Eurovision host city
So you may be thinking that Eurovision is something that only happens every May, but September is a very exciting month in the Eurovision calendar. That's because the Eurovision Host city is announced! Come on already! So you might be thinking you can’t plan anything yet, Well you would be wrong! Here’s a bit of prep you can be doing while we await…
Italy 2022…
For those of you new to Eurovision, the host country is always whoever won it previously. Italy won Eurovision 2021, so Eurovision 2022 is being held in Italy. Then whoever wins Eurovision 2022 will host Eurovision 2023.
But choosing the Eurovision host city isn't as simple as just picking the capital. There is actually quite a bit of criteria which needs to be considered first. I don't want this to become a business proposal document, but it's things like; is there a suitable place for the Euro Village, can the location deal with the number of tourists, artists, press AND all the support crew? The latter was a major factor for Eurovision 2021, as Amsterdam was already struggling to cope with the number of tourists and when all the Eurovision host city bids were considered, Rotterdam was chosen.
Yep, I've not heard of a lot of these places either! This is why I think going to Eurovision is SUCH an underrated travel event! You get to research, visit, experience all these places you may not otherwise travel to. I feel quite passionately about this! I would have NEVER chosen to visit Tel Aviv and it has turned out to be one of my favourite cities, favourite holidays and all round best experiences...
Anywhosy, more on that in my other posts!...
After all the criteria have been considered, there are final five that have been shortlisted as Eurovision candidate city:-
Pesaro
Turin
Milan
Bologna
Rimini
It's like X Factor and these are the places which have made it through to boot camp!
And so now we just …..wait....
But there is some preparation you can do.
Follow Eurovision accounts on social media
and temporarily turn notifications on. This way you get alerted as soon as the candidate city is announced. Ok, so you get a lot of other notifications too. It's somebody's birthday who represented Eurovision once (and usually from before I was born too), but it's worth it! I follow these accounts on the gram:-
Research where will Eurovision 2022 be held?
Now here's a little tip for you. .. (oh my I'm giving away my secrets here eeek) When you know the final Eurovision candidate cities, start researching potential travel plans. My friends and I start an airbnb board for each of the shortlisted cities and save potential locations within our budget. We travel as a group of friends so multiple bedrooms and bathrooms are a must for us! In the Eurovision host city bid, each city will usually detail which stadium the shows will be held in as well as the potential village location. This means you can choose well located Airbnb’s. If you have well researched locations saved, as soon as you get the alert that the Eurovision host city has been chosen, you can book straight away!
Flights!
Also start thinking about flights. Which of the candidate cities can you get to and from where? On which days do carriers fly to the different cities? Can you turn sales alerts on for the low cost carriers?
The dates
Now there is still one unknown - and that’s the date of Eurovision. It usually falls on one of two weekends in May. Booking flights and airbnbs depends on when carriers fly to certain cities and what shows you are able to get tickets to.
This is tricky and I have no hack for this! Sometimes dates are leaked, which is why tip 1 is important!
I hope you found these tips useful! And that it’s helped you to prepare for the Eurovision host city announcement!
xXx
You might also like these other posts about Eurovision
Co’ee!
I’m Natalie, I share travel tips & advice and thoughts on how to live a happy & fabulous life
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