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About to head to Germany for four weeks of football and beer? Let The Athletic be your guide to the 10 host cities of Euro 2024…
Berlin
Stadium
The Olympiastadion (capacity, 71,000) has hosted some truly iconic sporting moments since it was rebuilt 20 years ago.
In 2009, Usain Bolt shocked the world when he broke the 100m and 200m world records in the World Championships. Both marks still stand today. In 2015, Barcelona won their fifth (and most recent) Champions League, beating Juventus 3-1. And in 2006, Marco Materazzi insulted Zinedine Zidane’s sister and, well, the rest is history.
With a huge gap at one end of the ground, it’s windy, making it the German equivalent of Stoke City’s Bet365 Stadium. Robert Huth would have felt right at home.
As far as big, modern European stadiums go, Hertha Berlin’s home is one of the best and most atmospheric, with the running track being the only thing to let it down (although its blue colour makes it distinctive).
Berlin’s iconic Olympiastadion will host the Euros final on July 14 (Inaki Esnaola/Xinhua via Getty Images)
Matches
What to do
What not to do? One of Europe’s most cultural, alternative and historic cities, Berlin has galleries, museums (180 of them) and places of deep historical interest, including Charlottenburg Palace, the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the Berlin Wall Memorial, the Holocaust Memorial, Berlin Zoo or Museum Island.
Then line your stomach with currywurst, go clubbing at techno temple Berghain, and ease your hangover the next morning chilling out in beautiful public park Tiergarten.
Where to drink
If it’s atmosphere you want, watch any of the tournament’s 51 matches in the fan zone by the Reichstag building. They’ll squeeze 10,000 into there, while by the Brandenburg Gate, at least 30,000 will watch Germany games (and any of the city’s games, and other fixtures, from the latter stages) on the fan mile, complete with the world’s largest football goal (63 metres by 21 metres) and five massive screens. Tor!
Did you know?
Berlin is tree-heavy, with 30 per cent of the city comprising green spaces and woodlands. And the whole place is also absolutely massive — it’s nine times bigger than Paris. Nein!
Do
Eat a doner kebab. They were invented in Berlin.
Don’t
Say after visiting: “Wow, I really get Germany now.”
Cologne
Stadium
Like many of the stadiums for Euro 2024, Cologne’s RheinEnergie Stadion (capacity, 43,000 and known as Cologne Stadium for the tournament) was built for the Germany-hosted 2006 World Cup.
Also, like many of the stadiums for this tournament, it will play host to second-tier German football next season after Cologne were relegated last month. Half the 10 stadiums are home to 2. Bundesliga clubs (also Hertha in Berlin, Schalke in Gelsenkirchen, Hamburg and Fortuna Dusseldorf). It’s like half of Euro 2028 being played at Sunderland, Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds, Swansea and Derby.
Not that the RheinEnergie (or Mungersdorfer, to non-sponsor fans) isn’t a worthy arena. In fact, it’s one of the best stadiums in the tournament — one which England fans will feel at home at when they play Slovenia there because, with its tightly packed non-bowl-like stands, it could easily fit in the Premier League (or to be fair, probably the Championship).
The stadium hosted the 2019-20 Europa League final, but there was no one in the stands because of the pandemic, so did it even happen?
The RheinEnergieStadion boasts a strong EFL vibe (Christof Koepsel/Getty Images)
Matches
What to do
No tourist attraction in the whole of Germany attracts more visitors per year than the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter: a massive Gothic effort with two spires and 2,000 years of history. If that’s not your thing, try the Chocolate Museum. And if your boat still isn’t afloat, stick around for reggae festival Summerjam on July 5-7, headlined by Beenie Man and Burna Boy.
Where to drink
The Cologne Brewery Tour promises that you’ll learn interesting facts about the city’s brewery tradition. More importantly, you’ll drink a lot of Kolsch (Cologne’s signature style of beer).
If it’s cocktails you want, head to Seiberts.
Did you know?
Cologne is home to the Michael Schumacher Private Collection which is, erm, open to the public. It features 12 of the legendary racing driver’s F1 cars, plus 40 trophies and 20 helmets.
Celebrate local boy Schumacher’s achievements (Michael Gottschalk/AFP via Getty Images)
Do
Take a boat trip on the Rhine.
Don’t
Go around slagging off Harald Schumacher. You know, the West Germany goalkeeper who leapt into the air and collided with Patrick Battiston in a semi-final at the 1982 World Cup, leaving the Frenchman with three broken teeth and cracked ribs and himself without even a booking. He’s the city’s official ambassador for the tournament and he’s got previous…
How to follow Euro 2024 and Copa America on The Athletic…
Stadium
Westfalenstadion, Signal Iduna Park, BVB Stadion Dortmund — call it what you like. It’s iconic, it’s beautiful and it’s loud.
It’s also much smaller this summer than when Borussia Dortmund play there, with its capacity reduced from 82,000 to 62,000 owing to Euros matches needing to be all-seater, meaning Berlin’s Olympiastadion has the tournament’s largest capacity instead.
Dortmund will host six games including a semi-final, the joint-most along with Munich (which gets the other semi-final) and Berlin (the final). Because the stadium has gradually been improved and expanded over recent decades, it doesn’t feel at all corporate and the atmosphere from the famed yellow wall (the largest free-standing grandstand in Europe) has to be heard to be believed.
If England and France win their groups and progress to the semis, a showdown between them would be played here, which is a spicy meatball indeed.
GO DEEPER
How Borussia Dortmund’s Yellow Wall became the envy of European football
Matches
- June 15: Italy vs Albania
- June 18: Turkey vs Georgia
- June 22: Turkey vs Portugal
- June 25: France vs Poland
- June 29: Round of 16 – 1A vs 2C
- July 10: Semi-final
What to do
If it’s football you like (this assumption has been made), then tours of the stadium are ongoing throughout the tournament. If you’ve done that, try the excellent German Football Museum, if only to see the penalty spot from which Andreas Brehme scored the winning goal of the 1990 World Cup. In Rome, not Dortmund.
If your country has been knocked out surprisingly early and you never want to see another football in your life, well, there isn’t a huge amount to do in Dortmund, so just stick a yellow shirt on and head to the pub. Speaking of which…
Andreas Brehme scores Germany’s winning penalty in the 1990 World Cup final (Ross Kinnaird/EMPICS via Getty Images)
Where to drink
For a proper Dortmund beer experience, you can’t go too wrong with Wenkers (yes that’s right, Wenkers. No giggling, please). Pitchers of Schwarzbier (aka dark lager) are €17 and you can soak it up with a schnitzel platter.
Did you know?
Dortmund is twinned with Leeds. Presumably because they brag about their attendances, too.
Do
Drink beer and watch football. You’ll fit right in.
Don’t
Wear a Schalke shirt.
Dusseldorf
Stadium
Fortuna Dusseldorf aren’t the force they were, so the Dusseldorf Arena will be welcomingly full this summer, unlike during 2. Bundesliga seasons when, in its guise as the Merkur-Spiel Arena, it can sometimes only attract crowds as low as 27,000 to a 54,600 capacity arena (which will be reduced to 47,000 for the Euros).
Dusseldorf wasn’t one of the 12 venues used in the World Cup 18 years ago but is in this time, making it the only new city when compared to the 2006 list (while Nuremberg, Hanover and Kaiserslautern have been dropped).
England will play their quarter-final here if they win the group and (obviously) their last-16 game — and after that, set your Clocks for some Trouble when Coldplay perform for three nights at the Merkur-Spiel on July 20, 21 and 23.
The Merkur-Spiel Arena is one of many stadiums that will have a reduced capacity this summer (Christof Koepsel/Getty Images)
Matches
- June 17: Austria vs France
- June 21: Slovakia vs Ukraine
- June 24: Albania vs Spain
- July 1: Round of 16 – 2D vs 2E
- July 6: Quarter-final
What to do
If you like the smell of exhaust gas (this assumption has been made), then Classic Remise is right up your exhaust street. Dozens and dozens of classic, expensive cars are on display. No tour, no museum, just cars.
If you like cars and sushi, Dusseldorf is the city for you. It has Europe’s third-highest Japanese population and its own Little Tokyo area, complete with plenty of good restaurants.
Where to drink
The Altstadt (Old Town) is known as the longest bar in the world because it has 260 pubs, clubs and restaurants within a square mile. Head there and just drink it in, in more ways than one.
Did you know?
Electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk formed in Dusseldorf in the early 1970s.
Do
Pack a red shirt and black tie.
Don’t
Go to Classic Remise if you hate cars.
Frankfurt
Stadium
The steep design of the Frankfurt Arena (capacity 47,000), with its scoreboard hovering above the centre circle, keeps the noise in (as does the roof, when it’s on). It’ll be rowdy for Switzerland vs Germany.
The Waldstadion (translation: Forest Stadium), known as Deutsche Bank Park when Eintracht Frankfurt play here, dates back to 1925 and has been rebuilt on several occasions, including before the 1974 and 2006 World Cups.
France beat Brazil 1-0 there in the quarter-finals in 2006, when a thousand YouTube compilations of Zidane’s performance were spawned.
No quarter-final this time, though, with the Group F winners (possibly Portugal) facing a third-placed side in the round of 16 the last of its five matches.
The Frankfurt Arena boasts a cauldron-creating roof (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images)
Matches
- June 17: Belgium vs Slovakia
- June 20: Denmark vs England
- June 23: Switzerland vs Germany
- June 26: Slovakia vs Romania
- July 1: Round of 16 – 1F vs 3A/B/C
What to do
If you like money (buy low, sell high, et cetera), Frankfurt is the place for you. Germany’s fifth-largest city is one of the world’s major financial centres and houses the European Central Bank.
As far as actual culture goes, Frankfurt is good for art and music. You just might have to walk through a bank to get to them.
The Museum fur Elektronische Musik (if you can’t translate that, I don’t know what to tell you) is in Frankfurt (the city from where trance music originated) and hosts regular DJ workshop sessions.
Where to drink
If you’ve done a few German cities and you’re tired of the beer-heavy culture, don’t worry, Frankfurt offers something drastically different: cider.
The neighbourhood of Sachsenhausen along the River Main is home to the city’s renowned cider halls. Or Possman will offer a cidermaker tour and tasting session.
Did you know?
Seventeen of Germany’s 18 skyscrapers are in Frankfurt, the tallest being the Commerzbank Tower (259m/850ft).
Frankfurt’s skyline, including (right) the Commerzbank Tower (Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images)
Do
Stay in Frankfurt after the tournament if you want to live longer. The city rates high for happiness levels and employees have shorter working weeks, placing it in the top 10 places in the world for quality of life.
Don’t
Drink endless pints of cider every night. Your life will be shorter.
Gelsenkirchen
Stadium
Another stadium, another name-change for the tournament, with Veltins-Arena becoming Arena AufSchalke for four weeks. Another capacity reduction too, from 62,271 to 50,000.
Oh and another 2. Bundesliga home team in Schalke, and another stunning stadium, famed for its atmosphere, with a retractable roof. Germany, they’re nothing if not effic… no, let’s not go there.
Spain vs Italy, arguably the standout fixture of the group stage, will be played here, while it will also host England’s opener against Serbia, and the English will be back in the last 16 should they win Group C. You may recall this was where Wayne Rooney was sent off as England lost to Portugal on penalties in the 2006 World Cup quarter-finals, winker Cristiano Ronaldo et al.
The Veltins-Arena – home of Schalke (Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
Matches
- June 16: Serbia vs England
- June 20: Spain vs Italy
- June 26: Georgia vs Portugal
- June 30: Round of 16 – 1C vs 3D/E/F
What to do
Great question. Do you like Baroque-era castles? How about parks? The zoo is pretty good.
To be fair to Gelsenkirchen, it has plenty of green spaces and some decent music venues, but an area known for a long time for its coal mining and steel isn’t the most vibrant.
That isn’t stopping it from hosting three nights of Taylor Swift concerts in July. The Baroque Eras tour.
Where to drink
TripAdvisor’s top 10 bars in Gelsenkirchen are all actually in other cities which, to be honest, doesn’t bode well. But the good news is Bochum, Essen, Dortmund and Duisburg can be reached within 30 minutes by train if you want alternatives (which you will).
Did you know?
Dortmund is accessible by train within 30 minutes. As is Duisburg. As is Bochum. Essen, too.
Do
Go to Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg or Bochum.
Don’t
Send this guide to anyone in Gelsenkirchen.
Hamburg
Stadium
A bit out of the centre via a 15-minute train ride but worth the extra distance, the Volksparkstadion is an imposing 49,000-capacity arena which hosted games in the 1974 and 2006 World Cups, and Euro 1988.
Hamburg’s home also hosted Shakhtar Donetsk’s Champions League group-stage games against Barcelona, Porto and Antwerp last season, with crowds of at least 46,000 for all three.
The stadium is home to an unusual and special statue, that of Uwe Seeler’s right foot. Seeler, who died in 2022, is Hamburg’s most famous son and scored 490 goals for the club, as well as playing 72 times for West Germany.
(Cathrin Mueller/Getty Images)
Matches
- June 16: Poland vs Netherlands
- June 19: Croatia vs Albania
- June 22: Georgia vs Czech Republic
- June 26: Czech Republic vs Turkey
- July 5: Quarter-final
What to do
Where to start? Hamburg is a buzzing, lively cultural hub — Germany’s second-biggest city behind Berlin and, in terms of population, the third-biggest non-capital city in Europe (behind Istanbul and Saint Petersburg).
For Instagram fans, the city landscape, with its historic, beautiful buildings, is highly snappable.
There’s a stunning concert hall, Elbphilharmonie, which anyone can head to the top of for a view of the city and the Elbe river. There’s also a world-famous port where you can take a boat trip around the harbour, the world’s biggest model railway, and football hipsters will definitely want to do the FC St Pauli stadium tour.
GO DEEPER
St Pauli: Bundesliga promotion and leftist principles combine (with ‘death head’ flag)
Where to drink
Up to 30 million people a year visit the Reeperbahn entertainment district, and with good reason. There are more clubs, bars, pubs, shops and music venues than you can shake a schnitzel at — and enough eye-popping sights to, well, let’s just say, to quote John Lennon, you may have been born in England but Hamburg is where you’ll grow up.
Hamburg’s infamous Reeperbahn entertainment district (Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
Did you know?
Hamburg absolutely loves bridges. It has 2,500 of the things: more than London, Amsterdam and Venice combined.
Do
Listen to some early Beatles music. They played several residencies in the city from 1960 to 1962.
Don’t
Say The Rolling Stones were better.
Stadium
The Red Bull Arena, imaginatively renamed Leipzig Stadium for the tournament, will hold 40,000. It opened in 2004, having been built inside the outline of the old Zentralstadion.
This is the tournament’s only foray into the old East Germany and it will host the joint-fewest number of matches (four, along with Gelsenkirchen) but has a couple of crackers, including Netherlands vs France.
In a 2006 World Cup game, Zidane (his third mention in this guide; he made quite the impact) kicked one of the dressing-room doors after a draw against South Korea, leaving a dent which hasn’t just never been fixed but is outlined with a golden frame.
The Red Bull Arena? No mate, this is the Leipzig Stadium (Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
Matches
- June 18: Portugal vs Czech Republic
- June 21: Netherlands vs France
- June 24: Croatia vs Italy
- July 2: Round of 16 – 1D vs 2F
What to do
Leipzig is a city of historical importance. In 1989, more than 100,000 people demonstrated before the fall of the Berlin Wall, so the Augustusplatz is worth a visit, as is the city’s former Stasi HQ.
Otherwise, it’s a pretty cool place: likened to a smaller version of Berlin (which is only 75 minutes away by train), with a thriving art scene, hipster cafes and a buzzing nightlife.
Where to drink
If you can squeeze in there, the tiny Stoned bar should be high on your list. It calls itself the home of punk and rock. The people are friendly, and the beer is cheap. Stick Rammstein on the jukebox and bang your head about vigorously to fit in.
Did you know?
Leipzig played such an important role in the fall of Communism and the reunification of Germany that it was nicknamed the Hero City.
Do
Spend time moseying around the many bars and cultural hotspots Leipzig has to offer.
Don’t
Say Monster is better than Red Bull.
Munich
Stadium
Allianz Arena? Nope. Say hello to the Munich Football Arena, capacity 66,000. This is probably Germany’s version of Wembley in that it is a bit of a corporate bowl; albeit a good-looking one, especially from the outside with its genuinely beautiful changeable colours.
It’s a stadium that has been home to dozens of trophy lifts over recent years but obviously none in 2023-24 (sorry, Harry).
Munich will host two of the tournament’s best matches: Germany vs Scotland in Friday’s opener and then a semi-final.
Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena is one of Germany’s more modern-looking stadiums (Lukas Barth – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
Matches
- June 14: Germany vs Scotland
- June 17: Romania vs Ukraine
- June 20: Slovenia vs Serbia
- June 25: Denmark vs Serbia
- July 2: Round of 16 – 1E vs 3A/B/C/D
- July 9: Semi-final
What to do
Munich is expensive but stunning, and differs from the rest of Germany in its, well, Bavarian-ness. Plus, its chilled-out vibes give it the moniker of being ‘Italy’s most northern city’ (it’s only 100 miles or so from the Italian border).
The Bayern Munich museum is well worth a visit or you could walk over the Olympic Stadium roof, visit BMW World and its museum, or go to Weihenstephan, the world’s oldest brewery.
Where to drink
It’s a bit early for Oktoberfest, so maybe Augustiner-Keller for some traditional Bavarian ales and food. It dates back to 1812, has enough outdoor seating for 5,000 people (honestly), and is a Munich institution.
If you’ve had enough beer to last you a lifetime, Jaded Monkey is welcomingly low-lit and offers some of the best cocktails in the city.
Fancy a giant beer? You’ve come to the right place (Felix Hörhager/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Did you know?
Jimi Hendrix became known for going a bit nuts and smashing his guitar up at the end of gigs, and apparently, the first time he ever did this was in Munich. Must have been annoyed at the beer prices.
Do
Kick back in the English Garden, one of the biggest inner-city parks in the world.
Don’t
Bring up how bad Burnley were last season.
GO DEEPER
Bayern Munich, Vincent Kompany and the summer’s strangest managerial appointment
Stuttgart
Stadium
One of the rowdiest grounds in the country, the Stuttgart Arena, like so many stadiums on this list, will have its standing sections swapped for seating, resulting in a reduced capacity of 51,000.
The 1993 World Athletics Championships were held here (Britain’s Linford Christie won 100m gold) but the running track is long gone and the place has been partly renovated for the Euros, with a big section of the main stand redone.
It will host a Germany game (against Hungary) and a quarter-final.
The Stuttgart Arena used to be an athletics venue (Christian Kaspar-Bartke – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
Matches
- June 16: Slovenia vs Denmark
- June 19: Germany vs Hungary
- June 23: Scotland vs Hungary
- June 26: Ukraine vs Belgium
- July 5: Quarter-final
What to do
Football, wine and cars; southern city Stuttgart is big on all three and feels a bit Mediterranean. Porsche and Mercedes have their homes here, and both can be explored via their respective museums, if that’s your bag.
There’s also a football and wine tour, where you can quaff three different Stuttgart wines, all with a view of the stadium.
Where to drink
Go upmarket for cocktails at Jigger & Spoon, which is two floors underneath an office building in an old bank vault.
Did you know?
Stuttgart is one of Germany’s most diverse cities, with 40 per cent of its residents coming from abroad — twice the national average.
Do
Make the most of the warmer weather and the lovely wine.
Don’t
Turn your nose up at the local delicacy of noodles, cheese and onions, known as kasespatzle.
(Top photos: iStock; design: Eamonn Dalton)