England fans who want to be in Berlin for Sunday’s Euro 2024 final face a 10-hour drive unless they can get booked on a flight. Some 50,000 supporters are expected to travel to the historic match, England’s first overseas final.
Just a few hundred tickets priced at £847 (€1,000) are expected to be released via UEFA’s website on Friday (July 12) ahead of the big game.
Return flights from London to Berlin, leaving on Saturday and returning on Monday, have soared from £265 before yesterday’s semi-final triumph, to £552 on Thursday, according to kayak.com.
There are options to take connecting flights from the UK to Berlin which are cheaper. EasyJet‘s Worldwide service is selling a trip from Gatwick to Berlin via Olbia, Italy, on Saturday for £292.
It departs Gatwick at 1pm, arriving in Berlin eight hours and 35 minutes later at 10.35pm.
While flights between the UK and Berlin are in high demand, there is better flight availability to other cities in the region. Wizz Air is selling seats on a flight from Luton to Prague, in the Czech Republic, on Saturday, departing at 6.15pm and arriving at 9.15pm.
After an overnight stay, supporters could take a train to Berlin on Sunday, departing at 6.28am and arriving at 10.42am, costing £53 on Trainline and leaving plenty of time to soak up the pre-match atmosphere. This would mean a total journey time of 15 hours and 27 minutes.
Driving means once supporters reach mainland Europe, they are not at the mercy of airlines, train operators or other transport providers.
After reaching Calais in northern France by ferry or Eurotunnel train, it takes about 10 hours to drive to Berlin, passing cities such as Antwerp in Belgium, Eindhoven in the Netherlands and Dortmund and Hanover in Germany.
P&O Ferries has sailings from £91 on Saturday, while the cost of petrol for the journey from Calais to Berlin would be about £95. It may be worth keeping an eye on car-sharing website BlaBlaCar in case anyone heading to Berlin offers space in their vehicle.
It is possible to reach Berlin by rail from London St Pancras. The fastest route is by Eurostar to Brussels, Belgium, then jumping on an ICE train to Cologne, Germany, and another ICE service to Berlin.
This can be done on Saturday, leaving St Pancras at 8.16am and arriving in Berlin nine hours and 46 minutes later at 7.02pm, at a cost of £350 on booking website Trainline.
It is worth bearing in mind many supporters already in Germany have complained about their journeys around the country being disrupted by unreliable train services.
Coach travel is possibly the cheapest way to reach Berlin for those without a car. FlixBus is offering a journey from London Victoria to Berlin via a Dover to Calais ferry crossing, and a change of coach in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, for £131, leaving at 8am on Saturday, arriving 21 hours and 55 minutes later at 6.55am on Sunday.