Football trip London

London is the only city in Europe where you can book a football trip without first checking who is at home. Someone is always at home.

That makes it easy and confusing at the same time. A match in north London is a different day out from a match in south London, and Stamford Bridge in the west feels different again from the London Stadium in the east. The city is not one place but a collection of districts that each have their own club.

What is often underestimated is the travelling time within the city. From your hotel to the ground can be three quarters of an hour on the Underground, and on match day that train is full. Allow generously for it.

The advantage of London is that the match does not have to be the whole trip. You can spend Saturday afternoon in the stadium and Sunday in a museum or a market without travelling anywhere.

The stadiums

Arsenal's Emirates Stadium is in Islington, walkable from Holloway Road and Arsenal station. Modern, bowl-shaped, with the best sightlines of the London grounds.

Stamford Bridge, at 40,343 seats, is the smallest of the big four and therefore the most intimate. It sits in Fulham, hemmed in by residential streets; you walk straight in from Fulham Broadway.

The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is the newest and, for many visitors, the most impressive in Europe. The south stand is a single steep wall of nearly 18,000 seats. It is in north London along the High Road.

The London Stadium in Stratford was built for the 2012 Olympic Games and later converted for West Ham. Spacious, with an athletics past you can still feel in the distance from the pitch.

Then there are the smaller grounds that are special precisely for that reason: Selhurst Park at Crystal Palace is old, loud and from a generation that has all but disappeared.

When is the best time to go?

The Premier League runs from August to May. In London there is a home fixture almost every weekend, so you can plan around the city rather than the club.

If you want to see a particular club, allow for shifting dates. Television decides whether a match kicks off at 13:30 on Saturday, at 17:30 on Saturday or on Sunday, and that is often only confirmed six weeks beforehand. Book flexibly, or let us lock the trip down as soon as the date is known.

December is busy and expensive, but it is the finest month: the Boxing Day fixtures on 26 December are an English tradition the whole city turns out for.

Practical

London has five airports. Heathrow and City are the most convenient, while Stansted and Luton are cheaper but cost an extra hour of travelling.

Where to stay depends on which match you are going to. Around King's Cross or Bloomsbury you are central and can reach both north and west London reasonably. If you are heading to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, a hotel further north saves you half an hour each way.

Bring a contactless bank card; with it you travel across London on the Underground, buses and trains without thinking about it. Cash is barely needed anywhere.

And bring valid photo identification. English clubs often issue tickets in the holder's name and check that at the turnstile.

Frequently asked questions about a football trip to London