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#1
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Germany during World Cup
Hi All
I'm planning a rtw trip for next year and just realised that my projected timing in Germany coincides with much of the period of the Soccer World Cup. The Cup is scheduled to run from 9th June to 9th July, with matches in: Berlin Cologne Dortmund Frankfurt Gelsenkirchen Hamburg Hanover Kaiserslautern Leipzig Munich Nuremberg Stuttgart Is anyone able to comment on the likelihood of accommodation or other difficulties in Germany during this period? Has anyone experience from previous periods in countries when the World Cup was occurring? I was intending to travel by car, using un-booked small hotels and "zimmer frei" as I went. I did this successfully last time, but I'm a little worried about availability and prices during the cup. Of course - if Australia make the cut - the difficulty may turn into a benefit:-) Cheers, Alan, Australia |
#2
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"Has anyone experience from previous periods in countries when the
World Cup was occurring?" I was in New York for US '94, Paris for France '98, and Tokyo for Japan/Korea '02. In those major cities at least, there were no problems at all finding accomodations, and airlines added extra flights between game cities to accomodate soccer fans, which avoided strain on the transport system. Friends who travelled to other game cities had no problem at all. While the major German cities should be okay, small tourist towns near those major cities may become very crowded during the World Cup, and if you plan on going somewhere like Rothenburg, you should reserve a hotel as far in advance as possible. |
#3
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Alan S wrote:
Is anyone able to comment on the likelihood of accommodation or other difficulties in Germany during this period? My wife just read yesterday in the Stuttgart newspaper that they will have live music on the Schlossplatz every night for a month during the World Cup, it will do wonders for our sleep. So you can see that they are expecting large numbers of tourists at this time. I think that getting a room near one of the host cities will be severely affected for a couple of weeks before and after this time. Unfortunately for you, most of these visitors besides being football fans are also going to be traditional tourists, so that major tourist attractions and facilities are likely to be crowded. However, I don't believe that things will be too bad because most tourists have little knowledge about the country that they are visiting and mainly just visit to see a few attractions, whether they merit it or not. Therefore, places like Neuschwanstein and Rothenburg ob der Tauber will probably be jam packed. Other tourist-worthy places hardly get visited at all, so just go somewhat off the beaten path. A place like Oberschwaben has many delightful churches, villages, towns and monasteries, none of which you have likely heard of. Most tourists to this area would only visit the Bodense (Lake of Constance), so there are large areas of the country that are enjoyable for tourists that few ever visit, and accomodations should be easy and inexpensive. My daughter from London attended my church wedding a few years ago in Biberach an der Riss. It is a pleasant small town in Upper Swabia. My daughter said that she and her husband would like to return some other time for a few days' vacation. I asked her if she wouldn't prefer going to the nearby Bodensee, but she liked the atmosphere and sights of this small town, and probably its lack of tourists. It's nice to discover things on your own and not be tripping over other tourists every few feet. There's plenty to see and do all over Germany outside the "main" tourist areas. Just drive around in these "remote" areas and discover the pleasures of real German travel. George |
#4
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It depends on the draw and where the host team Germany and other
well-supported teams such as England, France, Italy, Brasil, Argentina etc. are going to be based. I don't think we know this yet. Bruce |
#6
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I don't know. But the Germans have been typically efficient and
completed all their stadium rebuilding and refurbishments 12 months before the finals. I'm sure public transport and policing will be fine. But at the moment, I don't know how they are going to sell the tickets. Probably a mix of on-line and local ticket offices. Bruce |
#7
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"Could be chaotic. According to the web-site no team will play in the
same venue twice until they reach the finals." Some past World Cups would give each of the top teams a home city and let them play their first few games there. (When Italy hosted the World Cup, they put the English team on Sardinia.) But many people felt it gave those teams too much of an advantage when other teams were forced to travel all of the time. |
#8
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wrote in message oups.com... I don't know. But the Germans have been typically efficient and completed all their stadium rebuilding and refurbishments 12 months before the finals. I'm sure public transport and policing will be fine. But at the moment, I don't know how they are going to sell the tickets. Probably a mix of on-line and local ticket offices. You are a tad late on that one, Bruce. German efficiency rules again on ticket sales. Most tickets have already been sold, through online lottery. There will be a few more sessions where people have a chance to pick up leftover "team tickets" (ticket packages offered if you want to follow all the games of your favourite team - most of those sold out for all of the big soccer countries, and those who won a lottery but didn't pay, or national associations who turn back tickets). I managed to get in for a game in Nuremberg. |
#9
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Am Tue, 14 Jun 2005 10:09:54 +1000 schrieb Alan S:
Is anyone able to comment on the likelihood of accommodation or other difficulties in Germany during this period? I think you will be able to book a room, *but* you will have to pay a high price for it. Expect prices to be jacked up high during the world-cup, as they are expecting lots of visitors. They are already starting the marketing, and new hotels are being built to accomodate visitors. I'm afraid they can ask just any price in that period. Look how much they charge for the tickets (and only about 10% of the Germans who did want a ticket did get one). I was intending to travel by car, using un-booked small hotels and "zimmer frei" as I went. If you stay in rural areas that would still be an option. But in the big cities you will find it difficult to get an affordable room (as its not only the fans visiting, but also journalists and so on)! So, I would stay away from the big cities and look for some room a bit further afield. Regards, Frank (Cologne) |
#10
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skrev i meddelandet oups.com... I don't know. But the Germans have been typically efficient and completed all their stadium rebuilding and refurbishments 12 months before the finals. I'm sure public transport and policing will be fine. But at the moment, I don't know how they are going to sell the tickets. ----------- No problem as they're already sold. As I could read in a Berlinzeitung recently there's no chance for a German to buy a ticket unless they have contact with some of the other participating countries football unions. There's a complicated system of either tickets directly to a game or indirectly through an option to buy a ticket if the particular team qualifies for 1/8,1/4 semi or finale. Those options are useless if the team doesn't qualify and could be seen as a form of lottery. |
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