On Saturday 2 December, all football eyes will be on Hamburg, where the draw for the Euro 2024 finals will take place – starting at 5pm. That is when the teams who have qualified for the region’s greatest football tournament will find out where and when the group games – the first three matches – will take place
England and Scotland qualified emphatically for next summer’s tournament in Germany, and will find out who they are playing – and, crucially for fans, where and when?
Wales fans will have to wait a while longer, until March, to see if the national team can make it through a Baltic battle in the play-offs against first Finland and then either Poland or Estonia.
But if you’re planning a midsummer’s dream trip to support your team or just soak up the atmosphere, acting now could be a way to beat the travel algorithms.
What are the basic travel mechanics?
There’s a wide choice of flights on budget airlines from across England and Scotland to Germany, but they won’t be low-cost next summer. Many people will take cars across, and the Dover-Dunkirk or Harwich-Hook of Holland ferries are probably best – though Newcastle to Amsterdam and Hull to Rotterdam are also feasible, if expensive.
It could be smart to fit to somewhere close to Germany. For example, to reach Stuttgart, one of the key venues, you could fly to Strasbourg in France or Basel in Switzerland and get a cheap train from there. Eindhoven in the Netherlands is a good location for the western venues around Cologne and Dusseldorf.
You could also buy a cut-price Interrail pass (currently 25 per cent off until 28 November) and use that in conjunction with the discounted Eurostar fares it offers to Brussels.
Why does it make sense to book travel before we know where teams will be playing?
Because as soon as teams’ fixtures are known, transport and accommodation prices will soar, as the travel firms’ algorithms kick in. Right now you can fly from London City to Frankfurt on the morning of the match and back next day for £145. Were England to be drawn in Group E, that fare will multiply.
Committing now won’t necessarily be cheap: Glasgow to Frankfurt on the same dates is £290 return on Lufthansa. But as soon as the draw takes place you will see prices rising by the second as the algorithms kick in.
Where would you head for?
The Ruhr in western Germany, and…
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