still stand at field edges. And between them lie the war cemeteries: neat rows of white headstones, from small plots in the corner of a field to the vast cemetery at Tyne Cot.
What you can see from the air
Trenches, craters and bunkers
Crater ponds, faint trench lines and concrete blockhouses in the fields. Read more in WW1 trenches, craters and bunkers from the air.
War cemeteries and memorials
Cemeteries of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the Menin Gate and memorials to the Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders. See war cemeteries from a balloon.
The town of Ypres
The rebuilt Cloth Hall, the Menin Gate and the old ramparts around the town at the heart of the salient. More in what you see on a balloon ride over Ypres.
Why see it from a balloon?
Silent and unhurried
A balloon has no engine and drifts at the speed of the wind. There is only the occasional sound of the burner, which suits a landscape like this.
The whole picture
On foot you see one cemetery or one stretch of trench at a time. From above you see how they lie in relation to each other, the ridges, the low ground and the town.
At least 60 minutes
Every flight lasts a minimum of an hour, with a briefing beforehand and champagne on landing.
Places that matter to Commonwealth visitors
Our route always depends on the wind on the day, so we can never guarantee flying over a particular spot. These are some of the places in and around the salient, and depending on the wind, some of them lie below you or in view:
- Ypres and the Menin Gate, with more than 54,000 names of Commonwealth soldiers who have no known grave. The Last Post is sounded there every evening at 8 pm
- Essex Farm, near Boezinge, where Canadian doctor John McCrae wrote ‘In Flanders Fields’ in 1915
- Vancouver Corner at St Julien, with the Canadian ‘Brooding Soldier’ memorial to the gas attack of April 1915
- Sanctuary Wood and Hill 62, with a Canadian memorial and preserved trenches
- Tyne Cot and Passchendaele, the largest Commonwealth war graves cemetery in the world, and the ridge fought over in 1917
- Messines Ridge and the Heuvelland, with the mine craters of 1917, including the Pool of Peace, and the New Zealand and Irish memorials
Looking for a specific person or place? Read how to plan a flight around an ancestor’s front line.
Planning your flight
We launch from Ypres, Poperinge and Zonnebeke, in the middle of the former front. Flights take place shortly after sunrise or just before sunset, when the wind is calmest and the low light brings out shapes in the ground. A shared flight costs €170 per person for 1–2 people and €165 per person from 3 people (children under 12: €130), including insurance, taxes, VAT and champagne after the flight. Our briefing and guidance are available in English. See all prices, plan a private flight for your group, or give a gift voucher to relatives abroad: it is valid for 24 months.
One honest piece of advice: weather decides whether a balloon can fly, and we sometimes have to reschedule. If you are travelling from abroad, plan your flight early in your stay rather than on your last day. Read how we judge the weather.
In places, yes. Old trench lines can show up as faint lines or colour differences in fields, especially in low morning or evening light. They are subtle, not dramatic, and how clearly they show depends on the field, the crop and the season. Craters, concrete bunkers and war cemeteries are easier to spot.
Many of them are. Shell and mine craters filled with water and were never filled in, and some are still ponds today. Not every pond in the Westhoek dates from the war, but a round pond in the middle of a field is often a clue.
We can never guarantee this. A hot-air balloon drifts with the wind, so our route is decided on the day. We launch from Ypres, Poperinge and Zonnebeke, right in the middle of the former front, and we will tell you honestly what is likely on the day.
Yes. Our briefing and guidance are available in English, so you will be looked after in your own language throughout.
A shared flight costs €170 per person for 1–2 people and €165 per person from 3 people (children under 12: €130), including insurance, taxes, VAT and champagne after the flight. A flight lasts at least 60 minutes.
Many passengers find it a quiet complement to visiting the sites on foot. We recommend flying early in your stay, as the weather can force us to reschedule.
