Arsenal fans face huge price rises for travel to final

Arsenal fans are facing a 10-fold increase in flight and hotel costs to travel to Budapest for the club’s first Champions League final in 20 years. The Gunners, who beat Atlético Madrid earlier this week, will now take on defending champions Paris Saint-Germain on May 30 in a match to crown the best team in Europe.

Declan Rice, who captained the team during the winning match, called for 200,000 fans to support the team in the Hungarian capital, a number that far exceeds the 61,400 capacity set for the game at the Puskás Aréna, which will host Uefa’s flagship event.

Airline prices to fly the day before the game from London to Budapest on Wizz Air have reached as high as £650, more than 10 times the fare normally offered by the Hungarian budget carrier. Wizz Air has promised to double capacity ahead of the event, operating eight flights from Luton and Gatwick on May 29 and another six on May 30.

 Outbound Wizz Air flights shot up to £646.99 earlier this week, according to pricing from the airline’s own website. On Friday, an outbound trip from Gatwick departing on May 29 was available for £276.99 and the same price on the way back on May 31. By contrast, fares next week start at just £47. The cheapest Easy Jet return on the same day costs £850.98 — a similar journey a week later costs £238.48. A basic return on Ryanair costs £1,234.74 on Friday afternoon.

Alternative routes include flying into Vienna and travelling by train to Budapest or taking a coach from London with a changeover in Frankfurt and a journey time of 29 hours and 40 minutes. Arsenal fan James, who works in media, told the Financial Times: “I held out for ages thinking, ‘I’m not going to jinx it’, and on Tuesday I got flights that were expensive enough to be fully flexible.” He added: “It’s only the second time in my life we’ve made a final. My son has never forgiven me for not taking him to Paris in 2006. It’s a 20-year promise to him fulfilled.”

Accommodation is also under strain. On Booking.com, the cheapest overnight hotel room in Budapest for the night of the final was £1,200. Hotels in Budapest have been “essentially sold out” for the dates of the Champions League final for the past two months, as fans took the risk of pre-booking rooms, according to Lighthouse Intelligence, which tracks demand and pricing for hotels and short-term rentals.

For the small number of rooms that have re-entered the market — either owing to cancellations or hotels releasing additional rooms — the average price has soared to €690, well above the €146 reported in May 2025, said Lighthouse. Arsenal, owned by US tycoon Stan Kroenke, have received 16,824 tickets at the Puskás Aréna, ranging between €70 and €950.

Juan Delgado, chief executive of Footballco, which owns Goal.com, told the Pink ‘Un the emotion tied to such a big occasion was driving demand. “You will obviously have loads of people from the UK and London who are going to want to go but then you’ve got people in Hong Kong, New York City, São Paulo who are diehard fans,” he told the leading business paper. “They’re like, ‘Oh my God, this is my only chance to go and watch my team play in the Champions League final’.” Arsenal lost its first and only Champions League final against Barcelona in 2006.

I remember going to Budapest when the Communists were still in power and on my arrival I used an agency that found me a room with a family.   I had a bad cough and the landlady produced a phrase book but instead of ‘Where can I find a doctor?’ I somehow selected ‘Take me to the local district secretary of the Communist Party.'