World Cup 2026: Travel guide for England and Scotland fans, from flight to bed

now we know Who, where and when England and Scotland Will play in the men’s soccer World Cup next summer. The tournament will run from June 11 to July 19, 2026, and is being hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, but both home teams will play their opening three group games at American venues.

England will face Croatia in his opening game dallasAfter this comes Ghana’s number boston and finally in panama new york,

For Scotland’s first Men’s World Cup appearance in 28 years, first two matches Both are in Boston: against Haiti and Morocco. Boston is the closest place to Scotland. Their final match of the group, against Brazil, is in Florida.

If either Wales or Northern Ireland had qualified, they would have played in Toronto, Los Angeles and Seattle.

This is a huge geographical puzzle. ahead of what’s to come random draw for tickets For specific matches, answers to key questions are here.

What do fans need to know before traveling to the World Cup?

It’s going to be hot – especially for England’s first match against Croatia in Dallas, where the average daily temperature is 33C. For Scotland’s final group game against Brazil. miamiExpect 31C and high humidity.

It’s going to be expensive: Airfares soared just hours after the venues for the group matches were announced.

And sort out the red tape before you make any plans. Apply for an ESTA permit, which costs $40 (£31), before making travel arrangements.

While most are granted within a few days, estas can be refused For all kinds of reasons. If your application is rejected and you have to apply for a visa, the process will be slow and expensive. You will have to go to the US Embassy in London or the Consulate in Belfast, and there is no guarantee of success.

People will need transatlantic flights – what kind of prices can they expect to pay?

I’m tracking the cost of flights from the perspective of an England fan who takes the first non-stop departure from London Heathrow to Dallas-Fort Worth the day before the opening game, and returns from New York JFK during the day after the last group match.

At 5pm on Saturday, just before the big reveal, the American Airlines fare was £837. Within three hours, it had increased by one-sixth to almost £1,000. Those fares are bound to increase.

You can keep costs down by taking connecting flights through Ireland, Continental Europe, or another US gateway. This is also the answer for many English and Scottish airports: London has by far the highest number of transatlantic flights, with Manchester and Edinburgh close behind.

What about travel within the US?

A large number of US domestic flights are serving match venues in Boston, Dallas, New York and Miami – England and Scotland. But there will also be huge demand from fans, media and organizers – and it seems clear that rents are already rising. For example, flying from Boston to Miami the day after Scotland’s second game, the cheapest one-way fare is £322. By delaying the journey a few days and flying south the day before the last match against Brazil, you can pay only £89 if you don’t mind changing planes in New York with a four-hour connection.

Between Boston and New York, the venues of England’s second and third matches, Amtrak trains take about four hours, but they are prohibitively expensive for a journey of barely 200 miles. Book now, lowest price for June is £175.

Greyhound and Flixbus take only an hour longer, and cost only £25 or so.

what about accommodation?

Unless you’re lucky enough to have friends or family with extra beds near the venues, be prepared for some credit card shocks – especially for an England match in New York.

On the night of June 27, when England plays Panama, hotel rates are already absurd. A typical budget hotel, the Holiday Inn Express in Midtown Manhattan, is already over £500 for that night. And while it’s fun to stay at the YMCA in Manhattan, a very basic single room with shared bathroom costs £200 on June 27.

I wouldn’t book at those prices. You could also head to one of New York City’s other boroughs – my standby is the Best Western on Coney Island, which has good subway connections. This summer I paid £120. It’s £275 a night in England.

Are there any cheap bedding alternatives?

Yes: Be patient. I’ve seen the standard pattern for big sporting events and it goes like this: Hotels and other accommodation providers think it’s the best get-rich-quick scheme in history. They kept their rates high, especially for games involving teams with many traveling fans, such as Brazil, Germany and England. But because many “normal” business and leisure guests won’t be staying in World Cup host cities, there’s likely to be a lot more to go around – with prices dropping in the weeks before the tournament.

Furthermore, with higher rates, more and more people will be tempted to own their space on platforms like Airbnb and escape on vacation for the duration. This should reduce pressure on prices.

There’s plenty of time to fill between games…

Fans should take this trip as a holiday with some football. While Boston is a great city worth 48 hours of exploration, there’s plenty to see elsewhere in Massachusetts – from Billionaires’ Row on Cape Cod to downtown Lowell, a mill town considered the cradle of America’s Industrial Revolution. This is also where the author Jack Kerouac is on the wayGrew up.

Speaking of road trips, England fans traveling from Dallas to Boston, as well as Scotland fans traveling from Boston to Miami, have great adventure travel opportunities between matches.

From Dallas, you can wander across the music state of Tennessee, stopping in Memphis and Nashville, then follow the line of the Appalachian Mountains. Heading south from Boston, I-95 leads through New York and Washington DC to Miami, with Savannah and the Kennedy Space Center being top tourist destinations right next to the freeway – but you can have all the entertainment you want, including a day at Orlando’s theme parks.

For any neutral who just wants to enjoy the atmosphere – where is the best place to stay?

To maximize your chances of getting a ticket, choose matches that have few traveling supporters and do not have large local communities with links to the teams.

I am looking:

With teams like Albania, New Caledonia and Suriname still in the race for qualification, there could be some more obscure matches.