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hi guys

having worked out our route to the final after hopefully topping our group, we have booked england camp for the semi final stage so I will be coming to achern in the coming days

Gotta question for you; how easy is it to get to see england train and their place in baden baden??

You say that their hotel is clearly visible from the spot so would we be able to get up there in our car to see the 15 minutes that the media are allowed to see??

cheers lads- cant wait to get out there- these updates have been keeping me sane though

Paul - have you actually been to Englandcamp?

We were booked into Englandcamp for a week but only stayed 3 nights (two if you include a night sleeping in frankfurt bahnhof!!) We could not wait to leave the place.

Upon our return to pack up our stuff and leave we noticed that englandcamp had blown up not one but two paddling pools. To call it a swimmingpool would be as misleading as the info on the englandcamp website.

Luckily we drove so were able to find a nice campsite with grass and a lake, and decent shower and toilet facilities all for 5 euros a night. The beer was 2 euros for a pint. Compare this to £25 a night and a beer costing 4 euros and the mind boggles as to where you are getting any value from englandcamp. The campsites we found all contained englandfans, half of whom had been to englandcamp and turned back upon first site!!!

Well done Dave - I'm reasonably cheerful too - hope still to be so after the game tonight..

The England Camp scam has to be the biggest fraud since the Iraqi National Lottery started!

Andy Glover - We went to England's team hotel this morning.

Needless to say we did not get through the gate, but it is easily reached from England Camp. I assume that you would be able to watch any public training sessions no problem providing you arrived early enough.

Luke - no question the people at England Camp have had a very long two weeks.

The actual campsite has now been moved to a grassy area and things seem to be running a bit more smoothly.

It definitely is not everyone's cup of tea but I guess for those that want to be around plenty of fellow England fans it ticks a box. Plenty of people we spoke to had really enjoyed it, but I guess that those who didn't find it to their taste did not stick around!

Why spend any time in the camps anyway? We went to a camp near Frankfurt and only slept and washed in it. The rest of the time we were in Frankfurt meeting the locals and generally drinking and eating! Gte a grip and get out into the world!

''You say that their hotel is clearly visible from the spot so would we be able to get up there in our car to see the 15 minutes that the media are allowed to see??''

The hotel is visible (from the distance only!) because it's situated at an altitude of 800 metres on the edge of the mountains that overlook the Rhine valley, close to the Schwarzwaldhochstraße tourist road (B 500), but separated from it by a private road.

The training ground is a 10 km drive from the hotel in the valley below, close to the town of Bühlertal, but just like the hotel it's a remote facility surrounded by forests and protected by security guards.


The local public (or a selection of 250 of their youth) have been allowed to attend the training on one occasion only. Those 15 minutes are for the accredited press exclusively. I don't know if Englandcamp has any special arrangements to get closer to the English team (I doubt it). You're more likely to meet some English players or their WAGs on a stroll through Baden-Baden.

''it has to be said that a camp exclusively for England fans could be seen as missing the idea that a World Cup brings together people of different nations mixing together and making friends.''

My main gripe with the idea of Englandcamp is that they're creating a jungle camp where there's no jungle. There already exist many decent camping sites in the region (one has been housing an English colony for some years), there are hotels, youth hostels, and bed and breakfast places (look out for "Zimmer frei" signs). Recent surveys have shown that generally prices were not increased for the current event.

After several weeks of eager anticipation I could not wait to arrive at England Camp for my stag do. Having crossed the English channel late one evening and driven through the night I was looking forward to a lush grassy campsite with maybe a river or some other quaint rural setting near Baden Baden. As dawn approached and we turned off the highway just 10 miles before Achern the mountains could be seen emerging from the earth and promising a wonderfull backdrop. The route brought us further through a delightful little German town and some small villages before placing us in view of a recently excavated and tamped hardcore compound overlain with sand and surrounded by a temporary metal perimiter fence. Stunned we learnt we had arrived at England Camp, someone joked it looked more like Camp Delta. We ended up staying for 3 days (instead of a week), made several excursions to lift our spirits and made the most it in true British fashion. If you want a campsite go elsewhere, if you can stick a car-park then carry on and the German beer will carry you through.

Thanks Paul for providing news on English camp.
It will be very good for the players if they could be in Stutgard for their second round match after being the top position in the group. The environment looks very good from your description and having a swimming pool in the camp has some benefits that the players can enjoy. Hopefully England will have a good time in Germany.

Thanks Paul for providing news on English camp.
It will be very good for the players if they could be in Stutgard for their second round match after being the top position in the group. The environment looks very good from your description and having a swimming pool in the camp has some benefits that the players can enjoy. Hopefully England will have a good time in Germany.

Hello I'm a woman from Achern and I have to say: I'm awfully sorry. This isn´t the world of friends. In the local newspaper we could see a picture from the camp taken by a helicopter. I am ashamed of having this camp nearby Achern. Sad! I think, they want only the money from the English fans. Nearby there are other local campingplaces (Achern, Bühl-Oberbruch (campingplatz adam)) with lakes and grass... please have a look at them. This part of Germany is so nice and wonderfull, the weather is nice and you have to tast the local speciality Flammkuchen, please enjoy your stay here in Germany!

I have just returned from the England camp, and the woman from Achern (post above) is totally right, the area is an absolutely tremendous, lovely place...

As for the camp, I think a lot of people were disappointed because when booking it, the website seemed to make it out as so much more than it actually was... I had this picture of a mini Glastonbury going on, but when we turned up the inevitable comparisons with Guantanamo Bay were made, plus we were already p****d off about some very vague directions which ended up costing us 50 euros in a taxi from Baden Baden.

We were there for 10 days in total, (£9 a night on the Sun offer) and the camp looked 100% better when we left, they really did work hard, and it was a great laugh, we met loads of awesome people. However, there were problems, particularly the distances to some of the cities, and the rip off food and beer served by rude Poles who, one morning, gave me a "sausage baguette" for 5 euros with a raw sausage... if you must eat there go round the back of the camp behind the screen, great little bar/cafe thing, really nice folks as well!

We often preferred to make the 20 minute stroll into town to eat in the numerous great cafes and restaurants (check out the screen in the town garden there, especially during brazil or germany games!), and using the camp as a base to visit places like stuttgart, strasbourg, baden baden, (don't miss the lake either)and we had a great time! good to be back on a mattress though...

Hello lads

I booked to go to england camp for a week also and i only stayed 2 nights, it was terrible, if it wasnt for the good weather we would have went home the same day. If you have booked to go try and get you money back, its a SCAM, you might aswell park up on the nearest gravel car park you see. Theres no electric for those of you taking a caravan and its 7 euros for 1 kebab. The day i left they were having what looked like 20 tonne if concrete mix which was meant to be sand??? Not trying to spoil it for you im just trying to save you a lot of time and travelling because its a long way down south. Hope you all enjoy it anyway.

p.s after those 2 days Germany was absolutely fantastic, i stayed in nuremberg and went to the trinidad v england game, even if you havnt got tickets you will enjoy every minuite.

Where is everyone staying for the QFinal?

I´m a German and living next to the Camp. It´s was a very kindly that you was our guest. That the promised things were not there...keep in mind that this was organized from a UK guy. Thanks you very much that you were in Achern.
It was a time to make friends - and I found a lot when we were dancing on house music....

I could not wait to go to Germany to support England and was doubtful that I would find any accomodation, that was until i stumbled over the article in the Sun newspaper claiming that there was an England Camp in Archen near the team in Baden-Baden. The advertisement sounded wicked, so booked up asap thinking that the "5000 pitches" would be taken up. What a joke when i arrived there! what a HUGE dissapointment!
I can not believe this camp was supported by the Sun...and matalan!did any of their reps even think to check this place out? I just hope the bad experiences of England Camp will not put off people visiting other parts of Germany...the ppl are friendly..food is great..... the ppl at England camp... money grabbing jokers! oh and they are very sneaky too cause they had no pictures of the site anywhere..so u had to pay and turn up without seeing what you had paid for! well done guys, classic scam!

completely agree with all of you.my friends & I were there from june 9th for ten days,from the pictures in the paper and on tha website it had grass for starters,shade,family area and plenty of toilets & shower facilities.This is far from the truth,the site was on top of a demolished building layered with something more like crushed bricks,not sand,the weather was not the reason why we couldnt pitch up as it has rained since & you still cant pitch.there was no shade,no family area and god knows what would have happened if they had their estimated 5000 because you had to queue for them.buses to games were definatly not free,the fee varied depending on demand,lowest we were told was 30e. however we made the most of a bad situation,we went elsewhere during the day,the site with the lake was good,met the players & wags.not a bad word to say about the entertainment though,this was worth the 9 quid a night.

Im advised this morning that the Camp is Closed - All of the sponsors Virgin & Sun etc have pulled out. I am assured that we will get a full refund over next few days! - Little consolation for us travelling to Baden Baden on Monday! - any ideas where to camp, we arrive by plane!.

I stayed two nights at the England camp and it was a first class crap hole !!!!
The shower and toliet facilities were disgusting...In no way did i expect luxury but these weren`t fit to be used by humans...
Saying that the English being what we are made it a fantastic time..
Achern and the surrounds are beautiful....The locals are fantastic,some of the most friendly people I have ever meet...watched a game in a local park with a large screen,despite the fact we were the only English people could not have been more friendly.
Achern,Germany and it`s people are wonderful and I will hopefully return one day !!!!

A quick note to say, refunds were given as promised!. We found nice b&b in Baden for 25 Euro night (same cost as camping!!), fantastic - took the tent, but didn't use it! - still.........enjoyed the atmosphere - Well done Germany !