Rugby

Fancy a last-minute trip to the Champions Cup final in London? Here’s what it will cost

Anyone planning on a day trip will have to hope there’s no disruption to London’s train system

Leinster will face Toulouse in the final of the Champions Cup at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Saturday afternoon. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho

Nathan Johns
Tue May 21 2024 - 16:42

A handful of tickets remain for Saturday’s Champions Cup final. Should you be inclined to jump on the chance for a last-minute trip to watch Leinster take on Toulouse across the water, a health warning should be attached to the cost of the trip.

Tickets are not the issue, as far as costs go. A handful of seats remain on the EPCR website for as little as £40 (€47). These might not last long, but a number of options for £65 (€76), £75 (€88) and £95 (€111) remain available which, in comparison to Six Nations tickets at least, are not as expensive as they might be. If so inclined, premium tickets costing £249 (€292) are still going.

The bigger issue is flights. A busy sporting schedule – the rugby is on the same day as Manchester United’s FA Cup final date with Manchester City at Wembley – ensures plenty of Irish interest in London this weekend.

At present, the cheapest way of getting to either match is to fly in and out on the day. Ryanair’s best option comes in at €550.25 per person. Yet that option is fraught with risk. All Ryanair flights leaving Dublin before 11am on Saturday are sold out, the earliest available flight lands in Stansted Airport at 12.55pm. Given the rugby kicks off at 2.45pm, you’d have to pray for no delays and no disruption to London’s train system to make it on time.

READ MORE

That said, Stansted is at least a reasonably accessible airport for Tottenham’s north London venue. A taxi drive would take around 45 minutes, while the Stansted rail service stops at Tottenham Hale, within walking distance of the ground.

Stansted Airport is an option for a last-minute booking to see Leinster take on Toulouse in Saturday's Champions Cup. Photograph: Bethany Clarke/Getty Images

The flight home at least leaves you with time for a pint after the game, leaving Stansted at 10.25pm. All told, if inclined to take the timing risk with Ryanair, the best case with tickets and travel factored in will hit your wallet to the tune of over €600.

There are Aer Lingus flights in and out on the day. Again, the timings on the way out aren’t ideal with only a flight leaving Dublin at 11.15am available. That with a 7.40pm return costs €741.97 per person. These flights are, however, to Heathrow, leaving a trickier and longer journey to Tottenham. All told, the Aer Lingus option will cost you a minimum of €800 per person with other costs – not including food and drink – factored in.

If keen to avoid the stress of a dash from a London airport straight to the game, Booking.com does have a handful of properties close to Tottenham available on its site for Friday night. The cheapest is a homestay coming in at €88, though you would have to question how long that will remain unbooked. The next best semi-close option is a B&B coming in at €234 for one night.

After that, you’d have to move further into central London where prices, unsurprisingly, would make you cringe. If willing to travel on the Saturday morning, staying in east London does seem to throw up a greater choice of more affordable options.

In terms of flights, leaving on the Friday and coming back on Saturday after the game, the cheapest Ryanair option – including an 11.15pm arrival into Stansted, is €488.41. With Aer Lingus, you won’t get anything cheaper than the on-the-day return cost of €741.97.

If looking to make a weekend of it and stay for two nights, then the total cost of the trip is likely to push north of €1,000. Either way, if tempted by the remaining tickets which aren’t extortionate, prepare to make up the difference elsewhere.

Nathan Johns

Nathan Johns

Nathan Johns is an Irish Times journalist

LATEST STORIES