[Travel] Help needed with decision on which flight to book

[Blackadder]

Not used them myself but if you book in advance you should be able to catch a coach from London for about £70 return.

https://shop.flixbus.co.uk/search?departureCity=40dfdfd8-8646-11e6-9066-549f350fcb0c&arrivalCity=40da382b-8646-11e6-9066-549f350fcb0c&route=London-Dortmund&rideDate=13.08.2022&backRideDate=13.08.2022&adult=1&_locale=en_GB&backRide=1&features%5Bfeature.darken_page%5D=1&features%5Bfeature.enable_distribusion%5D=1&features%5Bfeature.train_cities_only%5D=0&features%5Bfeature.add_return_date%5D=0&features%5Bfeature.add_return_date_only%5D=0&atb_pdid=2d0ef8b6-ebca-4083-a28b-7384e40c8f75&_sp=26f24547-7be5-42c2-a2cb-8c4cc6316a6c&_spnuid=ff596a3e-8f1b-4713-9339-6ea4725e8d98&bike_slot=0

 

[Perry's Tracksuit Bottoms]

I'd definitely look at getting the train, lots of helpful info on that here

 

[SeagullinExile]

Only advice I can give is....Don’t go budget! I’d go by a national carrier, less chance of being cancelled.

 

[Pondicherry]

I have a German Football trip booked for October. We are getting the Eurostar.

 

[Live by the sea]

Based upon my Mother in Law's experiences earlier this year with BA at Heathrow, I would avoid them like the plague.

I would never trust Ryanair to fly with them .

 

[um bongo molongo]

Heathrow and BA currently seem to be in meltdown. Ryanair, to their credit, have recovered immediately as they didn't sack any staff (like EasyJet, BA etc) and so don't have a recruitment problem and can therefore offer a full service with very few delays or cancellations. All the usual reservations about flying with Ryanair apply of course.

This saved me writing the same thing. I’ve flown a fair bit with work since the last lockdown and Ryanair have been by far the most reliable. Which is scarcely believable!

 

[Thunder Bolt]

As there are 3 of you, suggest driving, only 4 hours from Calais..... (guessing you have a car!!)

Another vote for the Tunnel. 35 minutes crossing.

 

[Cloggie]

Done German football weekends a few times. Have a look at flights from London City to Dusseldorf. Then stay in Dusseldorf rather than Dortmund. Just get the train on game day as the travel will be included in the ticket price. Dusseldorf is a great city, Dortmund doesn't have that much to offer.

 

[Arthur]

Sorry to sidetrack but how easy was it to get tickets? This is something I'd like to do sometime soon.

I've done most of the Bundesliga and most teams you'll be able to buy directly from the club. That said Dortmund and Bayern are the two obvious exceptions to that. When I did Dortmund I got a ticket of Viagogo and didn't pay much over the odds for it. It wasn't for the "yellow wall" although they were available but extortionately expensive so I thought the next best thing was to be the other end so I could watch it which turned out to be in the away end. Thankfully I hadn't done myself up like a yellow christmas tree like most of the other football tourists I encountered during the day.

If ticket resale sites aren't for you then low key games you won't struggle to get a ticket for the game outside the ground. They don't have touts or not that I've noticed but there are always people holding a ticket up on the approach to the grounds. Appreciate people like to be a bit more organised than that and it may not suit if there are a few of you. It is the only way you'll get these "cheap" tickets the media over here like to bang on about otherwise expect to pay similar to what you would over here for an individual game directly from the club. Best result I had was buying a student ticket for FC Koln for €11.

Can thoroughly recommend a long weekend if you want to take in more than one game. Public transport is typically German, clean, frequent, on time and good value. First class on the trains is normally only a few euros more than the standard fare so if you are going to be on a train for a few hours then its worth the extra IMO. Only thing to be aware of is they don't (well they certainly didn't - I've not paid a great deal of attention over the last couple of years for obvious reasons) announce their fixtures until pretty close to the event and games will be moved to Friday, Sunday or Monday so you can't get organised too early but that isn't a bad thing if you are using Viagogo or similar.

 

[Weststander]

Interesting data compiled by the Telegraph, covering every UK departure over a recent 30 day period.

 

[BrightonCottager]

I went to World Cup game in Dortmund in 2006 but stayed in Dusseldorf. It's a beautiful city on the Rhine with great bars and beer. We got a boat trip down to the next small town that was ridiculously quaint.

 

[HastingsSeagull]

Lots of family have flown out over the past 7-10 days for my wedding. Half from LHR and half LGW. Gatwick universally good experiences and Heathrow been nothing but shit (they did all make it though).

 

[redoubtable seagull]

Sorry to sidetrack but how easy was it to get tickets? This is something I'd like to do sometime soon.

The original trip was planned for March 2020, over the weekend we went into lockdown. We could have got there but not back!

At that time I found it impossible to get Dortmund tickets and had researched and heard similar from a mate who does loads of Euro football trips. So we settled for a weekend in Düsseldorf as the central point and managed to get tickets to Monchengladbach and Schalke by signing up to their websites and getting in on the day match tickets went on general sale.

The youngest is in his last year of A levels so wanted to do the trip next month before he starts college again. Tickets are not on general sale for any clubs in the region yet but as we are actually keen to experience Dortmund I bought their adrenaline package which includes 2 nights hotel and guarantees seats together. It’s a bit pricey bit we’ll have a great time.

Monchengladbach are at home on the Friday night and Bochum the Sunday afternoon. All doable by car, which is now quite tempting.


Thanks to all you have posted thoughts and comments. Really helpful, ta.