Ypres Ramparts (Fortifications) – Menin Gate Memorial loop from Ypres
Ypres Ramparts (Fortifications) – Menin Gate Memorial loop from Ypres
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136
hikers
Ypres Ramparts (Fortifications) – Menin Gate Memorial loop from Ypres
01:23
5.44km
10m
Hiking
Easy hike. Great for any fitness level. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels. The starting point of the route is accessible with public transport.
Last updated: June 28, 2026
Waypoints
Start point
Bus stop
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261 m
Ypres Ramparts Moat
Highlight • River
Translated by Google •
Tip by
578 m
Ypres Ramparts (Fortifications)
Highlight • Historical Site
Translated by Google •
Tip by
1.35 km
Ramparts Cemetery, Lille Gate
Highlight • Historical Site
What you will surely notice, no matter what size they are: You will always find (artificial) poppies in the cemeteries. What's it all about? On May 3, 1915, in Ypres, a Canadian officer wrote down the first words of a now famous poem: “In Flanders fields the poppies blow”.
John McCrae's poem isn't the only connection between the poppy and war. Poppies grow on rubble and in places where the ground has been moved frequently. The battlefields of Flanders are one big heap of war-torn soil, ripped apart by thousands of shells. This allowed the seeds to germinate. The profusion of red poppies on the battlefields of Flanders - often the only fleck of color in a sad landscape of ruins, mud and bomb craters - has to do with war.
With its deep red color like the copious blood spilled by soldiers and a black heart like a gunshot wound, the poppy became a symbol of commemoration of the First World War.
Translated by Google •
Tip by
2.00 km
Keys in the ground
Highlight • Monument
It's the brainchild of a Dutch artist. Each victim will eventually receive a bronze key, engraved with their details.
The keys will be anchored in the ground at the locations where such a civilian casualty occurred.
Art on the ground: The "Lost Key" is a key cast in bronze, engraved with the victim's name, date of death, and age. Two pins are also attached, which can be anchored to a stone base. It's the brainchild of Amsterdam artist Jeroen Bisscheroux: "The keys will be placed in places relevant to the victims, such as their place of death or residence. As if they were lost and ended up there by chance. As a passerby, you suddenly see a large bronze key with something written on it. You bend down, trying to pick it up, but you can't; it's anchored in the stones."
Translated by Google •
Tip by
2.42 km
The Minckhuisje (Toll House)
Highlight • Monument
The Minckhuisje was designed in a neo-Gothic, picturesque style by architect Jules Coomans and built in 1899. A year earlier, three houses on the Kiekenmarkt had been expropriated to provide more space for the Vismarkt so that the toll pavilion with its beautiful wrought iron fence could be built there. In 1901, the city council also approved plans to shift the building line on the west side, which would cause the Carmelite Fathers to lose ground. However, these plans were never implemented. During the First World War, the Minckhuisje miraculously escaped the first shelling, but was later destroyed anyway. Architect Coomans was allowed to design it for the second time in 1923. The coats of arms that adorn the toll house were only coloured in in 2006 at the initiative of the Gidsenkring.
Translated by Google •
Tip by
4.06 km
Cloth Hall (Lakenhalle), Ypres
Highlight • Historical Site
Built into the mighty building is the belfry - you can also find it in numerous cities in Flanders as an expression of civic pride and self-confidence.
Translated by Google •
Tip by
4.37 km
Menin Gate Memorial
Highlight • Monument
Today you are standing in front of one of the greatest and most moving memorials of the First World War in the form of a Roman triumphal arch. During the inauguration ceremony in July 1927, the Somerset Light Infantry horns played the tattoo for the first time, and since 1928 it has been played every evening at 8 p.m., regardless of the crowd or the weather.
The vast white Portland stone walls of the Menin Gate contain inscriptions with the names of nearly 55,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers who fell on the battlefield and have no burial place; son, father, brother. Indeed, the walls of the Menin Gate were not large enough: 34,957 other names of the last lost are written on the walls of Tyne Cot Cemetery east of Ypres.
Translated by Google •
Tip by
4.77 km
Hoornwerk Pedestrian Bridge
Highlight • Bridge
Translated by Google •
Tip by
5.44 km
End point
Bus stop
Way Types & Surfaces
Way Types
2.49 km
1.48 km
1.17 km
270 m
< 100 m
Surfaces
3.20 km
751 m
551 m
449 m
239 m
233 m
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Elevation
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Weather
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Tuesday 14 July
30°C
19°C
0 %
Additional weather tips
Max wind speed: 22.0 km/h
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Our route recommendations are based on thousands of hikes, rides, and runs completed by other people on komoot.
Comments
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de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ypern
really worth reading!
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