Vimy Ridge Visitor Education Centre

I love Canada so much. The trees: gorgeous. The huge holes: jaw dropping. The monument: touching. It's beautiful to see this war torn place with such a visceral connection to WW1 in such harmony- truly a service to those who died.

An absolute must visit. As a Canadian, I went out of my way to visit Vimy Ridge. I rented a car out of Paris and drove up. Arriving at the visitor centre, it was like I never left Canada. The place is staffed by Canadians and they are super friendly as Canadians are. There are free tours to be had offered in French or English and I highly recommend you take one of these tours. The tours take you into the subway tunnels that were dug to get soldiers to the front lines for the battles. The guides are very knowledgeable and proud of the Canadian history here. Within the visitor centre are plenty of displays and information to be absorbed about the Vimy experience for the soldiers and what Vimy means to Canada. A true nation building moment. I couldn’t help but get emotional while here. There ate also souvenirs to be bought. Not the cheap crap you are offered at touristic spots, but beautiful medals, pins, tokens, and even a Lego set. The prices are very fair and I spent a fair amount of money buying such items. It was an honour to visit, and thank you for being so welcoming.

This is a truly amazing place and allots of information on what happened here in the Great War. Very peaceful place to sit. The guides are friendly and knowledgeable. We did a free guided tour down a real trench which was great. Very disappointed that we couldn’t do all the trench as she said too many on the tour. Very unfair as they shouldn’t be booking too many on at once if that’s the case and some come from further afield to see it. Other than that it’s worth a visit.

Absolutely stunning WWI memorial to the fallen Canadian soldiers from the Battle of the Arras. The memorial sculpture is absolutely huge, built on the highest point of Vimy Ridge, and is stunning. A must see for any WWI battlefields tour! The site also have restored trenches and wild trenches but only the restored/ recreated trenches can be accessed. The original trenches and battlefield, including Broadmarsh Crater, have been planted over with grasses and trees but can be clearly visited from the paved walking route. You cannot walk in the forest due to undetonated explosives but there are lots of cute sheep! The site is maintained by the Canadian government and it is very beautiful. The fences, paths, information boards, lawns, etc. are all perfect and there are many grounds staff onsite carrying out maintenance and repairs. There is a free carpark, a museum/ visitor centre. The car park, trenches, and memorial open at 6am but the museum, tour guides, and tunnels (only accessible with a guide) open at 10am. The tour guides are Canadian students trained by the government, they are very engaging, friendly, and the tours are free!

Preserved trenches and mine tunnels. When you see the number of shell craters still here, it is astounding how men could survive in these conditions. Very informative guided tour by informative people.

We stopped by on the way back to Calais and ended up staying here for 1.5 hours. A striking memorial and an opportunity to understand the sacrifice the soldiers made. The area is full of crater's and there are preserved trenches and tunnels which you can visit.

Holy ground for Canadians. The tour guides were informative, and the monument is majestic. It would be nice to see examples of uniforms and weapons and the visitor center needs French and Canadian flags out front.

Amazing tour of the tunnels under the Vimy Ridge. Our tour guide Vivian was well educated on WW1 and was great at explaining the tunnels. The trench’s were very well preserved and the creators around the trench’s were very cool to look at and take photos of. I would highly recommend going to the Vimy Memorial just down the road after as it is beautiful.