Tournament
Road to Berlin - Group D
By
Jan 3, 2005, 19:08

D1 - Mexico
Group matches	Last 16	Quarter-final	Semi-final	Final
Nuremberg	Nuremberg	Gelsenkirchen	Munich
Hanover	Route as winners above, as runners-up below			Berlin
Gelsenkirchen	Leipzig	Berlin	Dortmund
Hanover, in a fairly northern central location, and Gelsenkirchen in the Ruhrgebiet are not too far apart (150 miles), while it's 330 and 300 miles respectively from Hanover and Gelsenkirchen down south to Nuremberg. With potential later games back in Nuremberg and in 'nearby' Munich (100 miles away), plus good Air Berlin links to all of the other grounds (using Dortmund airport for Gelsenkirchen), the Bavarian town could make a good base.  Second-best is probably the Gelsenkirchen / Dortmund area (20 miles apart).

Where to stay
Use the grid below to link direct to hotels, motels, hostels and self-catering holiday homes in and near to these venues.

Click 'GO' for availability. Click here for key to city codes..
 

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Y. Hostels

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D2 - Iran
Group matches	Last 16	Quarter-final	Semi-final	Final
Nuremberg	Nuremberg	Gelsenkirchen	Munich
Frankfurt	Route as winners above, as runners-up below			Berlin
Leipzig	Leipzig	Berlin	Dortmund
Compared to some, a relatively compact grouping of venues for the group games, with none further north than halfway up the country.  It's under 150 miles from Frankfurt (towards the west of the country) to Nuremberg (south east-ish) and another across 160 to Leipzig (further east). Nuremberg is therefore best placed as a group stage base, and not bad either for a last 16 game in the city or other games in Leipzig and Munich (100 miles away).  If your team comes second and goes all the way, then Leipzig too would work out well (115 miles to Berlin).  Frankfurt, despite its good transport links, is a little too far west to be an ideal base for this set of games.

Up to accommodation links

D3 - Angola
Group matches	Last 16	Quarter-final	Semi-final	Final
Cologne	Nuremberg	Gelsenkirchen	Munich
Hanover	Route as winners above, as runners-up below			Berlin
Leipzig	Leipzig	Berlin	Dortmund
None of the three group venues are particularly close together, but at least there are no trips at this stage to venues at the extremes of the country like Hamburg, Berlin or Munich.  Cologne is in the north west, Hanover central north and Leipzig in the east.  It's around 150 miles from Cologne to Hanover, and another 180 on to Leipzig. For the group stage, therefore, Hanover looks like the best base.  For the later games, Leipzig would work out well if your team comes second in the group (it's 100 miles from Leipzig to Berlin), while Cologne is always a nice place to stay and has good transport connections to all other parts of Germany - albeit it's the most western of any of the venues you'll be visiting.

Up to accommodation links

D4 - Portugal
Group matches	Last 16	Quarter-final	Semi-final	Final
Cologne	Nuremberg	Gelsenkirchen	Munich
Frankfurt	Route as winners above, as runners-up below			Berlin
Gelsenkirchen	Leipzig	Berlin	Dortmund
This one's easy - stay in Cologne!  It's just 60 miles to Gelsenkirchen and about 100 to Frankfurt.  While Cologne would not be particularly close for later games in Nuremberg, Leipzig or Berlin, it would again work out well for the Gelsenkirchen quarter-final or the semi in Dortmund (also about 60 miles away). Second choice would be Frankfurt.  Not so good for the group games, but if you're confident of progressing it's better placed for some of the later games.

Up to accommodation links

Third-placed play-off: If you're bothered, it's in Stuttgart! Places you won't be going to! If your team is in group D, you won't be watching them in: Hamburg Kaiserslautern

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