Wales v England in Lens

Just looking for some help and advise.

I alongside my lad have booked to go to France for the duration of the euros. We have got a cottage booked in the Dordoyne near Bordeaux and Toulouse (that keeps our other halves happy happy) We were looking to get the train up to Lens on match day and back on the next day. My problem is that trying to book a hotel that night in that area is like trying to knit fog.

I just wondered if anyone had any leads on accommodation or camping etc

We are staying in Lille. Which looks like the place with a lot more hotels etc as not many games are there. Apart from the Saturday following the England game when Russia play. And the Sunday with the Swiss v France. But we'll have left by then.

And also I'm glad we aren't staying in Lens. I think there will be just too much chaos.

Then I'm going to book: http://www.thetrainline-europe.com/plan/lens(f)-to-lille-flandres?departDate=2016-06-16&departTime=morning&returnDate=2016-06-16&returnTime=16-26&earlierJourneys=false&earlierReturnJourneys=false

It's coming up with lens to lille instead of the otherway for some reason on that ^

When they're available as you can't book that far in advance atm.

It's 30 minutes direct on the train. Which is nothing. Then the return to Lille later on in the night by the same train.

Many Thanks Blue, that was an option I had not thought about.

I've also booked my hotel in Lille which is just about 17 miles from Lens. I didn't even bother looking in Lens as I knew it was a very small place.

The question I would pose that there are no trains out of Lens until the morning after the match, I am looking to get to Lens by train from south/central france, the exit out of Lens looks like a massive issue, I would be happy to book some thing outside Lens but getting there from Lens looks like a crazy issue. What a tit of a place to host a massive match at 9pm KO

It's 2pm kick off mate. We are staying in Valenciennes which is a bit further away than Lille.

The question I would pose that there are no trains out of Lens until the morning after the match, I am looking to get to Lens by train from south/central france, the exit out of Lens looks like a massive issue, I would be happy to book some thing outside Lens but getting there from Lens looks like a crazy issue. What a tit of a place to host a massive match at 9pm KO

I looked on that link I put earlier and there are trains going from Lens to Lille up 9pm ish. But the later it gets the more chance it is of it not being direct. Some are an hour with 1 change.

It's 2pm kick off mate. We are staying in Valenciennes which is a bit further away than Lille.

We are also staying in Valenciennes 5 of us

I'll be there for this one, it's going to be a cracking atmosphere.

The question I would pose that there are no trains out of Lens until the morning after the match, I am looking to get to Lens by train from south/central france, the exit out of Lens looks like a massive issue, I would be happy to book some thing outside Lens but getting there from Lens looks like a crazy issue. What a tit of a place to host a massive match at 9pm KO

Actually its a 3pm kick off French time. You'll do well to get up from the Dordogne in the morning. If your closer to Bordeaux then maybe but its nearly 4 hours into Paris, across Paris then just over an hour to Lens. From Toulouse its 6 hrs plus to Paris so you'll struggle to do it. I'm staying in Paris the night before and after the England game. The ground is 15 minute walk from the station but getting on the trains could be the tricky part. I'll be leaving for Toulouse as early as I can on the Friday as Sweden are playing Italy there that afternoon.

The question I would pose that there are no trains out of Lens until the morning after the match, I am looking to get to Lens by train from south/central france, the exit out of Lens looks like a massive issue, I would be happy to book some thing outside Lens but getting there from Lens looks like a crazy issue. What a tit of a place to host a massive match at 9pm KO

there are no trains out of lens after the game?????

The question I would pose that there are no trains out of Lens until the morning after the match, I am looking to get to Lens by train from south/central france, the exit out of Lens looks like a massive issue, I would be happy to book some thing outside Lens but getting there from Lens looks like a crazy issue. What a tit of a place to host a massive match at 9pm KO

there are no trains out of lens after the game?????

Of course there are. The game finishes before 5pm. Train tickets in France aren't normally on sale until 3 months before although tickets have now been released for limited services. I think you can book the 7 o'clock train back to Paris at the moment but other services aren't yet available.