Wolfsburg city and football guide
Wolfsburg city
Ok, reality check time. You're probably not going to spend your holiday in Wolfsburg.
If you've been round the grounds of England this particular german away day is on a par with that hike to Sunderland or Luton.
It's on the football map but think gritty, industrial. Imagine it on a freezing cold and rainy February Saturday, as it was when I went, and you're probably not going to rush back in too much of a hurry.
Life in a northern town: The German city of Wolfsburg.
So if you're hoping to find a charming, small german town when you head to Wolfsburg you're probably going to be disappointed. Very disappointed.
However, it does have more in common with Sunderland and Luton (also it's twin town) than you may think - and that's a motoring heritage.
Step outside the main train station and you're in the city that's home to Volkswagen. If you're in any doubt glance left and the giant VW sign on the plant and chimneys across the river will give you a clue.
Some cities gain a big car plant. Wolfsburg was quite literally built for it, in the 1930s, initially called Stadt des KdF-Wagens. It took the name Wolfsburg after the nearby castle after the war.
Today it's an industrial town and whilst in the opposite direction to the VW plant there are smart shopping streets stretching out giving signs of life - before kick off, anyway - on first impressions it's a fairly workmanlike place with little to grab the imagination.
It's a plant: The Volkswagen plant to be precise. And the huge white blob is the VW logo but you'll have to take my word for that.
My time in Wolsfburg was but a few hours - getting off at the wrong station at nearby Gipforn station not helping matters (how were we to know there were two?) - so if i've done it down and you want to set the record straight, drop me an email.
If you do find yourself here overnight or with a few more hours to spare, there are two places that may be worth checking out.
You could try the Autostadt, an open air homage to motoring created, would you believe it, by VW and sitting right next to their plant. The extensive and futuristic attraction has pulled in two million visitors a year since opening in 2000.
Or you could check out the bizarre looking building to the left of the railway station, Phaeno - a highly rated hands on science museum.
Frankly though Wolfsburg is probably somewhere to pop through for a day trip, a feel of a real Germany city rather than somewhere on the tourist trail.
Wolfsburg: getting there
Although Wolfsburg does technically have an airport (Braunschweig-Wolfsburg) this is really only in use for private flights.
This makes getting there a little trickier by plane but your best option is to fly in via Hannover. BMI plies the route from London Heathrow whilst Air Berlin links the city with London Stansted, and FlyBe offers Southampton to Hannover.
The transfer then isn't too bad. A train shuttles between the airport and Hannover Hauptbahnhof (main station) every half an hour, at six minutes and 36 minutes past, and the 20 minute journey will set you back 2.70 euros.
From Hannover station you can catch an ICE which whisks you east to Wolfsburg in just 40 minutes.
If Hannover doesn't meet your needs Berlin is a little over an hour away by ICE in the opposite direction, although your journey from either Berlin Tegel or Schonfeld airports into the city do make for a long transfer.
Plan C could be Hamburg, the train journey with a stop at Hannover by ICE taking a little over two hours - although buying a ticket on the day can be expensive.
You can save a few quid by getting a cross country train which go via Gifhorn. 
However, if you do got for that make sure you go through Gifhorn Stadt station to the one just called Gifhorn.
Unlike we did, and sussed all was not well just as the train doors shut. We then had to race a taxi across town from one to the other, and wait an hour for the next train. And Gifhorn station is truly in the middle of nowhere, as the picture above suggests.
Heading to Wolfsburg from England by train is relatively straightforward, if quite long. Do the St Pancras to Brussels route, then take a train to Cologne and change there for the final three hour leg direct to Wolfsburg. Expect the journey to take you between ten and 11 hours. Check out the german train site Deutsch Bahn for details (there's an english version).
Wolfsburg city and football guide