How to watch Euro 2016: the best pub, TV, travel and accommodation
If major sporting events are ostensibly a celebration of those who aspire to being the being the strongest, fastest and most skilful, they’re also a boon for those at the other end of the activity spectrum.
The European Championship’s expansion to 24 teams means it now offers greater opportunities than ever before for slobbing in front of the television or spending all day in the pub.
Those with more adventurous spirits – and larger budgets – can charter private jets to France to witness the games first hand, and even stay overnight in the Eiffel Tower. Here’s how.
Read more: Which fans have the most expensive trip to Euro 2016?
Going to the pub
Readers will have their favoured local, a boozer a short mooch from home with the projector, an array of other screens and attentive bar staff, but where to watch the match when in the City?
Happily, it turns out that a familiar haunt to Square Mile workers – the Water Poet near Spitalfields – has just been crowned the best boozer to in the whole of Britain in which to watch Euro 2016.
The independent research, by pub experts the Thinking Drinkers for menswear brand Farah, gave the Water Poet maximum points for its nine screens, 15 beers and ales and its all-day barbecue.
The Water Poet, 9-11 Folgate Street, London E1 6BX
Watching it on TV
When the sofa, never mind the house, is just too much trouble, and you want to see every last wrinkle on Wayne Rooney’s furrowed brow as England capitulate again, you’ll want a swanky television.
And the Cristiano Ronaldo of tellies is Sony’s KD-75XD9405, a 75in flat, LED back-lit screen that supports Ultra HD and HDR. It’ll set you back £5,000 – or loose change, for Ronaldo.
Chartering a private jet
So you’ve got match tickets and you’re heading to France but even business class flights or fancy seats on the Eurostar sound less appealing than film night at Mathieu Valbuena’s.
The answer? Well, if you’re feeling flush, a private jet firm such as Victor can charter a plane for groups as small as six and as large as 50 to go there and back in a day, or for multi-leg trips.
With England’s opening game against Russia in Marseille on Saturday, a 50-seater Embraer 145 would typically cost around £23,000 for a one-day round trip to the south of France in June.
Smaller jets are available, such as the six-seater Citation CJ3. Chartering that to go to both semis, in Lyon and Marseille, the Paris final, and return home again would cost around £14,000.
For more up-to-date prices see www.flyvictor.com
Staying overnight in the Eiffel Tower
French properties do not come more iconic than the Eiffel Tower, and this summer the iron behemoth is housing its own pop-up apartment during the European Championship.
Overnight stays are only available through holiday rentals company HomeAway, and look like being limited to competition winners, but the apartment is also set to stage viewing parties – if you can get in.