Battlefield and War Cemetery Tours
Frenchtours Ltd is the preferred tour guide and operator for a variety of regimental associations, schools, and overseas travel agents wishing to organize a quality tour of battlefields and war sites in France at a reasonable cost. A package can be for guide only, hotel only, rental car only or a combination of all three. Groups or individuals are catered for, whether it be a day trip or a week’s touring. We are happy to provide testimonials and references. Frenchtours MD, Michael Smith is a licensed, bilingual guide, based in the Somme department of France for the past 30 years. He is also licensed and insured to carry passengers in his comfortable 7 seat Renault Grand Scenic.
Popular itineraries:
Australian WW1 : Pozières, Mouquet Farm, Villers-Bretonneux, Australian national monument, Victoria School and museum.
Canadian WW1 : Beaumont-Hamel battlefield (France), Vimy Ridge battlefield (France), Essex Farm (Belgium), St. Julien (Belgium), Ypres (Belgium)
British WW1 : La Grande Mine, Thiepval, Monument to first tank battles, Beaumont-Hamel battlefield, Ulster Tower, café with trenches in the back garden.
South Africa and New Zealand also have important memorials.
United States WW1 : American action in Bellau Wood, Argonne Forest, St. Mihiel, Montfaucon.
United States WW2 : D-Day landings and subsequent actions (Battles of Normandy), Omaha Beach, Utah Beach. German surrender (Reims in eastern France)
Canada WW2 : Juno Beach, Caen, Dieppe, Adegem (Belgium), Pont-Rémy (the 2 Bailey bridges constructed by Canadian engineers in September, 1944, are still standing).
IMPORTANT: If you do use a guide please ensure that your guide holds the appropriate guide’s licence, and if it’s a driver/guide, that the vehicle and driver are licenced and insured to to carry passengers. The gendarmes and transport ministry inspectors are increasingly vigilant in this respect. I’ll be happy to email mine on request.
World War I Guided Tours
Re-live the slaughter, the bravery, and the devotion to duty. How did the poppy became the symbol of their sacrifice in this bloody war? How did the war start, and why? In which respects was this a 19th Century war, and in which respects a 20th Century war? Find the answers with French Tours.
Frenchtours Ltd is the preferred tour operator for a variety of regimental associations, schools, and overseas travel agents wishing to organize a quality tour at a reasonable cost.
We can arrange a package for guide only, hotel only, rental car only or a combination of all three. Groups or individuals are catered for, whether it be a day trip or a week’s touring. We are happy to provide testimonials and references.
Cross no-man’s land at Beaumont-Hamel, walk the trenches at Vimy Ridge, listen to the moving ‘Last Post’ bugle call at Ypres, visit the armistice clearing where the ceasefire was on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 1918.
Whether you are from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, or the Indian sub-continent, there is a tailor made programme for you.
Some comments:
‘Best guide ever…..’
Sgt. Bill O’Kane, Retired Sgt, US Marine Corps‘Your package was definitely the highlight.’
Frank G, Canada‘Excellent tour of the WW1 Battlefields’
Nick W, UK
If you are looking for a guide to show you the best of the First World War sites, then please get in touch with Michael Smith at French Tours. He will be happy to answer any questions you have.
World War II Guided Tours
Learn the background of how Hitler came to power, and the subsequent subjugation of Europe under the jackboot. Hear about the ‘forgotten’ but crucial fronts; North Africa, Russia, Italy. Visit the Normandy Beaches, the sites of the D-Day Landings, for an unforgettable and moving experience: Utah Beach, Omaha Beach, Point du Hoc with its massive shell craters, the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, the German guns and bunkers, still in place.
Visit a museum with unique wartime film footage taken by both sides of the conflict. Visit the Gold, Sword and Juno Beaches, to include Mulberry Harbour, Pegasus Bridge, as well as the beautiful Normandy countryside and villages.
Michael Smith has years of experience in guiding visitors around the key locations of the Second World War in France and the rest of Europe. Whether you are an individual or a small group he can tailor the tour towards your interests and background. Please contact Michael if you have any questions.
‘Our thanks to Michael Smith for being our guide and showing us his wealth of knowledge on the whole subject of Normandy’
European War Museum
Napoleon and the Napoleonic Wars Tour
See where Napoleon trained as an officer in the army of King Louis XVI, then his rise to power with the revolutionary army. Learn about his campaigns, his marriages, his exile on Elba, his subsequent escape, and regrouping of his armies to confront his enemies at Waterloo.
After his defeat he was exiled to the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena, and we can see a reconstruction of his last home there. We can visit his tomb in Paris.
If you are interested in taking a tour which includes key sites which featured in Napolean Bonaparte’s life, then please contact Michael Smith who will be pleased to give you advice on an itinerary.
