Car & Taxi, Ieper

As we approached the center of Ypres, we noticed that most of the streets leading into it had pay parking in the form of these meters. You put your money in until it registers the time you think you are leaving, print out a receipt and place it on your dashboard. It's not like a coin parking meter where you can add more money, so make sure you know what time you think you'll be back to the car before printing out that receipt.

We parked right in the Market Square, I don't recall exactly how much it was an hour but it didn't seem expensive.

I used this taxi company a few times to get myself to or from my hotel..I walked the four kilometers more than once but it certainly was more than once a necessity to have some sort of transport..arriving into town and no available buses and luggage...

Prices were a bit high I thought....about twelve Euros to or from Hotel Kasteelhof 't Hooghe...

The four different times I used they're services there were three different drivers.Every time they showed up when they said they would after a call had been made...and the van that was being driven was always clean and the drivers friendly and polite...

Had I been in Ieper longer I certainly would have rented a bike to get myself in and out of town or around the countryside...

Car Parking

Parking your car is not that difficult at downtown Ieper.
The big market square has room enough, except for Saturdays when the weekly street market is held. Side streets offer more opportunities.
Parking in the old part of town costs money, but at a surprisingly low fee:

Euro 0.50 per hour between 8AM and noon and between 1.30PM and 6PM;
maximum parking time: 3 hours.

Near the train station is a lot of free parking space.

If you stay a night you could select an accommodation just outside the old town and park your car there. Some of the old town hotels have reserved parking spaces/garages, but the costs sometimes are higher than the street parking fee.

One more car tip: The Menin Gate is closed from 7.45PM till 8.15PM each day for the Last Post ceremony.

Most people probably do not spend more than a day in Ieper unless there is a family connection to WWI, we drove from Brugge that morning and then doubled back to Antwerp, you could also do it easily as a daytrip from Brugge if you have a car or there appears to be a train connection from Brugge as well.

Zillebeke is one of many stops along the "In Flanders Fields" car route. This 82 kilometers long drive through and around Ieper shows all mayor sites that are connected to the fierce battles around here in between 1914 and 1918. It is available through internet on the website of Westtoer as well as in the local tourist informations.

Ieper is the centre of the Flanders "Westhoek" and is laying at the end of the dead-ending (how appropriate) A19 from Kortrijk. By car it is quite easy to reach from as well France as through Belgium's North-West and East.

Ieper looks like the ideal place to go to by car. It invites especially with more then enough parking spaces and tarifs that are relatively low. On and around the Marketsquare you can no doubt find a spot and the Cathedral is another place where there are many parking places.