If you live in the South East of good old blighty - or are at least in striking distance - then the train could be your best option for a north European football city break.

 

Eurostar has opened up a whole host of places to the football follower, bringing France and Belgium within two hours - and Holland, Germany and Switzerland not far beyond. Even northern Italy and northern Spain aren't completely out of the question.

 

Yep, Eurostar takes you from the shiny gleaming London St Pancras to either Paris or Brussels in around two hours. Both places offer connections to all points north, south, east and west - particularly Brussels which is a real crossroads of European rail. Without a Brummie called Benny.

 

'It takes too long', I hear you say - a journey from the UK to Cologne in Germany will be around six hours by rail, compared to an hour and a half by plane.

 

However, if you then factor in getting to the airport, hanging around, likely delays, passport control and baggage collection the other end, getting into town - and the journey time really isn't much different. And you can't go to the buffet bar on a plane either.

 

Again, fares for both end up pretty much the same when you take into account parking and the like.

 

And there's good news on the way. DB, the German operator, will be able to run services through the tunnel too in a couple of years - taking you non-stop to Cologne and Frankfurt in four or five hours.

 

 

Buying tickets

 

 

To get the best deals, go online, and do it in advance. The chances of rocking up on the day and getting a cheap ticket are slim to say the least. Trains at peak time do tend to book up, and get more expensive, so early and midday ones are a good bet if that fits in with your plans.

 

You can print your ticket out online now which is a major bonus, saving you major faffing around time at the station.

 

One canny thing to consider. You are offered a certain seat but you do get the option to change it. The trains I've been on fill up carriages from one end so if you accept the seat given, expect to be in a packed carriage. Have a hunt around, and look at the far end of the train. Carriages can often be virtually empty so it's well worth doing.

 

One bonus of the Eurostar is the ability to get a through ticket from your local station via St Pancras to your destination abroad. It might not sound a big deal, but I've found it saves more than half on my return journey in from Bedfordshire.

 

Fares to Brussels (or anywhere in Belgium) or Paris start at £59 return from St Pancras, or a little more more from your local station.

 

Fares to this side of Germany can be bought for under £100. Meanwhile those further afield will be closer to £150 - so yes, plane may well be a fastest and cheaper option to say Barcelona.

 

Book early, as ever, is the key - and it's worth trying a few options. Eurostar's site is your first port of call at www.eurostar.co.uk - but it's worth also trying Rail Europe and the German site www.bahn.de as these can offer special deals.

 

Do also try breaking up your journey into segments. Find a Eurostar return - then suss out prices from Brussels or Paris to your chosen destination, you may find a fare that makes it cheaper.

 

If you're heading further into Belgium or Holland, make sure you select Any Belgian Station or Any Dutch Station. This will allow you free onwards travel to your final destination in those countries - and free travel back to Brussels Midi.

 

There's a load more useful info on Eurostar and travelling into Europe by train by the doyen of train travel, www.seat61.com - it's run by Mark Smith and the site helps fund his travelling around the world. I've yet to find out if he uses it to get to a second division game in Hungary yet but perhaps I might suggest it to him.

 

 

London St Pancras

London St Pancras International is a vast improvement of Eurostar's previous London home of Waterloo, where it was tucked away to the side.

 

Trains to Brussels, Paris, Bedford and Flitwick: St Pancras.

 

 

This time it takes centre stage in the grand collosus of St Pancras. Trains are on the upper level, in  a stunning Victorian cavernous platform area, with departures below on a swish new concourse of bars and shops.

 

Terminal Five, Wembley, Millennium Dome.. forget those national nightmares, on this one we got it right. St Pancras' conversion to the 21st Century has been a huge success. The glass and modern fittings blend in seamlessly with the old brick facade.

 

For departures, head to the lower concourse where there's a parade of upmarket eateries and shops given you ample chance to part with your money before leaving the country. In the middle of that you'll find the departure area, including the place to pick up your e-tickets. The actual ticket office is 100 yards further away towards the underground exit.

 

You need to be through into the departure lounge about half an hour before your train. Getting through baggage checks and passports takes around ten minutes at busy times. If it's your first time, I'd suggesting aiming to get to St Pancras an hour or so before your train is due to leave - giving time for a quick look round and getting through security with time to spare.

 

The departure lounge is bigger and less cramped than at the previous effort at Waterloo, with a bar/cafe, newsagents, toilets etc, but it still gets pretty chocca if two train loads are waiting so you don't really want to be there more than an hour before your journey at most. Around 20 minutes before departure, the gates open for you to head up the escalators to the platform take your seat.

 

 

Paris Gare Du Nord

Paris Gare Du Nord is the busiest station on the continent and the Eurostar section is pretty cramped.

 

As you head into the station head to your left and up for a departure lounge that again gets pretty crowded, so it's best not to give it longer than an hour up there. Once again, there's a bar/ cafe plus a small newsagent kiosk.

 

 

Arriving at Gare Du Nord, you may be continuing your journey via Paris Gare Du Est which is a ten minute walk round the corner. Go out of Gare du Nord and turn left. Cross the road and keep heading straight on until you reach the end of a quiet street. Then turn right, you're running parallel to the rail tracks below running into Gare du Est. Follow the steps down, dodging people trying to flog you something, and you enter the station on your left.

 

Gare d/Est has more space than its northern counterpart and also features two or three cafes, with further street cafes outside and across the forecourt.

For Gare de Lyon and Gare d'LAusterlitz, you need to hop on the metro.

If you're staying in Paris, there are a clutch of hotels around Gare Du Nord. Frankly it's not the prettiest part of town, with quite a few homeless loitering around at all times of day and night, but it's busy enough with scores of restaurants, bars and tourists not to feel unsafe.

 

As well as the bonus that you can roll straight off the Eurostar and into your hotel, the Gare du Nord is also the Kings Cross/ St Pancras of the Paris metro system - ie it's the busiest, with the most amount of connections to get you around town.

 

There are thousands of hotels and you'll find a favourite somewhere, but if you're looking for convenience pitch up around here. Particularly if you're heading for Stadt de France which is 15 minutes by train back out of Gare Du Nord.

 

Go internet surfing but I've stayed at the three star Terminus Nord directly opposite the train station and had not complaints.

 

 

Brussels Midi

 

Brussels Midi isn't the most stunning welcome to the Belgian capital. It's a huge vast concrete lump of a station, but among its vast concourses underneath the tracks are more restaurants, cafes, bars and shops than you can shake a baguette at.

 

The Eurostar is conveniently sited at one end next to the other long distance high speed operators, such as Thayls and DB (German railways), so you can make some fairly speedy onward connections.

 

Just bear in mind that coming back you have to go through the whole immigration thing of baggage checks and passports so allow a good half hour at least for this. The departure lounge is a fair size with a cafe/bar and newsagents at the far end.

Bear one thing in mind - some onward connections tell you to go from Brussels Sud or Zuid (south) station.  Brussels Zuid is actually one and the same as Brussels Midi, confusingly, so you're in the right place - just check the departure boards.