In just 300 days the first matches of the 2010 World Cup will kick off in South Africa. The final teams have yet to be announced but many UK flights to South Africa are already being booked for the tournament. SkyScanner posted a useful article suggesting that flight prices are already on the increase for these key dates so you may wish to think about booking those flights as soon as you can.
There are ten stadiums playing host to World Cup football matches, detailed below. Until the final qualifications have taken place we won’t know where each team will be playing. However as there are only a few airlines flying directly to Cape Town or Johannesburg (the two international hubs) there is nothing stopping you from booking that part now.
The map below shows the South Africa stadiums and their nearest town or city.
Map courtesy of SA-Venues.com
We have added a list of the stadiums, plus the nearest airport (click on the link to visit the airport site)
Across South Africa
- Green Point Stadium, Cape Town – Cape Town International Airport
- Moses Mobhida Stadium, Durban- Durban International Airport
- Nelson Mandela Stadium, Port Elizabeth – Port Elizabeth Airport
- Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit – Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport
- Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein – Bloemfontein Airport
- Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane – Polkowane Airport
Around Johannesburg
- Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg – O.R. Tambo International Airport
- Soccer City, Johannesburg – O.R. Tambo International Airport
- Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria – - O.R. Tambo International Airport
- Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg – O.R. Tambo International Airport
Direct Flights to South Africa
Direct flights from the UK go to either Johannesburg or Cape Town. You can fly to Johannesburg directly with:
- British Airways GB
- flybmi.com
- Virgin Atlantic Airways
- South African Airways
- United Airlines (be careful, they don’t fly every day!)
- Emirates
Fly directly to Cape Town with:
You can fly indirectly with many airlines leaving from other UK airports stopping in locations including Amsterdam and Dubai. It is probably best to try a search with Opodo, Expedia or Ebookers.com to find the right flight.
South Africa Internal Flights
Once you have arrived you may wish to jump around the stadiums, depending on team schedules and events. There are seven domestic airlines:
- South African Airways
- Airlink
- South African Express
- Mango
- 1Time
- Kulula.com (operated by Comair)
- British Airways GB (operated by Comair, simply select your departure country as South Africa.)
According to the South African Tourist board,
The airlines operate varying routes; SAA, Airlink, Express and British Airways fly between the major cities and most of the smaller airports, while the budget-friendly carriers only operate on the routes between the major cities and Port Elizabeth, George, Lanseria and Nelspruit.
Don’t forget, hotels will be booking up soon – Opodo is showing no availability for hotels in Cape Town for June next year. You also may wish to read more from the South African Tourist Authority about planning for the World Cup. SA-Venues.com also has a lot of useful information for hotels which you can find here.
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See also the official 2010 microsite with latest news and information.
