Friday, November 22, 2024

England fans face £1,000 flights to Berlin for Euro final – here’s how to travel on the cheap

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The cheapest direct return flights from the UK to Berlin for the European Championship final have already skyrocketed to more than £800 after England reached the semi-finals in Germany.

The likes of British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair have all hiked their prices now that England are within touching distance of their first major final on foreign soil.

According to Skyscanner, the last direct flight arriving in Berlin in time for Sunday’s game departs from Gatwick Airport that afternoon and arrives less than four hours before kick-off.

Flying the previous day would be even more expensive – around £1,000 – and would also involve a two-night stay in the German capital.

There is still plenty of hotel availability there at affordable prices, although that could change once the identity of the two Euro 2024 finalists are known.

But it is the getting to Berlin that could prove most costly for England fans not already in Germany.

How England fans can travel for cheaper than £1,000

Flying

Ways around this include returning to the UK later than Monday, which currently cuts flight costs by around half.

It is even cheaper to travel via other airports but this would also involve leaving on Saturday, taking onward flights from Brussels or Frankfurt, and returning after an overnight stay somewhere such as Vienna.

Plane and train

It is theoretically possible to make Sunday’s match by flying to Hamburg on the day of the game and returning the following day, using trains to get to and from Berlin approximately two hours away.

This currently costs in the region of £300 – plus £50 return train fare – and would save one night’s accommodation but would entail an extremely quick turnaround on both days.

Eurostar

The price is similar to that on the Eurostar from St Pancras to Berlin with changeovers in Brussels and Cologne, which would involve all-day travel (approximately 11 hours) on Saturday and Monday.

Drive

That also applies to taking a car on Le Shuttle from Folkestone to Calais, which does not take into account the cost of fuel for what would be an epic 20-hour round trip by car across mainland Europe.

A return trip on the ferry from Calais to Dover is even cheaper at £100 but, again, fuel costs could make it more expensive than flying.

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