Euro 2024 Travel arrangements

[qos_75]

Just booked the flights. Edinburgh via Heathrow to Cologne on Saturday 15 June for a week. 

Not sure where to stay yet. Cologne and Düsseldorf look good for a few nights. However, that’s for another day.

A quick look at hotel prices and my debit card retreated back into my wallet for the night. 

[Aidan]

Booked 5 nights in Bonn for now, may change or extend that when the fixtures come out. Seems to be plenty of options for travel but as it stands I’m looking at flying Aberdeen-Amsterdam, possibly a night there then take the train. 

[Jord85]

7 hours ago, Aidan said:

Booked 5 nights in Bonn for now, may change or extend that when the fixtures come out. Seems to be plenty of options for travel but as it stands I’m looking at flying Aberdeen-Amsterdam, possibly a night there then take the train. 

Been looking at Bonn with flights in to Brussels for the first few days.  Quite close to a few of the stadiums getting used 

[welshbairn]

On 26/10/2023 at 11:16, thistledo said:

I think Berlin is actually a decent location for stuff to do football aside, one of the main reasons we went for it, cancellable though so if no games are anywhere near it will probs try a non host town / city as well. I couldn't be arsed with fans partying every night in a city anyway, sound old as f**k and I'm not even that old. 

Think I'd rather spend 3 weeks in Barlinnie than in the middle of the tartan army tbh.. 

[Casey]

Just booked 2 weeks in Cologne 13th to 27th (covering all of the group stages). Hotel is 15 min train ride outside the centre.

Flight prices have increased a fair bit since last week. I'm Glasgow to Cologne via Stansted (EasyJet then Ryanair).

I'm planning to travel to matchday locations for Scotland games unless they're evening games 4 hours away.

Cologne is hosting 2 party zones. One in the Old Town and one on the other side of the river .

Cologne is good striking distance for Gelsenkirchen, Dortmund, Dusseldof and Frankfurt. A bit of a PITA for Hamburg, Berlin, Leipzig and Munich right enough.

[tree house tam]

A trip on the Nuremberg rave train to Munich, with after party in Munich is surely a must lads?

 

Edited November 2, 2023 by tree house tam

[HoBNob]

I do find it intriguing seeing what everyone's going for, I've went against booking a central location for a couple of weeks. Just didn't really see the point. 

On 29/10/2023 at 15:23, welshbairn said:

Think I'd rather spend 3 weeks in Barlinnie than in the middle of the tartan army tbh.. 

I'd absolutely rather be near where the Scotland games are occurring, the cities in Germany are more than big enough that you'd be able to dip in and out of singing "We've got McGinn" for the hundredth time, but I'd far rather be nearby rather than spending 2 weeks in the German equivalent of Milton Keynes, there's not many cities I could spend two weeks in without getting bored and skint eventually. 

Personal preference really but I'm going to the Euros because Scotland are there, just makes sense to me that you'd want to be near that.

Edited November 3, 2023 by HoBNob

[welshbairn]

17 minutes ago, HoBNob said:

I do find it intriguing seeing what everyone's going for, I've went against booking a central location for a couple of weeks. Just didn't really see the point. 

I'd absolutely rather be near where the Scotland games are occurring, the cities in Germany are more than big enough that you'd be able to dip in and out of singing "We've got McGinn" for the hundredth time, but I'd far rather be nearby rather than spending 2 weeks in the German equivalent of Milton Keynes, there's not many cities I could spend two weeks in without getting bored and skint eventually. 

Personal preference really but I'm going to the Euros because Scotland are there, just makes sense to me that you'd want to be near that.

A downside of waiting to see where Scotland are playing before booking is that the prices will go mental.

[HoBNob]

4 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

A downside of waiting to see where Scotland are playing before booking is that the prices will go mental.

Aye you're bang on, accommodation is going to be an especially terrifying prospect. 

[thistledo]

2 hours ago, welshbairn said:

A downside of waiting to see where Scotland are playing before booking is that the prices will go mental.

 

2 hours ago, HoBNob said:

Aye you're bang on, accommodation is going to be an especially terrifying prospect. 

Dusseldorf and Frankfurt accom is over double what it was when I looked at booking Berlin. Which is brutal as I fancy changing if all the games are out west. Hoping when the draw is made there will be a big switch where everyone cancels locations and people can book a location they want. Might not happen. 

I'll defo get a bit bored in the same city, but when the games aren't on we're planning to travel to Poland and Czechia for a day, fuckit why not. 

[Sarcastic Bairn]

7 hours ago, HoBNob said:

I do find it intriguing seeing what everyone's going for, I've went against booking a central location for a couple of weeks. Just didn't really see the point. 

I'd absolutely rather be near where the Scotland games are occurring, the cities in Germany are more than big enough that you'd be able to dip in and out of singing "We've got McGinn" for the hundredth time, but I'd far rather be nearby rather than spending 2 weeks in the German equivalent of Milton Keynes, there's not many cities I could spend two weeks in without getting bored and skint eventually. 

Personal preference really but I'm going to the Euros because Scotland are there, just makes sense to me that you'd want to be near that.

Having been fortunate to go to a few tournaments, my take on Germany is be near enough to a train station and that will give you a base to see different countries playing, as well as our own.

It will easier to pick up some tickets for some of these matches and it can be a good day out as well being a neutral.

If England are based near where I have booked, then that is a red flag to move, in my experience it completely changes the feeling across the city unfortunately and Ill be keeping an eye on that as well as the Scotland draw when it comes round.

[German Jag]

Unfortunately Hannover didn‘t get selected as a host city, which is a bit of a bummer.

Guaranteed SSC tickets, have also applied for a couple of the initial games in Leipzig, Berlin & Hamburg which are easiest to get to from where I live.

Once the Scotland fixtures are known, will bite the bullet as regards hotel costs.

 

The world‘s in a pretty fücked state just now, hopefully not so much come next summer.

Can see there being a massive security operation in force throughout the month that the tournament is on. Was in Lille last month, the security-level was noticeably higher than in Germany (stabbed teacher‘s funeral was, I think, the day after the game, with Macron attending). Way back, changed trains in Brussels, with cops equipped with automatic guns all over the place due to the Sweden fans being shot 2 days prior.

Should Israel qualify, then the security risk levels, will get turned up a notch or two. Munich 1972 will be in a lot of thoughts as to what could go wrong.

Had a ticket for the cancelled Germany-Netherlands game (2015),which was due to take place after the bomb attacks in Paris a couple of days earlier. Same scenario as transiting through Brussels, massive well tooled up number of police everywhere, with continual sirens sounding.

As said, hopefully things are a bit more normal come next June.

And as @Stellaboz will confirm, if planning any ‚longish‘ distance train journeys requiring a change of trains, then be prepared for missed connections etc. 

 

[HoBNob]

1 hour ago, Sarcastic Bairn said:

Having been fortunate to go to a few tournaments, my take on Germany is be near enough to a train station and that will give you a base to see different countries playing, as well as our own.

It will easier to pick up some tickets for some of these matches and it can be a good day out as well being a neutral.

If England are based near where I have booked, then that is a red flag to move, in my experience it completely changes the feeling across the city unfortunately and Ill be keeping an eye on that as well as the Scotland draw when it comes round.

This will come across very boring and misreable on my part, but I don't find the thought of going to any games as a neutral massively enticing, particularly when I'm going to be skint! 

 

A very fair point about England. 

[PSJ.84]

I think I’ll probably take in a couple of neutral games, provided I can find tickets cheap enough. A bit different to last time but a day spent in the pub watching the other group games whilst in London was not a good idea. 

[tellyboy]

4 hours ago, Sarcastic Bairn said:

If England are based near where I have booked, then that is a red flag to move, in my experience it completely changes the feeling across the city unfortunately and Ill be keeping an eye on that as well as the Scotland draw when it comes round.

Have experienced this feeling at Italy 1990. Stayed near Rimini and all the bars, fans enjoyed a ball the whole two weeks but sadly a day after our exit the Engerlund started to arrive and the atmosphere changed not for the good although there was no trouble. You could see the hard working bar and restaurant owners change their mood and wanted us to stay.  It was almost like a War film when the Germans arrived in French/Italin towns in Tanks and plundered. I will wait for the draw and see where "they" are before booking my destination.  Italia 90 wonderful but the last couple of days just wanted out of there. Gabici Mare was the small resort we stayed and a lovley place would go back again

[ArabFC]

18 hours ago, German Jag said:

Unfortunately Hannover didn‘t get selected as a host city, which is a bit of a bummer.

Which is why Id say it'd be a good place to base yourself if you want to book early.

Cheaper than host cities and good transport links to other venues.

And it not Milton Keynes.

[Derek68]

27 minutes ago, ArabFC said:

Which is why Id say it'd be a good place to base yourself if you want to book early.

Cheaper than host cities and good transport links to other venues.

And it not Milton Keynes.

I’ve booked Hannover premier inn along with another couple of cities, will decide on a base depending on the draw.
Pay on arrival/fully refundable option until day of arrival on them all. Much cheaper than host cities & all with good rail links. 

[Juan Mata]

Agree with others on the sentiment of moving around every three or four days instead of staying in one place.  Months ago I'd booked dozens of free-cancellation bookings in every host city and/or nearby, covering all match days and combinations of nearby cities that had matches the day before or after.  

Especially good with the accor hotels (ibis mercure etc.) is that when you have a booking over a longer period eg. three nights you can call them at any time. before the free cancellation period is over and change the number of nights required down to a lower number.  Used this a lot at the Rugby World Cup recently where I'd made bookings almost a year out and then attended the odd match at last minute but never paid more than 70 euro per night even though the going rate was much higher last minute for a decently located place. Not sure why you wouldn't do this but maybe I'm just a super cheap b*****d.  

[Elgin Macca]

Anyone else think they were flying into Dusseldorf but its actually weeze Airport which is about an hour north!? Because of this I've booked a free cancellation hotel in Duisburg. Accommodation seemed cheaper than Dusseldorf and the train station seems like it has direct links to a lot of the host cities. Absolute basic of basic hotels but will do a job for a sleep. 

[Div]

Wondering what plans any of you have made for actual travel to Germany yet?

Our group of 10 have booked hotels all over Germany to cover all the host cities for the first week but we're holding off on booking travel until;

1) We know where Scotland will be playing

2) We know the results of the ballot (we've all put into this as we all have 11 SSC points which I don't think will be enough for an SFA ticket)

We've hedged our ballot bets on the Rhine Valley area, as we've booked a hotel in Duisburg which we reckon can easy cover Dortmund, Gelnsenkirchen, Dortmund and Cologne from.

Obviously Germany is a really easy country to get to via any number of different routes but I'm assuming direct flights from any UK airport are going to be ridiculous once the draw is made, if not already.

My thinking was maybe to hop over via a well connected country who aren't playing (ie; Dublin) as you can fly to pretty much anywhere in Germany from there, I think?

What's your plans?