If you have no friends who you can beg to stay with, camping may be the only chance you have now.

If your game venue is in Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen and Cologne, worldcup-camp.com has several camp sites with good facilities.  Rates are relatively cheap. You can even rent a tent, if you do not have one.

For other venues, you may want to check out World Cup Camping forum for leads.

Do check them out now before they run out of places to rent out.

And no, you cannot just pitch your tent somewhere in the countryside.  That is illegal unless, of course, you have the permission from the landowner.  If worse comes to worst, you can always find the landowner and make a plea with your puppy dog eyes.

Post from: Europe String

Last December, I posted an entry on budget accommodations for the World Cup.  Staying with Friends has a big selection of rooms for World Cup fans who do not have much moolah to spend.  Another option worth mentioning would be Host-A-Fan.

I checked these sites, using Frankfurt (where I reside) as a sample.  They truly do have great rooms for great prices.  Really a steal.  However, amidst all these offers are rooms which are located nowhere near the venue.  Some are not even in the city mentioned!  I found several that says “Frankfurt – [insert a small town outside Frankfurt here]“.  And I am sure that the same kind of misinformation can be found for listings in other cities.

So, if you are planning to book using these sites, have a city map ready. 

Of course, for the prices listed there, you can’t really expect to live right next to the venue HOWEVER, you do have to know about commuting facts as this could easily cost you a lot more.  More so, if you would have to come in from outside the city.

For more general information, check out Road to the 2006: World Cup Finals

worldcup2006

Post from: Europe String