These are UK-based specialist tour operators, travel agencies, and companies offering self or expert guided battlefield tours to military sites and battlefields worldwide, but mostly World War I & II, and Napoleonic war sites in Europe.
“Others…” (below) also lists specialists in battlefield experiences that don’t quite fit the parameters for this list. In particular there are a number of battlefield guides who are based on the continent near the sites they visit.
| Anglia Battlefield Tours | 01376 574130 | Schools & groups battlefield tours to Europe. A range of different tours covering different conflicts, including poetry tours to WWI sites such as the Somme & Ypres. |
| Back-Roads | 020 8987 0990 | The Back-Roads Touring Co has a programme of escorted small group battlefield tours (WWI & WWII) in France, Belgium and Holland. |
| Battle Honours | 01438 880725 | Small group walking tours of mostly European & UK battlefields. |
| Bird Battlefield Tours | 020 8752 0956 | Antony and Nicholas Bird operate small group tours of historic European battlefields. |
| Cassino Battlefields | 01347 811104 | Specialise in battlefield study tours to the WW2 sites at Cassino, Anzio and Salerno in Italy. |
| Cooper’s Waterloo Tours | 01277 890214 | Tours led by expert, Graham Cooper, to Napoleonic battlefield sites across Europe (his speciality). |
| Cultural Experience, The | 0345 475 1815 | Guided history, battlefield and archaeological tours to a wide selection of destinations. Formerly known as Midas Tours. |
| Dr Thomson’s Tours | 07885 662714 | Small-scale (one-man) tour operator. Dr Thompson is a historian & guide based in Canterbury, he takes private tours to European battlefield and historic sites. |
| Galina International Battlefield Tours | 01244 340777 | Longstanding battlefield tour operator focused on WWI & WWII in Europe. Also Agincourt & Waterloo. Runs tours for groups, schools, British Army and Army Reserve groups, and cadets. |
| Holts Battlefield Tours | 0800 731 1914 | Probably the best brand in the battlefield niche, now specialising in schools history & educational tours. Holts was a small independent specialist operator – the first in its field – launched in the 1970s by battlefield guidebook & map authors, Major Tonie and Mrs Valmai Holt. They operated a huge range of expert-guided battlefield tours worldwide until Sept 03 when it was aquired by Titan Tours and subsequently merged with former competitor, Midas Tours. Now its public tours are operated by Leger (below). |
| In The Footsteps | 01989 565599 | Family run operator offering private battlefield tour services to WW1 & WW11 sites in France, Belgium, Germany, Holland, UK & South Africa with a team of expert guides, and for tailor made ‘geneology tours’, research for following in the footsteps of ancestors is free of charge on booking. |
| Leger | 01709 385 624 | Large programme of 1st & 2nd WW battlefield tours in Europe, plus other pre & post 20th century battlefields worldwide. |
| Martin Randall Travel | 020 8742 3355 | Well-known specialist in high-brow, small-group, expert-led cultural tours. Their programme of History tours usually features some specific military & battlefield tours. |
| Matt Limb Battlefield Tours | 07973 518289 | Matt Limb OBE is himself a Commanding Officer of a specialist Territorial Army regiment. He takes battlefield tours to 1st & 2nd WW sites on the Continent. |
| Old Country Tours | 01747 828719 | Anglo-American specialist tour operator offering history and battlefield tours in Europe and the USA. |
| Reveille Battlefield Tours | 01304 240820 | Owner-led, in-depth small group visits by minibus to major sites of WW1 and WW2 |
| Rifleman Tours | 01908 617264 | Small group guided WW1 battlefield tours with executive coach travel and 3-star hotel accommodation. Itineraries are flexible to incorporate special visits or interests, but they also offer tailor made tours. |
| SOE Expeditions | – | SOE Expeditions are a little different to most military tour operators. They recreate SOE, Commando and other WW2 missions… for real! So, for example, if you have the stamina you can spend 10-days skiing across Norway in the tracks of the Heroes of Telemark, or 4-days fleeing occupied France on the freedom trail over the Pyrenees, or 10-days escaping across Crete as the SOE did in 1944 having kidnapped General Heinrich Kreipe. |
| Solway Tours | 07789 794142 | Small group tours. Mostly history tours in and around Scotland, but they also visit battlefield sites and sometimes in Europe. |
| Somme Battlefield Tours | 01202 840520 | Expert-led and self-drive tours of the Somme & Ypres WWI battlefields. |
| Sophie’s Great War Tours | 07973 956373 | Despite the name, Sophie also covers WW2 battlefields such as Arnhem, D-Day, etc. They also offer motorbike tours of battlefield sites. |
| Twynhams Tours | 0800 5999 077 | Twynhams operate a range of special interest tours, particularly for motorsports enthusiasts, but also vintage aviation and battlefield tours. |
| Zeitgeist | 07541 981417 | Specialist operator offering battlefield tours and experiences to schools. |
Others…
- Tucker Tours Richard Tucker operates small (typically for groups of up to 4 people) guided military history tours of especially selected Maginot Line defences in the Sedan/Ardennes region of France, and other niche topic tours such as his day tour highlighting the RAF Fairey Battle squadrons (and some Blenheim IVs) missions to destroy the German engineer bridges over the Meuse, 14 May 1940.
- In Krakow, Poland, Małopolska Stowarzyszenie Miłośników Historii, aka “Rawelin”, is a non-profit organisation that conducts historical research and works to protect architectural monuments, including fortifications and historic urban engineering. They run tours of some of these places including the underground emergency command centre at the Lenin Steelworks in Krakow, a 1950s time capsule.
- Battlefields by 4×4 is an interesting option. Small group guided battlefield tours for owners of 4×4 vehicles. You get yourself there and do the driving. They guide you to WWI & II sites in northern France (it’s mostly WWI. They are based in Arras) on and off the beaten track.
- African Battlefields specialise in battlefield tours in South Africa, especially the classical Victorian Military expeditions of the Anglo Boer and Zulu war Battlefields of 19th century British colonial Africa.
- Battlefields Experience, The (not based in the UK) operates WW1 & WW2 battlefield tours in Northern France & Belgium.
- Civil War Traveler is a useful website detailing historical self-drive tour and trail information to civil war sites in the USA.
- French-Tours offer chauffeur-guided tours of WWI & WWII battlefields sites in France.
- Best Russian Tour are the guys who do all the extreme and special interest tours in Russia (eg. cosmonaut training, MIG flights) they have many military options including visits to battleground/military museums such as the tank museum in Kubinka, Museum of the Great Patriotic War, Museum of the Battle of Borodino T-34 Tank museum, etc.
- Battlefield Tours is a Dutch operator focusing on WW2 sites in the Netherlands; so obviously Arnhem and the Scheldt, but also less well known battlefields such as Deventer, Zutphen, & Groningen.
- The Battlefield Explorer is Dutch accredited battlefield guide, Joris Nieuwint, who lives in Veghel and specialises is Market Garden tours.
