Date: June 29th to July 12th 2020
Flights
There are plenty of companies that offer Wimbledon package deals which include flights, accommodation and tickets but, if you’re prepared to put some work in yourself, you can organise it all to suit your needs and save some cash as well.
Wimbledon is located between London Gatwick and London Heathrow airports. It takes similar time to reach SW19 from both airports so your decision will most likely be based on air fares. Gatwick is generally the cheaper of the two options with Ryanair (currently there are flights most days during the tournament for €26.99), while Aer Lingus and British Airways also fly to Gatwick as well as Heathrow and London City Airport.
London City is the best located airport to fly into and, given that it’s much smaller than Gatwick or Heathrow, it’s much quicker to get through on landing. Currently there are direct flights during the tournament for as little as €35 with Aer Lingus or British Airways.
Getting to Wimbledon
If you’re coming from Gatwick the Gatwick Express train will have you in Victoria Station in 35 minutes. From there you can switch to the District Line on the underground, making sure to get it in the direction of Wimbledon. Southfields, which is two stops before Wimbledon, is in fact that closest stop to the All England Club. From there it’s about a 10-minute walk and from the Wimbledon stop it’s about 15 minutes but there are also shuttle buses from both.
From Heathrow it is a similar situation. The Heathrow Express will drop you at Paddington Station and from there you switch to the District Line. If you’re coming from terminal four or five you can also catch the Piccadilly line on the underground, getting off at Earl’s Court and switching to the District line.
From London City Airport you can take the docklands light railway to Bank Station. From there it’s a two-minute walk to Cannon Street Station where you will find the District line heading to Southfields and Wimbledon.
Getting tickets
Now comes the tricky part. There are plenty of ways to get Wimbledon tickets but none of them offer any guarantees. The first option is the public ballot but at this stage you’re already too late for that as it closed in November. But fear not, there are other options.
It is possible to nab last-minute tickets on Ticketmaster but you will have to be quick. Each day during the Championships, a few hundred returned tickets are released for Centre Court and Court 3 48 hours before the day of play while there are also tickets released for the same courts on the morning of play.
Your final option is the famous queue. Fans will camp outside the grounds for days to get into the queue at gate three which begins at 6am. There are usually about 500 show court tickets available via the queue meaning that, if you’re towards the top, you will get a wristband which then entitles you to buy Court 1 tickets for as little as £10 (€12) once you get into the grounds and you have paid the entrance fee which varies between £8 (€9) and £25 (€29) depending on the day.
For those a little farther back in the queue there are a few thousand ground passes available to buy at the turnstiles which entitle the user to unreserved seating and standing at Courts 3-18 as well as a place – if you can find one – on Murray Mound/Henman Hill where you can watch the centre court action.
Ticket resale websites and hospitality packages are also an option but be prepared to shell out a serious wedge if you go down that route.
Accommodation
Wimbledon is not the cheapest part of London which, overall, is not the cheapest city around so expect to shell out for a hotel, particularly as it is the height of the summer. If you’re looking for a budget option there are the likes of Holiday Inn, Premier Inn and Travelodge located near the All England Club but if you want to see more of London itself you’d be better staying further north towards the city centre. The area around Fulham and Chelsea sits between the city centre and Wimbledon and has plenty of hotels.
– This article is part of a series of consumer-based sports stories. If you have any queries, stories or issues regarding travel, tickets, sport on television or anything else you can email rcroke@irishtimes.com or via Twitter @Ruaidhri_Croke.
