A week on Sunday, a significant chunk of the population of Huddersfield and the surrounding area will be making their way to London to watch the playoff final at the national stadium. There are plenty of different options for how you can get yourself down there but which is best for you?
I’ve gone over the various different possibilities available and given my opinions on which are worth considering and which are either too expensive or impractical to work. Feel free to make your own suggestions in the comments below.
Coaches
Official club coaches
The easiest way to arrange transport is to book a coach ticket through the club, which can be ordered through the main ticketing website. It costs £49 per person and will set off from the stadium at 8.45am. I suspect there will be a no-alcohol policy on the club’s official transport, which may be a positive or a negative depending on your perspective. I’m sure some fans would be horrified at the idea of arriving at a game sober, whereas others would be just as alarmed at the prospect of spending hours sat next to a load of boozed up Town fans. It’s horses for courses.
Other organised coach trips
Lots of pubs and fan groups will be putting on their own coach trips to Wembley, with each having their own cost and itinerary. I expect that these unofficial coach trips will be a bit looser with their policies on alcohol but the official Wembley coach park says no coaches should have any alcohol on them as a condition of parking near the stadium, so I’m not sure.
I have noticed that “TogTerrier” is offering a posh coach option on the Down At the Mac forum which sounds pretty good. The coaches are likely to be more plush than the standard fare and may even offer more leg room. Click the link above for details and send him a DM through the forum if you’re interested.
The megabus
Possibly the cheapest public transport option to get to Wembley, you can get a return ticket including all fees for under £33 at the time of writing. The journey down to London doesn’t look too bad, with a bus leaving Huddersfield bus station at half nine, taking you to East Midlands Parkway train station, where you catch a train the rest of the way which gets you to St Pancras in London for just after one. Giving you plenty of time to get to Wembley and soak up the atmosphere.
However, the journey back looks hellish, the only viable option being a coach that leaves London at eleven thirty and doesn’t arrive back in Huddersfield until five to seven the following morning. I thought this was a mistake at first but the coach genuinely takes over seven and a half hours to make a journey that’s closer to three in a car. After a long day at the football, some fans may be happy to sleep it off on the coach but it doesn’t appeal to me.
Driving
Official Wembley parking
I wouldn’t recommend using the official Wembley parking for a variety of reasons but I’ve included it in this list for completeness. Firstly, at £40, it’s expensive but also, getting away after the game could be very tricky. If the Police decide they want pedestrians to clear the area first, you may be left sat in your car waiting before you even get chance to try and get out. Thankfully the price is reduced to £15 per car for disabled supporters who have little choice but to find the nearest possible parking but those that have the ability to park further afield will no doubt be better off avoiding the official car park and any others that are too near the stadium.
Drive to a tube station and get the tube down
One of my favourite memories of past trips to Wembley was emerging from the tube station and seeing the stadium with its gigantic arch in front of me. In practical terms, you can cut out a bit of the stress of driving into central London by picking a tube station to the north of the stadium and then catching the tube for a few stops. There are a variety of possible tube stations, in the past I’ve parked at Stanmore and it’s been easy to get parked and catch the tube down.
The pubs and restaurants in the area were also slightly less packed than those close to the stadium, though with both teams coming from north of London this time, there may be a bit more competition for parking spots and space in the pubs.
Rent a driveway
There are a few different services available that allow you to park your car on someone else’s driveway, one of the larger ones is JustPark. These sites operate a bit like eBay, where the website is the middleman between you and someone that has a parking space they’re willing to lend to you for the day. The prices vary wildly depending on where you want to park but at the time of writing there were still some decent looking parking spots for under £20 that are a short walk from the stadium.
If you are going down this route, I would suggest thinking about getting away. If you want to get off quickly after the game you may find it better to pick a spot well away from the ground, as the first couple of miles you could well be driving slower than you could walk anyway.
Train
Regular trains
It looks like seats on the best trains back up to Huddersfield after the game may have been snaffled up already. A quick scan of the National Rail website suggests that the latest train with any availability on Sunday evening leaves at 8:15pm. If the game goes to extra time and penalties it may be tricky to get to Kings Cross in time, particularly as the tube stations around Wembley get very busy after the game.
It’s also not cheap to book a train now, an off peak return comes in at £126, more than double the price of the official coaches. It may be possible to get a cheaper deal by using some clever train ticket tactics but I suspect it’s a bit too late to knock the price down.
Retro railways “football special” train
An organisation called Retro Railways have said that they are looking into laying on a special train to set off from Huddersfield that will go straight to Wembley. They’ve operated similar services when we’ve gone to Wembley in the past and fans have said it worked well for them.
Because the train is specifically laid on for fans going to the game, they’ll push back the departure time if it goes to extra time and penalties, which is a nice bonus. The details are yet to be announced at the time of writing but you can find out more by checking them out on Twitter.