Tips for getting tickets in Europe:

[maclean]

I think the often stated fact that everything in Europe is "so close" can be deceptive for people coming for the first time. Relatively speaking, it's true, but if you've got a shortish about of time and want to cover a lot of ground, you are going to end up most of a lot of days on the train. Of course you can take night trains to compensate for this (and save on accommodation) but if you've got two weeks, you don't want to be spending half of it en route. That's why you see people recommending taking a smaller area and concentrating on that (like, France, Spain and Portugal is morrre than plenty for that amount of time). Of course it's all a matter of opinion (and I get the football draw), but I see no reason to bother with the British isles at all, it's basically a waste of your time. If there's a real draw for you there, do a separate trip some other time so you can see the more interesting parts like Scotland and Ireland, but if you've got a European whirlwind in store, you're just burning days by including a country where the main interesting thing is you realise where all the worst parts of American culture actually originated.

 

[Havre]

England is

I wouldn't worry about crime in Marseille. And it is a really cool place to watch football. Went to Marseille - Nice once and the home fans were amazing. Love the old harbour even if they have somewhat ruined the place with the road. Could have been amazing if they had kept the inner port road free.

For cities Eastern Europe is the place to go. Can't beat the old capitals in that part of Europe. Prague and Budapest already mentioned.

Firenze is spectacular. Quite possibly my favourite city. Can obviously be combined with Fiorentina.

Northern Spain isn't that easy to get to, but San Sebastian is an astonishingly beautiful city (old town) with ridiculously nice food. Can be combined with football in Bilbao (that "new" stadium is fantastic).

Personally, if I went on a trip around Europe for a couple of weeks, I would mainly fly from A to B. With all the low cost airlines around that is easiest and very often even cheapest these days. I never once had any issues flying with the likes of Ryanair. Just make sure you have paid everything in advance and you are good to go (and that really isn't that difficult unless you are pushing 60 and isn't updated on modern ways of travelling).

 

[robertmac43]

If you do end up jumping around Europe and use Ryanair make sure to look at their baggage restrictions before going. They will try and mark you up at every moment possible!

 

[Havre]

That is an exaggeration if you ask me. I have used Ryanair quite a lot and never ever have I had a second of trouble.

But yeah - knowing what you can take and not is always useful.

 

[Burner Account]

How much more expensive would it be if you waited for the fixtures to be released before booking your travel? That's what I do when I travel to England to see the Premier League or to North America to see NHL, NBA, and NFL games. You can start planning Premier League travel in June and North American travel in August when the NBA schedule is released.

Match dates get switched around ofcourse in Europe due to TV broadcasting and European competitions but they usually only change the date from Saturday to Friday or Sunday. Those changes seem to come as a surprise to many Finnish people who travel to England or Germany to see football and book their travel before the TV matches have been announced.

Definitely going to wait for fixtures to be released before planning anything. That's June 13 for the Premier League this year, if anyone else was wondering. Right now I'm just messing with different dates and travel combinations to get a sense of what it will cost.

 

[Lepardi]

If there's a real draw for you there, do a separate trip some other time so you can see the more interesting parts like Scotland and Ireland, but if you've got a European whirlwind in store, you're just burning days by including a country where the main interesting thing is you realise where all the worst parts of American culture actually originated.

As someone who's visited both the UK and the United States about ten times this was certainly news to me. I never knew that the constant mass shootings sponsored by the NRA, the lack of healthcare for millions of people (nothing like the NHS in the States), the massive rates of illiteracy caused by terrible public schools, and the constant hot dog, pizza, taco and hamburger commercials plus the high prevalence of obesity were actually a British thing.

But even with all these downsides I still enjoy visiting North America more than I enjoy visiting any country in Europe. It's because people in both the USA and in Canada are so amazingly polite and hospitable compared to Europeans. People have said to me I've got great English dozens of times in North America, whereas I've never heard that in England. Maybe it's because English people aren't as fake and dishonest as Americans, but I don't care. I still enjoy the compliments so much that I'll be visiting USA again soon.

 

[Lepardi]

Definitely going to wait for fixtures to be released before planning anything. That's June 13 for the Premier League this year, if anyone else was wondering. Right now I'm just messing with different dates and travel combinations to get a sense of what it will cost.

If you're in London during the weekend, there will certainly be plenty of matches to attend as long as it's not during one of the international breaks (Sep 2-10, Oct 7-15, Nov 11-19). England will be playing Bulgaria at Wembley and France will be playing Albania at Stade de France on September 7th however.

In England you might get to experience a better (or at least a more "authentic") atmosphere compared to the big clubs if you attend a Championship, League One or League Two match. Chelsea, Arsenal and ManU matches are full of tourists from around the world and I can understand why the locals aren't big fans of this phenomenon, as it hikes up ticket prices and makes it impossible for many of the local fans to attend as many games as they'd like. In my experience attitudes towards tourists are very different at NHL games compared to the big Premier League clubs. In North America people say things like "so you've come all the way from Europe to see the NHL, that's so cool, who's your favorite Finnish player, what other games are you gonna see and have you already tried this great local food of ours", whereas in England the average local fan isn't nearly as welcoming (I have met some very friendly people at Premier League matches too though). Ofcourse if you want to catch one of the big clubs, they usually aren't playing on 3 PM on Saturday when the lower leagues are in action, which makes it easy to catch two games in one weekend in London if you really enjoy your football.

Personally, if I went on a trip around Europe for a couple of weeks, I would mainly fly from A to B. With all the low cost airlines around that is easiest and very often even cheapest these days. I never once had any issues flying with the likes of Ryanair.

I was supposed to fly Ryanair from Eindhoven to Prague last summer. They decided to cancel the flight a few hours before scheduled departure time without giving any real reason for it and they didn't provide any viable rerouting choices either. On Finnish discussion forums Ryanair certainly doesn't have a reputation as being the most reliable of airlines. I still hope they'd start flying to London from my hometown Tampere again.

As long as you're travelling relatively short distances, you should take into account the fact that the airports usually aren't located nearly as centrally as the railway stations, and that you have to be at the airport well before departure time. This might sometimes go slightly unnoticed among Americans as they live in a country that loves their cars and planes, where a large part of the population sees it as a despicable socialist plot when someone like AOC suggests that maybe USA should have proper train travel options too.

Personally I find train travel a lot more comfortable than flying. You don't have to look at seatbelt signs and you seldom have to go through thorough security checks.

 

[East Coast Bias]

I see our favorite poli-board resident sociologist and cultural expert finally found the soccer board. Lovely

 

[Evilo]

RyanAir can be an ass with luggage if you don't pay the whole luggage fee.
French trains are indeed not that expensive if you reserve A LONG time in advance. But only a couple of months and it's way too expensive.
Flying is the way to go. Cheap and much faster than train.

 

[Lepardi]

Flying is the way to go. Cheap and much faster than train.

What kind of distances are you talking about? Would you rather fly from Paris to Marseille or from Paris to London than take the train?

 

[Evilo]

Yep, I'd fly to every city that's at least 3-5 hours drive away.

 

[Chimaera]

I rather do the train. But then again, I'm typically going to book my train fares months in advance to where it's pretty similar in cost. I've also said I enjoy bringing on my own beverage and sandwich to the lack of anything you get on a plane.

I also rather have my luggage in my hand then gamble on a short flight, and I've had some horror stories on budget airline where I would rather not get stuck at the airport, and I've had too many bags tossed or lost. You're also really not saving that much time when you factor in going to the airport early, security, boarding, departure, delays, etc. Trains can be late, sure, but in general, you're going to arrive close to on time.

there's a bit of difference between 3 and 5 hours. 5 hours, it's probably easier to take a plane. less than that, I rather take a train, as long as I can make sure I'm doing a more direct route with lesser stops. If I'm only stuck on a local option, where it's hitting every small two bit station between the start and the end, flying, all the time.

 

[Lepardi]

Yep, I'd fly to every city that's at least 3-5 hours drive away.

If you really like flying, that makes sense, but it certainly isn't the faster option between London and Paris, and it's hardly any faster to get from Paris to Marseille by plane.

We took the train from Charles de Gaulle to Lyon when we arrived to Euro 2016. According to Google Maps it's a 5-hour drive. The train trip took two hours.

 

[Lepardi]

there's a bit of difference between 3 and 5 hours. 5 hours, it's probably easier to take a plane. less than that, I rather take a train, as long as I can make sure I'm doing a more direct route with lesser stops. If I'm only stuck on a local option, where it's hitting every small two bit station between the start and the end, flying, all the time.

A 5-hour drive doesn't mean the train trip will take anywhere near five hours if you've got proper rail connections like they do in France.

 

[Evilo]

Yes certain Train lines are fast. I'm talking in general. Paris/Lyon/Marseille is a very fast line.

 

[S E P H]

Yep, I'd fly to every city that's at least 3-5 hours drive away.

Going in through airports must be frustrating no? And how much is the average ticket price between cities for flying compared to a train?

 

[Chimaera]

Cheap airfare flights can be less. But you can also get train tickets way ahead of time that save you money. It all depends on where you’re going. You have to shop and price it out.

I find some airports frustrating, but some train stations can be as well. Especially if you have to make switches or connect. It all really depends.

Just start googling airfare or train routes.

 

[Peen]

Has anyone done roadtrips?

Our new idea is to roadtrip around spain and portugal for ten days.

 

[robertmac43]

Has anyone done roadtrips?

Our new idea is to roadtrip around spain and portugal for ten days.

I found the public transit is good enough in most places in Europe that I would't really need to road trip. I cannot speak for Portugal and Spain though, but I'm guessing it has some nice transit lines

 

[Peen]

I found the public transit is good enough in most places in Europe that I would't really need to road trip. I cannot speak for Portugal and Spain though, but I'm guessing it has some nice transit lines

Me and my friend LOVE to drive and unlike most north americans under the age of 25, can actually drive stick. So we should be able to rent for $10 a day which would be neglible. Gives us the freedom to stop and go as we please as well.

 

[Havre]

Road infrastructure in general is very very good in Spain, but if you are not driving on the toll roads it can be quite slow in certain places (depending on your budget).

Worst part of driving in Spain is the parking. Not that it would be any worse than in many North American cities.

 

[maclean]

If you do end up jumping around Europe and use Ryanair make sure to look at their baggage restrictions before going. They will try and mark you up at every moment possible!

On the other hand, because everyone tries to fit everything into a max-size cabin bag, there is often not enough room in the cabin for everyone's bags, so they end up putting them under the plane for free anyhow

 

[maclean]

As someone who's visited both the UK and the United States about ten times this was certainly news to me. I never knew that the constant mass shootings sponsored by the NRA, the lack of healthcare for millions of people (nothing like the NHS in the States), the massive rates of illiteracy caused by terrible public schools, and the constant hot dog, pizza, taco and hamburger commercials plus the high prevalence of obesity were actually a British thing.

But even with all these downsides I still enjoy visiting North America more than I enjoy visiting any country in Europe. It's because people in both the USA and in Canada are so amazingly polite and hospitable compared to Europeans. People have said to me I've got great English dozens of times in North America, whereas I've never heard that in England. Maybe it's because English people aren't as fake and dishonest as Americans, but I don't care. I still enjoy the compliments so much that I'll be visiting USA again soon.

Being from North America originally, what I see and what you see will obviously be different, but yes, levels of public violence, overprivatisation of services that should be public, major issues with public schooling, poor diet, excessive fast food and obesity are indeed all issues strongly associated with Britain, yet in comparison neglible on the continent. I would also add ugly buildings that don't keep out the cold and a facsistic approach to public order and policing. And yes, even politeness. The fact that these issues are even more prominent in NA is exactly the point. British culture planted the seeds and it was allowed to run wild over a whole continent.

 

[maclean]

I personally hate driving and don't even have a licence anymore, but if it's your thing it'll certainly give you the freedom to travel as you wish and visit places a bit more off the beaten path. Parking will indeed be worse than in NA cities, which are designed for and expect everyone to have a car, and the road system may not be as straightforward as you are used to, but I would imagine in today's age of navigation systems you should be alright.

 

[Evilo]

Road infrastructure in general is very very good in Spain, but if you are not driving on the toll roads it can be quite slow in certain places (depending on your budget).

Worst part of driving in Spain is the parking. Not that it would be any worse than in many North American cities.

Ain't many paying roads in Spain. Mostly in Cataluna.