The 10 best football away days ranked

Telegraph

18-06-2025

Whatever the marketing might say, the thing which makes British football special is not capital-P Passion or 'hilarious' terrace banter. It is travelling support which keeps the game vital in this country despite the escalating expense of everything associated with it. Following a team away costs more than ever but we still do it, in numbers unmatched by anywhere else in the world.
This is thanks to geography but also a reverence for the football awayday, which is all things to all supporters. A family-bonding car trip, a long test of patience via coach or a Bacchanalian odyssey via train. Whatever your approach, visiting a new stadium is a way to see towns and cities you otherwise would not. Each one is an adventure, both tribal and communal.
Where else can you experience the kinship of spotting an unexpected shirt in the liminal daze of a motorway services? You can ask the predictable 'who've you got today?' or simply nod in silence then find out by using the live score app on your phone. The possibilities are endless.
Most see new stadiums for the first time when travelling to watch their team, others are bitten by the groundhopping bug and begin consuming football for football's sake. Weekends are mapped out months in advance to take in a conveniently-timed Shrewsbury vs Portsmouth match which holds no real interest but will be another ground ticked off the list.
I am currently at 88 on a long quest to reach all 92 stadiums in the top four leagues. With apologies to my unvisited four of Barrow, nu Everton, Fleetwood, and Notts County these are my 10 favourite awaydays, each with a local(ish) honourable mention as an alternative.
10. Brighton and Hove Albion
It is an unavoidable mission to reach the Amex in Falmer and getting out is a challenge too, especially on the train. Fortunately the club have made good use of the area around the stadium, creating the sort of pop-up place which is tolerable for an hour waiting for crowds to die down. The stadium itself is a vast upgrade on most of what preceded it during the mass migrations of the 90s and 00s. And clearly you will be spending the majority of your visit sitting on deckchairs, becoming disorientated in The Lanes or taking moody photographs of the burnt-down pier.
Honourable mention: Bournemouth. Unspectacular stadium but similar coastal fun.
9. Lincoln City
The city is at its prettiest at the top of the appropriately-named Steep Hill, where you can start your day with a visit to Lincoln Cathedral, the tallest building in the world from 1311 to 1548. Pop to the castle opposite if you have time then work your way down to Sincil Bank. The stadium will not be winning any beauty contests but it is tough not to come away with a new place in your heart for the Imps.
Honourable mention: Grimsby Town. World-beating fish and chips and Blundell Park is nestled within residential streets, as football grounds should be.
8. Bradford City
From the train station you pass the Venetian gothic splendour of the town hall then one of the most visceral examples of a faded British high street. But never mind, because your route to the stadium takes you past several amenable pubs. Head to the City Gent for crazy-cheap pints in a listed former bank. Then Valley Parade, half monument to 90s hubris, half heritage site. And thanks to kind ticket prices, usually atmospheric. Curry galore afterwards.
Honourable mention: Barnsley. Town is no great shakes but view from high in the away end is joyous.
7. Nottingham Forest
No better time to visit The City Ground, where the current atmosphere is like a never-ending New Years' Eve party, without the ennui. Delightful Trentside walk to access and a rare chance to see both another league ground and a Test cricket venue en route. A huge day for owners of the I-Spy: Stadiums edition. Forest's is the best of the three, a great example of asymmetric magic, generating a sound few others can match.
Honourable mention: Chesterfield. Stadium merely a classier version of similar lower-league outskirts newbuilds at Colchester and Shrewsbury, but a fun and welcoming town around it.
6. Carlisle United
If living anywhere south of Manchester or east of York you face a trek to reach Brunton Park but once there you are rewarded with one of the country's great eccentric stands, the triple-triangled Warwick Road End. Plenty of charming ale-focussed places to drink, all of which will challenge your preconceptions about use of the sparkler on a dispensing tap. Currently ineligible for inclusion for 'the 92' after relegation from League Two. Do not let that put you off.
Honourable mention: Blackpool. Objectively nowhere near Carlisle but somewhere everyone should go once.
5. Huddersfield Town
Only rivalled by Wycombe Wanderers' Adams Park for beauty of surrounding woodland, but with the advantage of not being plonked at the end of an industrial park. The Alfred McAlpine-designed stadium with its swooped roofs is a reminder of the future we spurned for the identical bowls of Southampton, Reading, Leicester et al. Sad news earlier this year about the closure of Magic Rock Brewery, although there are plenty of other options in the town centre and few stations pubs can rival the The Head of Steam.
Honourable mention: Sheffield United. Central location, noisy and top-tier pubs.
4. Fulham
Much as it pains this QPR fan to admit, the most alluring trip in London. Walk by the Thames from Putney Bridge station, admire the beautiful houses, faint when you see how much they are listed for on Zoopla. Away end is unremarkable but they are famously welcoming to neutrals. Better start saving if you want to sit in the new Riverside stand. Actual cottage a huge plus too.
Honourable mention: Spurs, if you wish to see the best (only?) example in this country of how a huge stadium should operate. Millwall if you want an experience like no other in English football, and a trip down the Bermondsey Beer Mile.
3. Norwich City
Four lifetime visits to Carrow Road, all at different times of the year, each one on a sunny day. Coincidence? Not a chance. Picture Norwich City playing at home in your mind, is it raining? Is there even a cloud in the sky? Absolutely not. It's always sunny in Philadelphia Norwich. Apart from the factually shaky microclimate, you are visiting the country's most underrated city. Restaurants, cathedrals and covered markets for days. You can't go wrong with the pubs along the riverside either.
2. Bristol City
One of the great emerging culinary destinations of the UK and the undisputed capital for pubs and clubs which veer away from traditional pop or rock soundtracks to drum and bass. Much to see and learn down by the docks, then a walk over the Avon into Greville Smyth Park. Oh sorry, did you want some football too? Ashton Gate has been tastefully upgraded and packs an atmospheric punch when things are going well.
Honourable mention: A very similar experience available with a more basic/characterful stadium at Bristol Rovers. Plymouth Argyle is another worthwhile day in the south west. Especially when accessed by train on the South Devon main line, with its gorgeous coastal stretch from Exeter to Newton Abbot.
1. Newcastle United
No stadium dominates its city like St James' Park. No town has as many pubs to suit all tastes within 15 minutes' walk of the ground. The only small con is the number of stairs up to the away fans' section in the Leazes Stand. Climbing to the top can feel like taking part in a gruelling sponsored challenge and once there, if sat at the back, you may as well be watching from Sunderland. Any negativity melts away when you hear Mark Knopfler's Going Home (Theme From Local Hero). Will inevitably be modernised beyond recognition or knocked down entirely within the next decade, so experience it while you can.
Honourable mention: Middlesbrough, always a warm welcome and always a treat to eat a parmo.