The Champions League Final was always going to be epic, but few would’ve predicted it would feature Liverpool and Tottenham in the ultimate Madrid showdown. It’s officially fair to say that the EPL is the Premier League in football. After a 96th minute hail mary from Tottenham and some devilish red LFC heroics, it’s set.
June 1st, the Champions League final will take place in Madrid, Spain, and as of this minute, there are a few ways to get there without breaking the bank. We said “minute”, so don’t waste any time. This is your best chance to get to the Champions League final without mortgaging your house.
Cash fares are legitimately out of sight. Your best bet, or only bet without breaking the bank is points. As of the time of writing, there were still BA flights for 7,500 points and about £25 one way which get you into Madrid from London on the Saturday, just in time for the game. Simply search “using Avios”.
Be sure to search one way at a time. So search just from LON-MAD, and then search separately the other way. If you can find availability using points one way, it’ll save you cash the other way.
Coming back, there’s great availability from Milan to London using BA points, so if you can find a cash or points fare from Madrid to Milan, you’re in the money – or rather – out less of it. Monday has the best availability.
Availability changes all the time, so even if something has gone, don’t stop checking until kick off.
I Don’t Have Points
If you don’t have points and want to try the cash approach, your best bet is to search for flights from somewhere like London or Liverpool to Amsterdam, then from Amsterdam to Madrid, since obviously quite a few people will be cancelling those tickets ; ) Just had to get that in there.
In all seriousness, your best bet is to fly via an intermediary city on separate tickets, or to a semi nearby city in Spain and then look for separate tickets or alternative transport from that city to Madrid.
Paris to Madrid can be had for under £70 on Friday the 31st, so you’d just need to get to Paris from wherever is home. Since PSG aren’t anywhere to be found, that’s going to be fairly cheap and easy.
Coming back, you could book a one way ticket on the Monday for just £68 as well. If you wanted round trip from Paris to Madrid out Friday back Sunday, it’s only £331. Better to just book the two one way tickets and save than as one round trip.
For another example, there are still “affordable” flights from London to cities like Valencia or Barcelona. Click here for an example. From there, you could either train it, or look for a separate flight from the Valencia or Barcelona to Madrid. Just remember, since they’re separate tickets, you’re not protected if you miss your flight.
Don’t forget that there are also other airports near Madrid, which are drivable in theory, like Valencia and Salamanca.
Airbnb is your only chance here.
Virtually every hotel in the city is sold out, and even your most basic dive is going for over £800 per night. All a small price to see your team lift the trophy, but nonetheless it’s a bit nuts.
As of the time of writing, there were still tons of great Airbnb’s which not only are cheap but they also allow more than two people to crash. We found a place with 3 bedrooms for under £300 a night in a great part of town and it won’t be hard to find more.
Here’s £25 off your first booking, if you choose to go that route.
Champions League Tickets
Yeah, that’s on you. No clue. Pray? Or just find some Spanish wine and sit in a great Madrid tapas bar and pretend like you’re there? It’s all about the after party either way. Here’s a few tips for how to spend 48 buzzing hours on your trip to Madrid. That, we can help you with.
Great advice, Gibb. No points so might drive to Amsterdam, Eindhoven or Antwerp and fly from there. Kippers
Ah look who we have here! You can have personal concierge advice
Fly from an irish airport to Valladolid or Barcelona …rental car from there….cheap flights still left as of Friday morning May 10th!!!