Walk Where Canadian History Was Made
For many people interested in Canadian military history, there comes a point when reading the stories, seeing the photographs and visiting museums isn’t quite enough.
You want to stand there.
To walk the ground at Vimy Ridge. Visit the cemeteries of Normandy. Follow the Canadian advance through Belgium and the Netherlands. Explore the battlefields of Italy. Stand beside the grave of a family member or visit the place where a regiment fought more than a century ago.
Battlefield tours can turn military history into something deeply personal.
Through the Canadian Military Tourism Association and CMTA Travel Services, we work with battlefield tour operators and military history organizations offering everything from escorted group tours to highly personalized private journeys.
Battlefield Tour Companies & Resources
49th Battalion (Edmonton Regiment) Memorial Project
For travellers with an interest in Alberta’s own 49th Battalion, the 49th Battalion (Edmonton Regiment) Memorial Project preserves and shares the history and legacy of the battalion and the more than 4,000 men who served with it during the First World War.
The organization has also developed battlefield travel following the footsteps of the 49th Battalion on the Western Front, connecting the places where the battalion served with the individual stories of the men who were there.
Explore the 49th Battalion: https://49thbattalion.com/
Liberation Tours
Liberation Tours is a Canadian battlefield tour company offering premium guided coach tours to the battlefields of Western Europe.
Its programs include First and Second World War history in destinations such as France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy, with Canadian historians accompanying its battlefield tours.
Current and upcoming programs include Northwest Europe, the Italian Campaign, Vimy anniversary travel and other military-history-focused journeys.
Explore Liberation Tours: https://www.liberationtours.ca/
The Battlefield Tours
The Battlefield Tours has been taking Canadians to battlefields around the world since 1986.
Its programs have a strong focus on Canadian involvement in the First and Second World Wars and include scheduled group departures as well as customized programs for groups, schools, cadets and others interested in military history.
Over the years, the company has also helped Canadian veterans and their families return to the places where they served.
Explore The Battlefield Tours: https://www.thebattlefieldtours.com/
Canadian Battlefield Tours
For travellers looking for something smaller and more personal, Canadian Battlefield Tours specializes in private, customized battlefield experiences.
Tours focus particularly on Canadian involvement in the First and Second World Wars and are designed for very small groups. Itineraries can include major battlefields, monuments, cemeteries and museums as well as lesser-known locations that aren’t normally included on large coach tours.
For people researching a relative who served, a private battlefield tour can also provide an opportunity to build locations connected with that person’s service into the journey.
Explore Canadian Battlefield Tours: https://canadianbattlefieldtours.ca/
Fields of Fire Battlefield Tours
Fields of Fire Battlefield Tours provides another option for travellers interested in exploring the battlefields, memorials and military history of Europe.
Explore Fields of Fire Battlefield Tours: https://www.foftours.com/
Canadian Battlefields
Canadian Battlefields is dedicated to exploring Canada’s military history on the battlefields of Europe and provides another resource for travellers interested in visiting the places connected to Canadian service and sacrifice.
Explore Canadian Battlefields: https://battlefields.ca/
DH Group Tours – Battlefield Tours
DH Group Tours offers escorted battlefield tours as part of its coach and specialty tour programs, providing another option for travellers who prefer the convenience and companionship of organized group travel.
Explore DH Group Tours Battlefield Tours: https://dhgrouptours.com/coach-tours-rail-tours/battlefield-tours/
National WWI Museum and Memorial Battlefield Tours
The National WWI Museum and Memorial also offers international battlefield tours designed around First World War history.
These specialized journeys provide another opportunity for travellers interested in exploring the places where the Great War unfolded with historical interpretation as a central part of the experience.
Explore their Battlefield Tours: https://www.theworldwar.org/battlefield-tours
We Can Help With the Rest of Your Journey
Your battlefield tour may be the reason for travelling, but it doesn’t have to be your entire vacation.
Through CMTA Travel Services, our nonprofit travel agency, we can help with the travel arrangements surrounding your battlefield tour.
We can assist with:
- Air travel to and from your battlefield tour
- Pre-tour accommodations
- Post-tour accommodations
- Additional nights at your arrival or departure destination
- Additional tours and sightseeing
- Extending your stay before or after your battlefield tour
- Building other military history destinations into your travels
- Adding cultural, heritage and tourism experiences to your trip
Perhaps your battlefield tour begins in Paris, London, Amsterdam or another European city and you’d like to arrive several days early.
Maybe you’d like to stay after the tour and explore somewhere that isn’t included in the itinerary.
Or perhaps this is a once-in-a-lifetime trip and you’d like to make the most of being in Europe.
That’s where we can help.
Following a Family Member’s Footsteps?
For some travellers, a battlefield tour isn’t simply a vacation.
It’s personal.
You may be researching a parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, uncle, aunt or another family member who served. You may know their regiment but little else. You may have a service file, photograph, medal group, wartime letter or family story and want to understand where that person actually went.
Military records and regimental histories can help turn those pieces of information into places on a map.
From there, the right battlefield tour operator may be able to help you visit the battlefields, cemeteries, memorials and communities connected with that person’s service.
From Alberta to the Battlefields
The stories we preserve in Alberta are connected to places thousands of kilometres away.
Albertans fought at Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele, the Somme, Dieppe, Normandy, through Italy and Northwest Europe and in conflicts around the world.
Today, we have the opportunity to follow those journeys.
The Canadian Military Tourism Association can help you discover the possibilities, and CMTA Travel Services can help you take care of the travel before and after your battlefield tour.
You’ve learned their stories. Now you can walk where they walked.