European Football Trip

Big Andy

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Oct 23, 2003
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Next year me and group of mates are looking to go abroad and watch a football match or two. Ideally somewhere where we can take in a few games over the weekend. For example a few years ago I went to Berlin to watch Union Berlin, and then got the train to Wolfsburg to watch them play Bayern Munich.

As we are split between United and Liverpool fans, we never really watch football together outside of major tournaments, so decided to look at booking somewhere.

Anyone got any ideas of where we could go that has two relatively close teams at a decent level so we can take in two games over the weekend, and is not too hard to get tickets for.

I fancy Dortmund, mate wants to go to Madrid, none of us fancy going to Italy or France, so I'd say Spain or Germany our best bets.
 
You should do a Balkan trip.
Belgrade
Sarajevo
Split/Zagreb
Just look for good dates where are some derbies. It's cheap and you will have more fun.
 
Big Andy said:
Next year me and group of mates are looking to go abroad and watch a football match or two. Ideally somewhere where we can take in a few games over the weekend. For example a few years ago I went to Berlin to watch Union Berlin, and then got the train to Wolfsburg to watch them play Bayern Munich.

As we are split between United and Liverpool fans, we never really watch football together outside of major tournaments, so decided to look at booking somewhere.

Anyone got any ideas of where we could go that has two relatively close teams at a decent level so we can take in two games over the weekend, and is not too hard to get tickets for.

I fancy Dortmund, mate wants to go to Madrid, none of us fancy going to Italy or France, so I'd say Spain or Germany our best bets.
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If you stationed yourself in Dusseldorf you have Dortmund and Leverkusen not too far away and Dusseldorf has a brilliant train station too.
 
Big Andy said:
Next year me and group of mates are looking to go abroad and watch a football match or two. Ideally somewhere where we can take in a few games over the weekend. For example a few years ago I went to Berlin to watch Union Berlin, and then got the train to Wolfsburg to watch them play Bayern Munich.

As we are split between United and Liverpool fans, we never really watch football together outside of major tournaments, so decided to look at booking somewhere.

Anyone got any ideas of where we could go that has two relatively close teams at a decent level so we can take in two games over the weekend, and is not too hard to get tickets for.

I fancy Dortmund, mate wants to go to Madrid, none of us fancy going to Italy or France, so I'd say Spain or Germany our best bets.
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Turkey, if you fancy a bit of madness.
 
Very loosely know someone who does this every so often, he's been all over Europe. Not sure if he sees more than one game per trip but he's always going somewhere.

You've already done Germany and it's probably one of the easiest due the good rail network. Good crowds in the 2nd division too if you had trouble finding top-flight games for both matches.

I'd probably go for smaller countries with good transport if it were me but it sounds like you don't want that, you want the big leagues? Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium would be easy.
 
Big Andy said:
Good knowledge there. Thanks
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In the 2. Bundesliga you have a bunch of great clubs with big stadiums as well in that area, including Köln and Düsseldorf. That should cool on derby days as well. If you have a car, you'd also be under 1.5h away from Eindhoven (PSV), but that'd be harder by public transport.
 
Spain is great for something like this. I would do Atheltic Bilbao and Real Socieded, both in the north in the Basque region and close to each other. Santander is in the second division, but they are somewhere there as well.

The south of Spain are a lot of second division clubs, but the cities are beautiful (Granada, Gijon, Malaga etc.). You can combine decent football and great vacation.
 
izec said:
Spain is great for something like this. I would do Atheltic Bilbao and Real Socieded, both in the north in the Basque region and close to each other. Santander is in the second division, but they are somewhere there as well.

The south of Spain are a lot of second division clubs, but the cities are beautiful (Granada, Gijon, Malaga etc.). You can combine decent football and great vacation.
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Was going to mention San Sebastian and Real Sociedad.

Bilbao and La Real won't be at home on same weekend but could always go and watch Alaves or Osasuna instead as only an hour or so down the Basque country. Actually if you fly in you go to Biarritz which is on the French border and Toulouse isn't that far away.
 
Cheimoon said:
In the 2. Bundesliga you have a bunch of great clubs with big stadiums as well in that area, including Köln and Düsseldorf. That should cool on derby days as well. If you have a car, you'd also be under 1.5h away from Eindhoven (PSV), but that'd be harder by public transport.
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I find the atmosphere at PSV really boring, would probably stay in Germany if you go to games for a good atmosphere. Koln is a cracking city, fanbase and stadium and tickets should probably be available. the Ruhr industrial area has something like 9 million inhabitants and many cool clubs like Koln, Schalke, Dortmund, Munchengladbach, Dusseldorf... Within a 2 hour drive they have 14(!) stadiums over 20K seats.
 
WouterWeghorst said:
I find the atmosphere at PSV really boring, would probably stay in Germany if you go to games for a good atmosphere. Koln is a cracking city, fanbase and stadium and tickets should probably be available. the Ruhr industrial area has something like 9 million inhabitants and many cool clubs like Koln, Schalke, Dortmund, Munchengladbach, Dusseldorf... Within a 2 hour drive they have 14(!) stadiums over 20K seats.
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You'd have to find a good game for PSV of course, but that probably applies to the 2. Bundesliga teams and Leverkusen as well. Dortmund I'd expect to be fun most days, if only to see that famous yellow wall in person.
 
Bergamo?

Beautiful place. Cheap flights, Atalanta, 2 Milan clubs and Como all within an hour or so on the trains.
 
Check out mystery away days site. I think it's a class idea and a few of my mates used it and raved about it.
 
Big Andy said:
Next year me and group of mates are looking to go abroad and watch a football match or two. Ideally somewhere where we can take in a few games over the weekend. For example a few years ago I went to Berlin to watch Union Berlin, and then got the train to Wolfsburg to watch them play Bayern Munich.

As we are split between United and Liverpool fans, we never really watch football together outside of major tournaments, so decided to look at booking somewhere.

Anyone got any ideas of where we could go that has two relatively close teams at a decent level so we can take in two games over the weekend, and is not too hard to get tickets for.

I fancy Dortmund, mate wants to go to Madrid, none of us fancy going to Italy or France, so I'd say Spain or Germany our best bets.
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Spain has a few options:
- Madrid of course, with Real or Atletico and then trying to get to a Rayo Vallecano game
- Catalunya with Barcelona and Gijon
- Pais Basco as has been mentioned
- Andalucia with Sevilla (CF or Betis) and then Granada or Malaga

If you do it in late winter/early spring, Andalucia or Madrid would be great if you want some sunshine on the trip.
 
I went to an Utrecht game last year and it was great fun. Good atmosphere.
 
I went to Betis v Sevilla and Cadiz vs Mallorca on the same day earlier this year, was quality.

The atmosphere at a Betis or Sevilla home game is unbelievable. Definitely worth a trip and within range you have Malaga, Cadiz, Granada, Huelva and Cordoba, not to mention easy enough train links from Malaga & Seville to Madrid if you wanted to get in a game there. Also the option to fly into Malaga, Madrid or Seville.

Spain is quality for football trips, great train network, cheap enough flights, decent weather, great food and cold beer.

Downside is the cost of tickets, can be quite pricey for some La Liga games.
 
Big Andy said:
Next year me and group of mates are looking to go abroad and watch a football match or two. Ideally somewhere where we can take in a few games over the weekend. For example a few years ago I went to Berlin to watch Union Berlin, and then got the train to Wolfsburg to watch them play Bayern Munich.

As we are split between United and Liverpool fans, we never really watch football together outside of major tournaments, so decided to look at booking somewhere.

Anyone got any ideas of where we could go that has two relatively close teams at a decent level so we can take in two games over the weekend, and is not too hard to get tickets for.

I fancy Dortmund, mate wants to go to Madrid, none of us fancy going to Italy or France, so I'd say Spain or Germany our best bets.
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If you need help with this drop me a message, I work in travel & hospitality so have access to sports tickets/hotels etc
 
The Basque option is the winner - Bilbao & San Sebastian are epic city breaks

Other footy options not far away
 
Juice Juiced said:
You should do a Balkan trip.
Belgrade
Sarajevo
Split/Zagreb
Just look for good dates where are some derbies. It's cheap and you will have more fun.
Click to expand...

Split and Zagreb are phenomenal days out of the games are big. Been to both.
 
FootyGirl88 said:
If you need help with this drop me a message, I work in travel & hospitality so have access to sports tickets/hotels etc
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I am sorry to jump on this message, but I am traveling with a group of students in January and would love to offer a few options like this. Could I PM you just for some advice about how I could organize it?
 
Maluco said:
I am sorry to jump on this message, but I am traveling with a group of students in January and would love to offer a few options like this. Could I PM you just for some advice about how I could organize it?
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Yeah sure, drop me a message
 
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