Brazil is famed for its football and with 2014 being the 20th World Cup, you can sure that it is going to be an event not to be missed.  But what are options for people wanting to make the journey over to South America for the tournament?

Well firstly, become acquainted with the host cities – usually there are only 8-10, but because of the sheer size of the country FIFA made an exception for this tournament, allowing 12.  At a meeting in Nassau in May 2009, the FIFA Executive Committee confirmed that the host cities would be Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Cuiabá, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaus, Natal, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and São Paulo.  The Maracanã stadium in Rio de Janeiro will host the final match and there are already plans underway to completely renovate the stadium, allowing for a massive 90,000 football fans to experience the tension and exhilaration of a World Cup final.

Secondly, be prepared to pay.  It’s a fact that even if you cannot get your hands on a match ticket (and remember, we don’t even know who will be participating yet!) you can still have a great time simply soaking up the World Cup atmosphere, but so will the thousands of other revellers and football supporters who trek across the world.  Knowing this, hotels, guesthouses and hostels will be booked up months in advance and hiking up their costs accordingly, knowing that people will be prepared to splash out on accommodation even vaguely near to the stadiums.

There are numerous companies offering sports event travel packages, but be sure to read the small print very carefully, so you know exactly how much, and for what, you are paying for.  For example, some may include flights, accommodation and match tickets, whilst others may just be hotel costs.  Check if your package includes transport to and from stadiums, or if you have to pay an extra supplement for this.  Bear in mind that if you are several miles away from a stadium and have to order a taxi, chances are so will several thousand other spectators.  You don’t want to be sat anxiously waiting for your driver to show when the starting whistle blows. 

Another option is house-swapping/private renting.  This is a growing phenomenon, where people who live in houses close to stadiums transform their abodes into ‘world cup accommodation’, which essentially means renting out their house at an extortionate rate.  A somewhat less upfront, but potentially cheaper (and definitely cheekier!), way of guaranteeing a place to stay during the World Cup is to befriend a Brazilian and arrange your visit to coincide with one of the largest sporting events in the world, in the hope of landing a sofa to crash on.  Mercenary, or necessary?  We’ll let you be the judge of that… 

As it happens, most hotels and tour operators are not yet taking bookings to the host cities over the World Cup period.  They are also highly unlikely to offer money off discounts, simply because with the area being in such high demand during this time they can guarantee being fully booked, even at increased prices.