Routes

Planner

Features

Updates

App

Login or Signup

Get the App

Login or Signup

Routes
Hiking trails & Routes
Belgium
Flanders
West Flanders
Ieper
Ypres

Menin Gate Memorial – View of the Verdronken Weide loop from Hill 60 Preserved Battlefield (WWI)

Routes
Hiking trails & Routes
Belgium
Flanders
West Flanders
Ieper
Ypres

Menin Gate Memorial – View of the Verdronken Weide loop from Hill 60 Preserved Battlefield (WWI)

Moderate

4.6

(82)

425

hikers

Menin Gate Memorial – View of the Verdronken Weide loop from Hill 60 Preserved Battlefield (WWI)

02:59

11.8km

20m

Hiking

Moderate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels. The starting point of the route is accessible with public transport.

Last updated: May 21, 2026

Waypoints

A

Start point

Bus stop

Get Directions

1

967 m

Zillebeke Pond

Highlight • Lake

An interesting anecdote concerns the battles around the pond during the war. Soldiers used the pond as a natural barrier and shelter. There are stories of soldiers wading through the water at night to reach enemy lines, which gave the pond strategic significance.

Translated by Google •

Tip by

2

3.05 km

Rijselpoort (Lille Gate)

Highlight • Historical Site

The Lille Gate is a city gate in the Belgian city of Ypres. The gate is located in the south of the city center, on the road to Lille. The Lille Gate is the oldest and only preserved city gate from the fourteenth century that connects two preserved parts of the Ypres fortresses.
The Lille Gate, formerly called the Mesen Gate, dates from the Burgundian period (14th century) and is finished with Burgundian towers. The gate has been renovated several times. In the 17th century, Vauban had the tower lowered and the main wall widened. After destruction in the First World War, the gate was rebuilt.
The Rijselpoort separates the Majoorgracht from the Kasteelgracht, and is therefore a combination of a water and land gate. The entrance to the vaulted hall is on the left of the Lille Gate. To the right of the gate we find the lock room with the lock doors of the streams and settlement waters.
The Ieperlee enters the city through this gate. The Ieperlee has a bed of approximately 2.5 meters deep and is not the feeding stream for the settlement canals.

Translated by Google •

Tip by

3

3.62 km

Ypres Ramparts Moat

Highlight • River

Part of the canal belt around Ypres with a rich fauna and flora.

Translated by Google •

Tip by

4

4.39 km

Menin Gate Memorial

Highlight • Monument

Historically, the Menin Gate of Ypres was just a passage across the moat and ramparts of the old city fortifications, on the road to the nearby town of Menen. Nevertheless, it had a special meaning for the troops: from here thousands of soldiers made their way to the front, which was called the Ypres Salient - many were never to return.

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

5

5.49 km

Ramparts Cemetery, Lille Gate

Highlight • Historical Site

This is one of the smaller cemeteries for the victims of the First World War in Ypres and the surrounding area, but it is no less moving.

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

6

7.04 km

Ypres Ramparts and Moats

Highlight • Historical Site

The fortress route reveals the most beautiful places on the ramparts around the whole outskirts of the city, from high up on the ramparts to low down along the beautiful moats. The route also explores the vanished fortresses in the north and north-west of the city.

Tip by

7

8.37 km

Verdronken Weide Ypres

Highlight • Natural

40 ha of nature reserve; a delight for walkers, plant and bird lovers (with a bit of luck, the latter will see rare species such as garganey, shoveler, little ringed plover, avocet, reed warbler, water rail and bluethroat)

A part of the area is grazed by cattle.
There is a birdwatching hut.

Translated by Google •

Tip by

8

9.36 km

View of the Verdronken Weide

Highlight • Viewpoint

Can be very soggy in rainy periods

Translated by Google •

Tip by

B

11.8 km

End point

Bus stop

Loading

Way Types & Surfaces

Way Types

7.13 km

2.81 km

1.07 km

519 m

269 m

< 100 m

Surfaces

4.13 km

2.99 km

2.41 km

2.07 km

146 m

< 100 m

Sign up to see more specific route details

Sign up for free

Elevation

Elevation

Nothing selected – click and drag below to see the stats for a specific part of the route.

Sign up to see more specific route details

Sign up for free

Weather

Powered by Foreca

Tuesday 14 July

29°C

19°C

0 %

Additional weather tips

Max wind speed: 22.0 km/h

to get more detailed weather forecasts along your route

Comments

guide_signup

Want to know more?

Sign up for a free komoot account to join the conversation.

Sign up for free

Our route recommendations are based on thousands of hikes, rides, and runs completed by other people on komoot.

Save

Edit route

Download GPX

Move start point

Print

Share

Embed on a website

Report an Issue

Report restricted access

Nearby routes

Moderate

4.5

550

L'abbaye de Mont des Cats — loop from Berthen

02:53h

10.3km

200m

Explore
RoutesRoute plannerFeaturesHikesMTB TrailsRoad cycling routesBikepackingSitemap
Download the app
Follow Us on Socials

© komoot GmbH

Privacy Policy