Join broadcaster and bestselling author Ted Barris and Jayne MacAulay as we travel to the Netherlands to retrace the wartime trek of Canadians who helped liberate Dutch cities and countryside during the Second World War. We’ll tour historic battlefields, museums and cemeteries of Operation Market Garden, the Scheldt Estuary and the Rhineland Offensive. We’ll visit Wageningen, where the Canadians received the German surrender on May 5, 1945. We’ll also join VE Day festivities in the palace city of Apeldoorn on May 8. In Amsterdam, we’ll make must-see stops at Anne Frank House and the Rijksmuseum and then view the city on a canal-boat tour. We’ll visit Delft to watch its master potters at work. We’ll visit The Hague for its UN International Court of Justice. And because ours is a springtime journey, we’ll feast our eyes at Keukenhof during the peak of its world-famous tulip festival. All this in twelve days as we celebrate with Dutch citizens the 80th anniversary of their liberation by Canadians and their allies in 1945.

PACKAGE INCLUSIONS:

• Roundtrip International flights with Transat to Amsterdam
• 3-hour Plaza Premium Lounge pass
• Tour Host, Manager and Merit representative
• 10 nights - 4H Hotel
• May 3 - 2 nights Bergen op Zoom ( Fletcher Hotel Stadspark 4H)
• May 5 - 5 nights Arnhem (Holiday Inn Express Arnhem 4.5H)
• May 10 - 3 nights Amsterdam (Inntel Hotels Amsterdam Centre 4H)
• Buffet Breakfast Daily / 5 Dinners / 1 Lunch
• Wine with Farewell Dinner
• Executive A/C Coach daily (except Day 10 & 11)
• Entrances / Cruises
• All taxes

DETAILED ITINERARY

Day 1
Friday, May 2, 2025
Depart Toronto-Amsterdam We’ll depart Toronto on an overnight flight landing in Amsterdam about noon the next day.

Day 2
Saturday, May 3, 2025
Bergen op Zoom (D) Upon arrival at Schiphol Airport, our group will transfer to Bergen op Zoom region (1.5 hours) and our hotel for the first two nights of the tour. On the way, we will be able to visit Fort Asperen which was mobilised in both the First & Second World Wars and dates back to 1845. Here in the private museum https://www.egvl.nl/ we will have the opportunity to understand the role of the Dutch Army in May 1940, as well as the Allied Air War and also the role of the Resistance in this region. We then have the short journey to Bergen Op Zoom and, once checked in and rested, we gather for our traditional Welcome Dinner.

Day 3
Sunday, May 4, 2025
Bergen op Zoom, Walcheren, Nieuwdorp and Delta Works (B) Liberation Day After an early breakfast, we’ll tour the north shore of the River Scheldt, where the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division fought German artillery and entrenched infantry. During this final phase of the war, 5,000 Canadians gave their lives and we’ll pay our respects at the Bergen op Zoom Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery. Then it’s west to Walcheren Island, flooded in the campaign to literally flush out the German troops. We’ll visit Westkapelle’s Polderhuis museum and meet the curator of the Nieuwdorp’s War Museum Infatuate, commemorating Canadians’ role in the battle of the Scheldt. Finally, we’ll travel back to the hotel along the North Sea coast, crossing the historic Dutch Delta Works – the planet’s largest flood protection system and one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.

Day 4
Monday, May 5, 2025
Delft - Hague - Keukenhof (B) Following breakfast, we’ll check out of our accommodation and travel to Delft, birthplace of Vermeer but even better known for Delftware; then we travel to The Hague, with highlights including Parliament, Palace Noordeinde and the Peace Palace’s International Court of Justice. We then visit the famous Keukenhof Gardens, likely the largest flower garden facility in the world. Well-marked paths take visitors through gardens bursting with the daffodils, narcissi, hyacinths and tulips of spring.

Day 5
Tuesday, May 6, 2025
Wageningen / Reichswald Forest Cemetery / Groesbeek (B) After breakfast, we’ll visit Hotel de Wereld, one of the pivotal locations of the Dutch liberation (in the Netherlands, May 4 is Remembrance Day when citizens commemorate all the soldiers and civilians who gave their lives, but a visit to Wageningen is not possible that day). It’s here that Canadian Gen. Charles Foulkes faced Gen. Johannes Blaskowitz as the German occupation forces formally signed unconditional surrender. We will then travel to Kleve in Germany and a visit to the Reichswald Forest CWGC Cemetery, the final resting place of 7,594 Commonwealth Forces, many of them Allied Airmen and the largest CWGC in Germany. Then it’s back to the hotel and this evening, a Sunset March with Dutch friends across the River Waal at the site of the crossing by the US 82nd Airborne.

Day 6
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Groesbeek (B, D) After breakfast, we’ll visit Groesbeek’s National Liberation Museum, built where Major-General James Gavin landed with the U.S. 82nd Airborne as part of Operation Market Garden. Notable exhibits include the Dutch Resistance’s secret closet for hiding and playing Radio Orange, the Human Rights wall and “tolerance” test. We’ll taste Swedish liberation bread and see a bird’s-eye-view model of Operation Market Garden and the Diorama of the Waal crossing. Before returning to the hotel for dinner, we’ll visit Groesbeek’s Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery and pay our respects to 2,338 Canadians killed in the liberation.

Day 7
Thursday, May 8, 2025
Apeldoorn (B) Following breakfast, we’ll travel to the VE Day Parade in Apeldoorn, home of the royal palace. The annual event is an extraordinary outpouring of gratitude from Dutch citizens. Veterans, military organizations, marching bands and grateful civilians will line the streets in an 80th anniversary tribute to Holland’s liberators – the Canadians, British, Americans and Poles among them. After the festivities, we’ll return to the hotel.

Day 8
Friday, May 9, 2025
Arnhem - Oosterbeek (B) After breakfast, we’ll travel the Allied liberation route from Nijmegen to Arnhem, site of the northerly most phase of Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery’s Operation Market Garden. We’ll retrace their steps, with a stop at John Frost Bridge and the new Interpretation Centre near the original site of Frost’s HQ. Then to Oosterbeek’s Huize Hartenstein, former headquarters of the 1st Airborne and now the British Airborne Museum. We’ll continue west to the Old Dutch Reform church, for a little-told tale of valour by the Royal Canadian Engineers on the night of Sept. 24, 1944. This afternoon, we will also be able to visit the Canadian Military Cemetery and Interpretation Centre at Holten before returning to the hotel.

Day 9
Saturday, May 10, 2025
Amsterdam (B, D) After breakfast, we’ll head to Amsterdam beginning with a visit to Anne Frank House for a self-guided tour that explores the importance of Anne Frank’s life and diary in understanding the tragedy of the Holocaust. The rest of your day is free to explore this fascinating and friendly city

Day 10
Sunday, May 11, 2025
Amsterdam (B, D) Today we visit the Rijksmuseum, the Netherlands’ largest art museum. The world-class collection of nearly 8,000 pieces boasts revered paintings by Flemish and Dutch masters, including Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Frans Hals. The museum also offers extensive outdoor gardens and a Michelin-starred restaurant. The rest of the day spent shopping or perhaps visiting the nearby Van Gogh Museum on your own.

Day 11
Monday, May 12, 2025
Amsterdam (B, D) NOTE: DAYTIME ACTIVITIES ON DAY 9, 10 & 11 ARE INTERCHANGEABLE After breakfast, we’ll board a canal boat for a view of Amsterdam from the water. Then, the rest of the day spent shopping or relaxing to be back at the hotel in time for our traditional Farewell Dinner.

Day 12
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Depart Amsterdam-Toronto (B) All good things must come to an end. We’ll enjoy a final group breakfast at the hotel and transfer to the airport, where we’ll depart Amsterdam for our homebound flight to Toronto.

A minimum of 25 paying passengers is required for the tour to proceed. Maximum group size of 40 passengers. Rate of $6,595 CAD per person is based on double occupancy. Single supplement of $1,600. A $1,000.00 nonrefundable deposit is required at the time of booking. Final payment is due on February 03, 2025, 90 days prior to departure. Not included: Insurance, personal expenses, any meals or drinks not mentioned, gratuities and Merit Travel professional fee. A 3% merchant fee may apply when using a credit card. All other services that have not been mentioned in the inclusions. Hotels: Fletcher Hotel Stadspark; Holiday Inn Express Arnhem; Inntel Hotels Amsterdam Centre or similar.