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All 18 Ieper (Ypres) Attractions »

Sanctuary Wood

Canadalaan 26, Ieper (Ypres) B-8900, Belgium
Ranked #10 of 12 attractions in Ieper (Ypres)
3.0 of 5 stars 43 Reviews
Type: Historic Sites
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43 reviews from our community

Visitor rating
    5
    15
    9
    3
    11
Date Rating
Foz do Iguacu, PR
Contributor
16 reviews 16 reviews
Reviews in 4 cities Reviews in 4 cities
2 helpful votes 2 helpful votes
3 of 5 stars Reviewed 22 May 2012 NEW

My third visit over the last 15 years. Sanctuary Wood has a horrific wartime history, the worst place for sanctuary under shellfire is within a wood as the splinters killed more people than the shells. The museum is very interesting and has a wealth of information / exhibits / very graphic pictures. My only negatives are that the owners have... More

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See 4 more reviews by EvoqueUK for Ieper (Ypres)
Canterbury
Senior Contributor
35 reviews 35 reviews
Reviews in 17 cities Reviews in 17 cities
10 helpful votes 10 helpful votes
4 of 5 stars Reviewed 18 May 2012

Take spare footwear if you want to walk in the trenches, ideally wellies. A great little private museum and fascinating trenches, bomb craters and shattered remains of the original trees. More

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See 4 more reviews by Kaypee1 for Ieper (Ypres)
Scotland
Top Contributor
51 reviews 51 reviews
Reviews in 20 cities Reviews in 20 cities
30 helpful votes 30 helpful votes
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 15 May 2012

I can only reinforce what other reviewers have said. All the other WW1 sites we visited in Flanders gave the fallen the dignity they deserve. This was the exception. It had "rip-off" written all over it. A coachload of school pupils from England was leaving just as we got there, and another Belgian school group was passing through while we... More

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See 4 more reviews by Caroline M for Ieper (Ypres)
Gloucester, United Kingdom
1 review
1 helpful vote 1 helpful vote
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 12 May 2012
1
person found this review helpful

On arriving, we were met my a man sat in a large armchair by the cashier who repeated private museum, must pay, at least 10 times every minute. This was the entrance of the museum with a cafe next to it, full of stuffed cats, and other dusty random sundries. The first part of the museum smelt of cat wee... More

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Reading, United Kingdom
Senior Reviewer
9 reviews 9 reviews
Reviews in 6 cities Reviews in 6 cities
13 helpful votes 13 helpful votes
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 6 May 2012
2
people found this review helpful

On entering the building the smell of stagnant water or worse, was dominant. Walking through the main exhibition room to the trenches I noticed a lot of cluttered exhibits lacking information. Out to the trenches and what a shambles I found. The whole area has become overgrown by saplings and trees obviously grown wild and unmanaged over decades. The ground... More

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UK
2 reviews
2 helpful votes 2 helpful votes
3 of 5 stars Reviewed 4 May 2012
2
people found this review helpful

If you like shambling, unlabelled collections and the stench of cat wee this is the place for you. Forget the "musuem" part; despite an improvement in over the last 12 months the exhibition of the collection is a joke. WW1 and WW2 items are mixed together and displayed with a bizarre collection of junk that has no relevance whatsoever. The... More

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LANCASHIRE
Contributor
12 reviews 12 reviews
Reviews in 5 cities Reviews in 5 cities
3 helpful votes 3 helpful votes
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 1 May 2012

8 Euros appeared dear to get in but after looking through the museum and then seeing the preserved trench lines and yet another museum it was well worth it. The remnants of some of the blasted tree stumps with poppies held in place with barbed wire and the shell holes around really make you think More

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See 4 more reviews by JEFFGORDONLancashire for Ieper (Ypres)
Ely, England, United Kingdom
Contributor
18 reviews 18 reviews
Reviews in 3 cities Reviews in 3 cities
1 helpful vote 1 helpful vote
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 30 April 2012

If i could give thisd place no starts i would, it was terrible, a big fat man sits in his chair taking your money 10 euros a head, grunts at you and you end up in a room full of everything and nothing, too much stuff no explanations for anything, not sure the trenches are real and the cafe stinks... More

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See 5 more reviews by Tiddles2408 for Ieper (Ypres)
Bochum, Germany
Senior Contributor
46 reviews 46 reviews
Reviews in 22 cities Reviews in 22 cities
8 helpful votes 8 helpful votes
3 of 5 stars Reviewed 23 April 2012
1
person found this review helpful

It is difficult to do a rating for this museum. Sanctuary Wood Museum is for sure a bonanza for the owner. His price policy for entrance fees is often called irreproducible. But if you are interested in WW 1 artefacts and know something about it, may be the visit it worth the fee. The old photo-boxes with 3-D Photos from... More

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Sheffield, United Kingdom
Senior Contributor
26 reviews 26 reviews
Reviews in 14 cities Reviews in 14 cities
18 helpful votes 18 helpful votes
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 8 April 2012

This was part of an organised tour that we'd booked to go on. Although the trenches were fairly interesting, the inside of the museum was dreadful. The exhibits are just odd, and not necessarily related to the WW1 theme. The 3D photos are not suitable for children to view (being corpses, skeletons and the remains of cavalry horses in trees),... More

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