Congratulations to Arsenal. The Gunners are through to the Champions League final to be held in Budapest at 5pm on Saturday 30 May, against the French team Paris Saint-Germain.
But fans are facing huge bills to reach the final and to stay in the host city. Direct air fares from London to the Hungarian capital start at around £1,000, with a night in an “economy double” hotel room priced at £2,000
Wizz Air, which conveniently is based in Budapest, has put on many extra flights to help supporters – and cash in on selling tickets for more than £600 one way from Luton and Gatwick.
To go somewhere vaguely close for a lower fare, the obvious locations are Bratislava in Slovakia or – more promisingly, because there are more flights – Vienna. The Austrian capital has good links with Budapest by train or fast ferry down the Danube. But even to Vienna, fares are rising above £700 on the key dates.
Marc Shoffman, cruise editor of The Independent, has more ideas: “I am one of those crazy Arsenal fans going to Budapest. I have arranged to disembark a river cruise in Cologne at 6am on the day of the Champions League final so I can get to Budapest to see Arsenal hopefully lift the trophy.
“Getting back is more pricey so I am taking a 2am Flixbus to Vienna for a morning flight back to Stansted.
“I know people flying to Slovakia and driving for two hours from Kosice as Budapest flights are extortionate. Arsenal is also running charter flights for £860 per person which actually look cheap in comparison.”
The most budget option I can find is to go out about three days ahead to Timisoara, in western Romania, and take its adequate train link to Budapest. Flying out via Dortmund, coming back via Milan – with an overnight stay and a change of airports – the fare is £112 return.
Going by train the whole way will be really tricky. The obvious route is the line of the Orient Express from Paris via Strasbourg, Munich, Salzburg and Vienna to Budapest. But PSG fans will be trying to do exactly the same.
Coming home, two of the Wizz Air flights are leaving to Luton and to Gatwick at about 2am on 31 May, the morning after the match. With kick off at 5pm, there will be plenty of time for a post-match celebration – or post-mortem – before heading out to Budapest airport at around midnight, avoiding the incredibly high accommodation costs.
A bed in a seven-bunk dorm is close to £300 per night. An “economy double” in the four-star Hotel Ottofiori costs almost £2,000 a night with a three-night minimum. You could choose a town about an hour away by rail and commute in from there for much less.
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