Private Tour Guide for Vimy & Somme

Hi,

I would suggest going to the city hall in Arras as you are there anyway. The first floor of the city hall has the Tourist Office...check there and check out its brochures. If you are in Arras in the morning and plan to be in Vimy in the afternoon, say after lunch, very doable as long as you are motorised. It doesn't take too long to get to Vimy from Arras, you leave Arras, then you go through Neuville St Vaast. then you reach Vimy. Tours in Vimy are given in both French and English.

Can't help you with the guide info, inquire at the Tourist Office. I never went with or had a guide but was lucky enough to be driven to numerous of these memorial sites and military cemeteries and places I want to see for myself.

Going to the Somme area from Arras takes ca 1.5 hrs, depending where...Amiens, Albert, Perrone (where the Great War Museum is.) You'll recognise the Somme are by its signs and esp the green signs on the roads pointing to British and Commonwealth war cemeteries, Australian, South African, etc. Pretty grim since this is where the horrific fighting was going on not only in 1916 but also the German Spring Offensive in 1918.

Hi,

There is the underground "museum" in Arras on the war. That is connected to the city hall.

Since Arras was the General HQ for the British, and operational objective in both wars, there are memorial plaques attesting to that, ie its liberation by the Welsh Guards and when they were driven out in 1940.

There is a major British WW1 cemetery in Arras, near the edge of town, next to the Citadelle, which was a former French Army base but now is open to the public.

Hi,

If you plan to drive (rental car) from the Somme to Arras, ie from Somme River to the Dyle in Arras, you will see British cemeteries along the roadside and the towns like Albert, Frevent, Beaumont Hammel, Cambrai, and Arras, etc, as pointed out above. Those are the ones I have seen and more without looking at my notes and spelling them properly.

Taxi drivers in Arras are well versed in delivering tourists to Vimy and will probably offer to come back for the return trip. Google Maps says the drive is about 12 km. You do not need a guide to Vimy; the Canadian government sponsors a crew of well-trained university students for its tour. Be sure to get there early enough that the underground tunnels are still open. Lots of suggestions and pictures here:
http://arras-france.com/

The Somme battlefields, graveyards and memorials are spread over a fair distance of farmland where public transport is bound to be limited. I found this tour advertised from Arras but I can't personally endorse it: https://www.tripadvisor.ca/AttractionProductDetail-g196631-d11466677-The_Battle_of_the_Somme_Guided_Day_Tour_from_Arras-Arras_Pas_de_Calais_Hauts_de_France.html

Probably the tourism office in Arras can advise you with more expert experience of what's available.
The Canadian government offers substantial on-line advice for visits to WW1 sites (your tax dollars at work). It's fair to point out that the Commonwealth War Graves Commission does an admirable job of maintaining the cemeteries; and fair to lament how many there are. www.cwgc.org

A rental car is practically indispensable if you want to explore many of the Somme sites. In particular, the Beaumont Hamel site is one you really need to see. Like Vimy, this is also maintained by the Canadian government, with Canadiian docents. With research on sites like those previously mentioned, we easily toured without a guide, by car.