Friday, November 21

Villareal

Villareal Club de Futbol
Tuesday, November 25, kick off 20:45
UEFA Champions League group stages match five

Tickets

The match will be played at the Estadio El Madrigal, which has a capacity of 25,000. United have been given 2,800 tickets. All have been sold, though there are quite a lot of spares up for grabs if needed.

Travel

Important note - Spanish trains
There are six or more different types of trains in Spain. The regional ones are dirt cheap, the other kinds are only slightly faster and are much more expensive.
If you've got time to spare it's worth planning your journey using this website around the regional trains to save loads of money.

Getting to Villareal from the airports

Alicante Airport
If you're not staying in, or wanting to visit Alicante itself, get the coach direct from the airport to Castellon.
But there's only three a day - at 13:00, 21:00 and 23:00. It takes six hours, 20 minutes and costs e24.26 single or e46.86 return.

Otherwise, you need to go: Airport -> Alicante -> Castellon -> Villareal

Travel to Alicante centre, which is about seven miles south east of the city.
The bus goes from stop 30 at the airport to Calle Portugal 17 in the city. It takes 40 minutes, costs e1.20 each way and runs from 06:30 to 23:10.
The taxi takes about 20 minutes, costs e13 in the day and e16 at night.

Once in the city, take the coach or the train north to Castellon.

The coach from Calle Portugal 17 to Avenida Perez Galdos, takes three hours and 20 minutes and costs e19.11 one way and e36.31 return.

The train goes from Alacant Terminal, takes about two-and-a-half hours and costs about e30 one way. There are no Regional Express trains on this route.

To get from the coach stop to the train station, a taxi takes 10 minutes. Walking would take half an hour, though it’s pretty much a straight walk down Calle de Bono Guaner.

Castellon is five miles north west of Villareal. See the guide below about how to get there.

Alicante Airport via Benidorm
The Stretford End Bar in Benidorm is running coaches on the day of the game to and from the stadium. Email stretfordend2@gonuts4free.com for details.

Airport -> Benidorm -> Castellon -> Villareal
The bus goes from stop 30 outside the airport to the Avenida Comunidad Europa 8 stop in Benidorm.
It takes an hour, costs e8 each way and runs hourly from 11am until 23:00.
The taxi takes about an hour, costs e68.

If you book in advance, you can get a shared shuttle bus with Shuttle Direct for £6.47 pp or a private one for £28.03 pp.

Once in Benidorm, you can only really get a coach to Castellon as, by my reckoning, there isn't a train service that far north.

The coach leaves from Avenida Comunidad Europa to Avenida Perez Glados takes three-and-a-half hours and costs e16.26 single and e30.89 return.

Castellon is five miles north west of Villareal. See the guide below about how to get there.


Valencia Manises Airport

Airport -> Valencia -> Villareal

IMPORTANT: IF YOU ARE BOOKED TO FLY WITH RYANAIR TO VALENCIA, PLEASE CONTACT THE AIRLINE IMMEDIATELY - YOUR FLIGHT MAY BE CANCELLED DUE TO A DISPUTE WITH THE VALENCIAN LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

Travel to Valencia centre, which is eight miles west of the city.
Take the bus from outside the departures entrance to EstaciĆ³n del Norte Train Station in the city centre.
It takes 25 minutes, costs e2.50 each way and runs every 20 minutes from 08:00 to 22:00.
Make sure you get on this direct service rather than Line 150 which goes all around the houses and takes forever.
Get the metro from inside the airport. Use the Red Line to get the train station stop, Turia, or the Green Line to get to Turia - the stop nearest to the bus stop. Services leave every 15 minutes.
Here’s a map of the metro.

The taxi takes about 20 minutes, costs e16.

If you book in advance, you can get a private shuttle bus with Shuttle Direct for £24.88 pp.

Or you can get a private shuttle bus direct to Castellon, which is five miles north of Villareal, for £49 pp. Again, you have to book in advance.

If you're booking a hotel in Valencia, make sure you take note of the location as the Valencia beaches are 40 minutes east of the city centre.
That could prove a problem if you have to go from the airport to the city, to the resort, to the city, to the stadium and then back.

Once in the city, take the coach or the train north to Villareal De Los Infantes or to Castellon.

The train from Valencia Cabanyal takes about two-and-a-half hours and costs about e30 one way. It takes about 50 minutes and costs e17 on normal trains and e4.40 on Regional Express.

The coach from Avenida Menendez Pidal 13 to Avenida Perez Glados takes an hour and costs e8 single and e16 return.
Castellon is five miles north west of Villareal. See the guide below about how to get there.



Barcelona Girona

Airport -> Barcelona -> Castellon -> Villareal

Take the Segales coach from outside the airport to Barcelona Estacio Del Nord. Services leave in sync with the landing of flights - approximately 20 minutes after the plane lands. It takes 45 minutes and costs e e12 single or e21 return.

Once in the city, get the Metro from Arc de Triomf six stops south on the Red Line, get off at Espanya and then take two stops west on the Green Line and then get off at Sants Estacio. Here’s a map of the Metro.



Barcelona International

Airport -> Barcelona -> Castellon -> Villareal

This airport is only six miles out of the city, so it’s easy to get there on the RENFE train, which takes 25 minutes and runs every half hour. Get off at Sants station. A one-way ticket costs e2.60.

A taxi costs about e25 for a 25-minute journey.


From Barcelona centre onwards
The train goes from Sants station and takes two-and-a-half hours to three hours and costs e30 for a normal train and e17 on Regional Express.

There is only one bus a day. It takes four-and-a-half hours and costs e40 return, so the train makes much more sense.

Castellon is five miles north west of Villareal. See the guide below about how to get there.

Barcelona Reus Airport

Airport -> Reus --> Tarragona -> Castellon -> Villareal

Reus is 66 miles south west of Barcelona, but don't head to Barcelona. Instead, head to Reus train station.

To get there, take a taxi from outside the terminal. It's six miles, but due to busy traffic, will take about half an hour and cost about e16. Or get the bus direct to the train station from outside the terminal.

Then get the train to Tarragona. The service leaves every 20 minutes and takes 15 minutes, costing e1.40 on Regional Express.

From Tarragona, you can get the train to Castellon. It takes just short of three hours on the Regional Express service, which costs e12.25 each way, or one hour 20 minutes on the Euromed, which costs e27.90 each way.

Getting from Castellon to Villareal

The coach will drop you off in Castellon at Avenida Perez Galdos. Walking to the train station would take more than an hour, so it's easier to jump in a taxi, which will take about 10 minutes and cost e15.

Villareal is about four miles south east of Castellon.

The train takes four minutes and services run at short intervals through the day. It is anticipated that there will be trains put on after the game back to Castellon as they were last time United played there.

It takes 20 minutes in a taxi from Castellon to Villareal and costs about e30.

In Villareal

The train station is on Calle Estacion. Walk straight ahead and keep going up and you'll reach the main square, Plaza Mayor, which is most likely to be the meeting point for reds.
Bars are spread evenly around the city and there is another square with a few bars just in front of the stadium, which is a 15-minute walk from the centre.
To get there, go north – away from the train station – up Calle de Trullenc, turn right onto Av de Italia and then left onto Calle de Miral Camp.