how to fly to the champions league 2019 final on a budget

With both Spurs and Liverpool through to the Champions League final in Madrid on Saturday 1st June 2019, flights to the Spanish capital from the UK have sky rocketed:

Jesus wept.

Therefore, I’ve pulled together a load of different ways that you can get yourself over to the final for less.

If this helps you at all, feel free to help a gal out by giving me a follow on either YouTube, Instagram or Twitter and I promise even more top money saving tips when it comes to your future travel.

Right. ONWARDS!

I’m going to take you through five different options. Click on what you’re after to head straight to that section:

  1. The cheapest flights from London, Liverpool and Manchester that only require up to one day off
  2. The cheapest flights from London, Liverpool and Manchester if you can be flexible with your dates
  3. The cheapest flights leaving from alternative UK airports
  4. The cheapest flights to alternative Spanish airports
  5. WILDCARD – Do it yourself and fly from as little as £119 each way

Scenario One

THE CHEAPEST FLIGHTS FROM LONDON, LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER
(that only require up to one day off)

The headline here is that the only way you’re going to be able to pull this off for under £500 is to do a one stop flight.

For all of these one stop flights, I haven’t included any overnight waits but warning – there are some long layovers…

I didn’t say it was gonna be pretty.

From London
Fri 31st May – Sun 2nd June
£379

From London
Sat 1st June – Mon 3rd June
£284 (there’s also a flight with a 4 hour 55 min return for £349)

From Liverpool
Sat 1st May – Sun 2nd June
£504 (just nipped over from £499 this morning – genuinely this was the best deal I could find!!)

From Manchester
Sat 1st May – Mon 3rd June
£498 – Rising quickly – last night’s best price was £379 (though the flights included longer layovers).


Scenario Two

THE CHEAPEST FLIGHTS FROM LONDON, LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER
(if you can be flexible with your dates)

London – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Mon 3rd June – £812 (08/05 price £710)
Thurs 30th May – Tues 4th June – £379 (08/05 price £418)
Thurs 30th May – Weds 5th June – £287 (08/05 price £288)
Thurs 30th May – Thurs 6th June – £268 (08/05 price £291)
Weds 29th May – Mon 3rd June – £532 (08/05 price £465)
Weds 29th May – Tues 4th June – £156 (08/05 price £143)
Weds 29th May – Weds 5th June – £56 (08/05 price £63)

Liverpool – see details

Thurs 30th May – Mon 3rd June – £481 – 1 stop (08/05 price £437)
Thurs 30th May – Tues 4th June – £244 – 1 stop (08/05 price £303)
Thurs 30th May – Weds 5th June – £380 – 1 stop/direct (08/05 price £378)
Weds 29th May – Mon 3rd June – £355 – 1 stop (08/05 price £311)
Weds 29th May – Tues 4th June – £201 – 1 stop (08/05 price £194)
Weds 29th May – Weds 5th June – £618 – direct (08/05 price £588)
Weds 29th May – Weds 5th June – £265 – 1 stop/direct (08/05 price £252)

Next direct and cheap(ish!) flight is:
Mon 27th May – Mon 10th June – £371

Manchester – see details

Thurs 30th May – Mon 3rd June – £344 – 1 stop (08/05 price £475)
Thurs 30th May – Tues 4th June – £870 – direct (08/05 price £866)
Thurs 30th May – Tues 4th June – £320 – 1 stop (08/05 price £303)
Thurs 30th May – Weds 5th June – £240 – 1 stop/direct (08/05 price £231)
Weds 29th May – Mon 3rd June – £397 – 1 stop
Weds 29th May – Tues 4th June – £240 – 1 stop (08/05 price £223)
Weds 29th May – Weds 5th June – £153 – 1 stop/direct (08/05 price £146)
Weds 29th May – Thurs 6th June – £120 – 1 stop/direct

Next direct and cheap(ish!) flight is:
Tues 28th May – Thurs 6th June – £210

View this post on Instagram

Lots of fun recording a World Service doc in Madrid this week 🎤👤👂 Unfortunately didn’t get to see too much, but caught enough glimpses to persuade me to revisit in the future🤞 Here’s my thoughts: ✈️ Very cheap flights from the UK (mine were 30€ return booked 3 weeks ago) 🚇 40 min metro into the city centre – and only 3€ on top of your standard fare 💳 10 tickets for the metro work out at just 1,20€ each – very cheap for such an efficient and wide reaching service 🏠 One bed Airbnb apartment, 1 min from Bilbao metro, cost £62 a night and was really nice! Small room in a 3 star hotel was around the same price. 🍤 Great seafood – and great tapas too! So many restaurants to choose between with really affordable prices (shout-out to the lunchtime Menu Del Dia where I got paella, chicken, wine and pudding for 11€!!!) 🍷 Wine on most menus started around 3€ – and I wasn’t intentionally choosing cheap places 😊 Really relaxed vibe – found it more slow paced than Barcelona – and unlike other capital cities, locals are known for their friendliness! 🇪🇸 Speaking English is not a given. At all. But I see this as a perk. I really enjoyed trying out my VERY BASIC Spanish and everyone was so helpful, and we had a right laugh as they tried to teach me new phrases! ☀️ 13 degrees and blue skies in Jan? I will take that!! Have you been to Madrid? What did you reckon? Have my ‘glimpses’ steered me wrong?!! #travel #instatravel #travelgram #wanderlust #citybreak #cheapholiday #budgettravel #europe #madrid #spain #visitspain #visitmadrid #radio #producer #picoftheday

A post shared by Chelsea | Cheap Holiday Expert (@cheapholidayexp) on


Scenario Three

THE CHEAPEST FLIGHTS LEAVING FROM ALTERNATIVE AIRPORTS

Whilst flying from your nearest airport may be the most convenient, have you thought about travelling within the UK first to get the price down?

This is also one for those Liverpool and Spurs fans that don’t reside in London or Liverpool!

Now there were quite a few good deals to be found here but since Tottenham qualified, many have been snapped up – GODDAMIT!

FRIDAY 31ST MAY – SUNDAY 2ND JUNE

One stop
Bristol – £375 (includes overnight layover) (09/05 price £375)

FRIDAY 31ST MAY – MON 3RD JUNE

All one stop
Edinburgh – £335 (08/05 £364)
Southampton – £450 (08/05 price £417)
Bristol – £394 (08/05 price £383)

SATURDAY 1ST JUNE – MON 3RD JUNE

All one stop
Cardiff – £332
Birmingham – £358


Scenario Four


THE CHEAPEST DIRECT FLIGHTS TO ALTERNATIVE SPANISH AIRPORTS

VALENCIA

  • 1 hour 40 train from Valencia to Madrid – around £80 return for 1 adult
  • 3 hours 40 drive from Valencia to Madrid – car hire as cheap as £5 a day!

London to Valencia – All direct (these have FLOWN up since Spurs qualified)

Thurs 30th May – Sun 2nd June – £429 (08/05 £572)
Fri 31st May – Sun 2nd June – £586 (08/05 £797)
Fri 31st May – Mon 3rd June – £546 (08/05 £574)
Fri 31st May – Tues 4th June – £293 (08/05 price £396)
Sat 1st June – Sun 3rd June – £1118!!! (08/05 price £570)
Sat 1st June – Mon 3rd June – £637 (08/05 price £492)
Sat 1st June – Tues 4th June – £590 (08/05 price £314)

Liverpool to Valencia – One stop

Fri 31st May – Tues 3th Jun – £415 (cheaper option for overnight layover)

Manchester to Valencia – One stop

Fri 31st May – Fri 7th June – £289 (cheaper option for longer durations)

East Midlands to Valencia – Direct

Tues 28th May – Tues 4th June – £254 (08/05 price £136)

Bristol to Valencia – Direct

Fri 31st May – Mon 3rd June – £468 (08/05 price £466)
Fri 31st May – Fri 7th June – £254

Edinburgh to Valencia – Direct

Thurs 30th May – Tues 4th June – £185

BILBAO

  • 4 hours 10 min bus from Bilbao to Madrid – prices from around £50 return
  • 4 hours drive from Bilbao to Madrid – car hire as cheap as £7 a day!

London to Bilbao – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Sun 2nd June – £341 (08/05 price £452)
Fri 31st May – Sun 2nd June – £768 (08/05 price £761)
Fri 31st May – Mon 3rd June – £494 (08/05 price £358)
Fri 31st May – Tues 4th June – £255 (08/05 price £126)
Sat 1st June – Sun 3rd June – £516 (08/05 price £522)
Sat 1st June – Mon 3rd June – £494 (08/05 price £281)
Sat 1st June – Tues 4th June – £228 (08/05 price £79)

Manchester to Bilbao – All direct

Fri 31st May – Tues 4th June – £469 (08/05 price £485)

Bristol to Bilbao – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Sun 2nd June – £509 (08/05 price £474)
Thurs 30th May – Tues 4th June – £199 (08/05 price £170)

Edinburgh to Bilbao – All direct

Weds 29th May – Sun 2nd June – £260 (08/05 price £261)

BARCELONA

London to Barcelona – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Mon 3rd June – £273
Thurs 30th May – Tues 4th June – £143
Thurs 30th May – Weds 5th June – £81
Fri 31st May – Mon 3rd June – £320

Liverpool to Barcelona – All direct

Fri 31st May – Tues 4th June – £454

Manchester to Barcelona – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Mon 3rd June – £633
Thurs 30th May – Tues 4th June – £323
Thurs 30th May – Weds 5th June – £272
Fri 31st May – Mon 3rd June – £742
Fri 31st May – Tues 4th June – £431
Fri 31st May – Weds 5th June – £380

Birmingham to Barcelona – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Mon 3rd June – £599
Thurs 30th May – Tues 4th June – £341
Thurs 30th May – Weds 5th June – £261
Fri 31st May – Sun 2nd June – £531 (note that morning flight back!)
Fri 31st May – Mon 3rd June – £531

Bristol to Barcelona – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Mon 3rd June – £354
Thurs 30th May – Tues 4th June – £171
Fri 31st May – Mon 3rd June – £437
Fri 31st June – Tues 4th June – £254

Cardiff to Barcelona – All direct

Tues 28th May – Tues 4th June – £72

Glasgow to Barcelona – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Sun 2nd June – £268 (note that 1215 flight home!)
Thurs 30th May – Mon 3rd June – £227
Fri 31st May – Mon 3rd June – £315

East Midlands to Barcelona – one stop/one direct

Fri 31st May – Mon 3rd June – £364

Newcastle to Barcelona – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Sun 2nd June – £477
Thurs 30th May – Mon 3rd June – £336
Thurs 30th May – Tues 4th June – £167
Fri 31st May – Sun 2nd June – £551
Fri 31st May – Mon 3rd June – £410
Fri 31st May – Tues 4th June – £241

Edinburgh to Barcelona – All direct

Fri 31st May – Mon 3rd June – £351

SANTANDER

  • 4 hour 7 train from Santander to Madrid  – around £75 return for 1 adult (but they don’t run often so check those times!)
  • 5 hour drive from Santander to Madrid – car hire as cheap as £8 a day!

London to Santander – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Mon 3rd June – £280 (08/05 price £241)
Thurs 30th May – Tues 4th June – £121 (08/05 price £109)

Edinburgh to Santander – All direct

Weds 29th May – Sun 2nd June – £176 (08/05 price £150)
Weds 29th May – Sun 5th June – £107 (08/05 price £82)

SEVILLE

  • 2 hours 30 min train from Seville to Madrid for around £110 return
  • 5 hours drive – car hire from only £7 a day

London to Seville – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Mon 3rd Jun – £392
Thurs 30th May – Tues 4th Jun – £225
Fri 31st May – Mon 3rd Jun – £607
Fri 31st May – Tues 4th June – £344

Manchester to Seville – All direct

Weds 29th May – Mon 3rd June – £403
Weds 29th May – Weds 5th June – £225

Bristol to Seville – All direct

Tues 28th May – Tues 4th June – £54

East Midlands to Seville – All direct

Tues 28th May – Tues 4th June – £117

Edinburgh to Seville – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Mon 3rd June – £257
Thurs 30th May – Tues 4th June – £143

REUS

  • 6 hour overnight bus from Reus to Madrid and 7 hour bus back to Reus around £70 return (they don’t run often so check before booking)
  • 6 hour drive from Reus to Madrid – car hire as cheap as £17 a day!

London to Reus – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Sun 2nd June – £313 (08/05 price £313)
Thurs 30th May – Mon 3rd June – £339 (08/05 price £321)
Fri 31st May – Sun 2nd June – £419 (08/05 price £395)
Fri 31st May – Mon 3rd June – £364 (08/05 price £319)
Fri 31st May – Tues 4th June – £199 (08/05 price £174)

Manchester to Reus – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Tues 4th June – £292 (08/05 price £292)

East Midlands to Reus – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Sun 2nd June – £340 (08/05 price £311)
Thurs 30th May – Mon 3rd June – £336 (08/05 price £305)
Thurs 30th May – Tues 4th June – £158 (08/05 price £138)
Fri 31st May – Sun 2nd June – £428 (08/05 price £419)
Fri 31st May – Mon 3rd June – £364 (08/05 price £364)
Fri 31st May – Tues 4th June – £219 (08/05 price £239)

Birmingham to Reus – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Tues 4th June – £174 (08/05 price £174)

Glasgow to Reus – All direct

Fri 31st May – Tues 4th June – £206 (08/05 price £205)

Leeds to Reus – All direct

Fri 31st May – Tues 4th June – £255 (08/05 price £141)

MALAGA

  • 2 hours 45 mins train from Malaga to Madrid for around £116 return
  • 5 hour 20 min drive from Malaga to Madrid – car hire as cheap as £1 a day (erm, wtf lads?)

London to Malaga – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Tues 4th June – £146
Fri 31st May – Sun 2nd June – £456 (1100 flight – 2240 is £604)
Fri 31st May – Weds 5th June – £179

Liverpool to Malaga – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Sun 2nd June – £752 (1000 flight)

Manchester to Malaga – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Sun 2nd June – £605 (1050 flight – 2110 flight is £649)
Thurs 30th May – Mon 3rd June – £577
Thurs 30th May – Tues 4th June – £396

Birmingham to Malaga – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Mon 3rd June – £407
Fri 31st May – Sun 2nd June – £511 (1225 flight – 2120 is £680)

Southampton to Malaga – All direct

Fri 31st May – Weds 5th June – £280

Norwich to Malaga – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Mon 3rd June – £453

Leeds to Malaga – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Sun 2nd June – £468 (1205 flight – 2135 £563)
Thurs 30th May – Mon 3rd June – £448
Fri 31st May – Sun 2nd June – £523 (1205 flight – 2135 flight is £622)
Fri 31st May – Mon 3rd June – £473
Fri 31st May – Tues 4th June – £298

Glasgow to Malaga – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Sun 2nd June – £456
Thurs 30th May – Mon 3rd June – £324
Thurs 30th May – Tues 4th June – £187
Fri 31st May – Sun 2nd June – £422 (1325 flight – 2045 is £488)
Fri 31st May – Mon 3rd June – £354
Fri 31st May – Tues 4th June – £248

Exeter to Malaga – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Mon 3rd June – £196

Edinburgh to Malaga – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Sun 2nd June – £355
Thurs 30th May – Mon 3rd June – £235
Fri 31st May – Sun 2nd June – £435
Fri 31st May – Mon 3rd June – £315

East Midlands to Malaga – All direct

Fri 31st May – Mon 3rd June – £473

Bristol to Malaga – All direct

Thurs 30th May – Mon 3rd Jun – £275
Fri 31st May – Sun 2nd June – £399 (1210 flight – 2350 flight is £630)
Fri 31st May – Mon 3rd June – £369

Belfast to Malaga – All direct

Fri 31st May – Sun 2nd Jun – £440


Scenario Five

LASTLY – DO IT YOURSELF AND SAVE EVEN MORE

Okay, so for all of these I’ve done a standard ‘whack it in Skyscanner and hope’ jobby but actually, you can save even more if you have a little play around with these ‘one stop’ options yourself.

To do this:

  • Open a new browsing tab – we’re going to call this tab one – and go to Skyscanner and in ‘From’ type in your departure airport
  • Next, in ‘To’, write ‘Everywhere’
  • Select the date you’d like to travel to Madrid
  • This will bring up a list of countries in price order – leave this open
  • In a new tab – this will be referred to as tab two – again, go to Skyscanner but this time, write ‘Madrid’ underneath the ‘To’ box
  • In the ‘From’, you’re going to look back at that lovely list of cheap countries in tab one
  • For example, for London, my results show that flight to Germany start from £10 so I’m going to go back to tab two and enter ‘Germany’ as my departure country and hit search
  • Straight away it tells me that I can fly from Berlin to Madrid for £54 and from Hamburg to Madrid for £56 – pretty good – and so now I head back to my London list in tab one to see how much they’re coming up as
  • Hamburg is pretty pricey at £125 but Berlin is coming in at £44
  • Next, return to each of your tabs to inspect the flights you’ve found to see if they could work together
  • You want to check that they’re getting into the same airport and that you’ll have enough time to get on your connecting flight
  • Here’s what I found:

London to Berlin

Berlin to Madrid

From the above, I think the £80 LTN flight at 1325 and the £39 TXL flight work well. They both use the same airport – so no having to change – plus there’s more than enough time to make my connection. And at £119, it’s a pretty great price too.

This option simply does not come up on Skyscanner – or if it does, it gets lost in the results. In fact, these are the cheapest one stop options it comes up with:

Now, this was just my first try and so with this method, there’s huge potential to save even more money when booking your flights to the Champion’s League final in Madrid!

And remember – this way, you also don’t have to fly from and back into the same airport so check all the options to be in with a chance of bagging super cheap flights.

Good luck!


I hope this has helped you find a flight that works for both your budget and your schedule. If you end up booking something, let me know so I can holiday vicariously through you.

And if you’ve found this useful, give me a follow over on YouTube, Instagram and Twitter for even more cheap travel tips.


I have used affiliate links throughout this article. They don’t charge you more, but if you book through them you’ll be helping me to continue my cheap travel booking hobbies – and make me feel better about spending about 8 hours researching this!! For total transparency though, I’ll have you know that after 2 years, I still haven’t made enough money from affiliate links to actually withdraw anything 😂😂😂

2 thoughts on “how to fly to the champions league 2019 final on a budget”

  1. I am dying to go to the Champions league 2019 as I missed it last time as well because of a short budget. But this time I believe I can easily enjoy the champions league by following all these tips mentioned here!

    Like

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