18th June 1815 - the battle of Waterloo - one of the most decisive battles in European history.
Although most traces of the battle have long since disappeared the site itself is almost unchanged, making it one of the most fascinating battlefields to visit.
How much more interesting then to visit the battlefield accompanied by an official guide who can explain why Wellington chose to make a stand here, how he deployed his troops and why Napoleon failed to break Wellington's lines before the arrival of Prussian troops under Blücher sealed his fate.

We are the official guides to the battlefield of Waterloo.
We are all volunteers who like to share our love of history and our knowledge of the 1815 campaign with our visitors.
We can set the battle in its military and political context with the help of maps displayed in the Visitors' Centre and we can show you where the principal engagements took place on the battlefield itself.
We have all followed an induction course and passed an exam before being admitted as an official guide and we continue to deepen our knowledge by attending (and sometimes giving) in-service lectures on all aspects of the Napoleonic wars.
There are about 50 active guides offering tours in various languages. On average we accompany about 230 tours a year.

The battlefield of Waterloo is protected by a law of 1914 which forbids any new building on the site; It is one of the smallest battlefields of the Napoleonic wars - 3 kilometres by 1.2 kilometres.
So it is easy to see it as a whole and to visit the essential parts of it in a single tour.
The farms which formed an essential element in Wellington's defensive lines are still there - some are working farms and can't be visited.
The most important, perhaps, was Hougoumont on Wellington's extreme right and we are able to take you here where you can still see the loopholes knocked in the walls by the soldiers defending the farm.

You can climb the Lion Mound - 41 metres high and 226 steps to the top ! - and visit the Panorama which gives a visual display of the charge of the French cavalry.

There is a Visitors' Centre with a shop and various cafés and restaurants close by.

A good place to start your visit is the Wellington Museum in the town of Waterloo - 4 Kms north of the battlefield - and we can also take you to Napoleon's Headquarters at the Caillou Farm or to the site of the battle of Ligny in which, on 16th June, Napoleon achieved his last military success - against the Prussians. You can see further on how much time you will need for the various combinations of the battlefield tour we offer.