Getting to Linz for the football

Linz has its own airport, but it is small enough that most travelling fans will not use it: LNZ serves eight destinations in total, and the only UK route is a seasonal Ryanair service from Stansted running twice a week between August and October (FlightConnections), (FlightConnections). The realistic way in is Vienna, then the train, with the fastest services covering the 154 km in 1 hour 8 minutes (Trainline). At the Raiffeisen Arena the away sector holds 1,908 and sits in the north-east of the ground (FK Austria Wien), (Raiffeisen OÖ).

Fast facts

Getting there from the UK

Vienna is the answer for almost everyone. Four UK airports have direct flights to VIE: Heathrow, Stansted, Edinburgh and Manchester (FlightConnections). From the airport itself there is a direct train onward to Linz, so you never need to go into Vienna city centre: roughly 25 direct services a day cover the 169 km, the fastest in 1 hour 41 minutes, with advance fares from around £13 (Trainline).

The Stansted to Linz flight exists but is thin. It is a Ryanair service, twice weekly, about 1 hour 55 minutes in the air, and it only runs from August to October (FlightConnections), (FlightConnections). Check the days before you build a trip around it, because a midweek European tie will often fall on a day it does not fly.

Munich and Salzburg both work as alternative hubs if the fares fall right. Salzburg is the better of the two, at 1 hour 8 minutes to Linz on the fastest trains with around 64 services a day (Trainline). Munich is a longer haul, about 3 hours on the fastest direct train, of which there are roughly 16 a day (Trainline).

Flight prices swing hard with the date and how far ahead you book, so the fares above cover the ground leg only, which is the part that stays reasonably stable. Door-to-ground figures are estimates including airport time.

Getting into Linz: airports

Vienna (VIE) is the hub. Its own railway station sits under the terminal and puts you on a direct ÖBB Railjet to Linz Hauptbahnhof, roughly 25 direct trains a day, fastest 1 hour 41 minutes over 169 km, with WESTbahn and DB services on the same corridor (Trainline). If you would rather break the journey in Vienna, trains from the city itself are quicker still at 1 hour 8 minutes, with around 64 a day (Trainline).

Linz Blue Danube (LNZ) is at Hörsching, about 20 minutes from the city centre (Linz Tourism). Airport bus 601 runs to Linz Hauptbahnhof in about 22 minutes with no change, at €4.40 for an adult, €2.20 for children aged 6 to 15 (Linz Airport). There is also a rail option: Hörsching station is about 10 minutes by train from Linz, and the Postbus ROXI shuttle covers the last kilometre to the terminal for €4.50, booked by app or phone rather than turning up (Linz Airport). Unless you are already at Hörsching, the 601 is the simpler move.

From the station to the ground, and getting around

The Raiffeisen Arena sits about 3 km south-west of the Old Town and is reachable on public transport in 15 to 20 minutes (Football Ground Guide). From Linz Hauptbahnhof it is closer than that, and walking is a genuine option: about 15 minutes straight down Ziegeleistraße (Komoot).

If you would rather ride, several Linz AG bus lines serve the ground, including 17, 19, 26, 27, 45a and 46 (Komoot). Frequency is stepped up on home matchdays, and one lane of Ziegeleistraße from the main station is handed over to Linz Linien buses only, so the bus beats the traffic (meinbezirk). Services are boosted from the main station towards the "Stadion" stop on Ziegeleistraße, and from Taubenmarkt in the centre towards "Botanischer Garten" on the stadium forecourt side (LASK).

Your match ticket is your travel ticket. It covers Linz AG services free from five hours before kick-off until midnight (LASK). Outside that window, a short hop of up to four stops is €1.60, a longer single is €3.20, and a 24-hour ticket is €6.40, with up to four children aged 6 to 15 travelling free on the day ticket (Linz AG).

For everything else, the tram network is simple. All four city lines, 1, 2, 3 and 4, run through both Hauptbahnhof and Hauptplatz, so the station and the main square are a single ride apart (Wikipedia).

Driving is not worth it. LASK has no free parking around the arena, and the club points fans at five city-centre garages offering roughly 1,300 spaces at a discounted €3.20 for the whole stay (LASK). Fan buses and nine-seaters get Parkplatz Ost 1 at the ground itself (FK Austria Wien).

Where visiting fans stay

The Old Town around Hauptplatz is the base to aim for. It has the biggest concentration of pubs, restaurants and cafes in the city and sits on the tram network, and it beats staying out by the stadium, where there is nothing to do before or after (Football Ground Guide).

• In the centre: Motel One Linz-Hauptplatz, Leonardo Boutique Hotel Linz City Center, ARCOTEL Nike on the Danube and Hotel am Domplatz (Football Ground Guide).
• By the station, which puts you a 15-minute walk from the ground: Hotel Schillerpark Linz, Park Inn by Radisson Linz and Hotel Garni Wilder Mann (Football Ground Guide), (Komoot).
• Budget: B&B Hotel Linz City-Ost, Kolpinghaus and the Jugendgästehaus hostel (Football Ground Guide).

Linz is a small city with a modest hotel stock, and European nights fill it. Book as soon as the fixture is confirmed (Football Ground Guide).

Where to drink

Linz is not a cheap pint. A half-litre of draught domestic beer runs around €5.45, with most places between €5.00 and €5.80 (Numbeo). The drinking is split between the Old Town around Hauptplatz and the Landstraße shopping street that runs south towards the station, which is also the direction of the ground.

• Stiegl-Klosterhof, Landstraße 30, is the big one: 1,500 seats in a walled courtyard, the largest beer garden in Upper Austria and the third largest in the country, open every day of the year and served by trams 1 and 2 (Linz Journal), (Klosterhof).
• Josef, Landstraße 49 on the corner of Bismarckstraße, brews its own beer, sits right on a tram stop and is walk-in only, so go early or go elsewhere (Linz Journal).
• Promenadenhof, Promenade 39, is five minutes from Hauptplatz and seats 300 outside, a decent overflow when the Klosterhof is rammed (Linz Journal).
• The Old Dubliner, Hauptplatz 15-16, has been going since 1992 and pours Guinness and Kilkenny on draught alongside a long whiskey list. Be clear on one thing: it deliberately shows no sport and has no match TV. It opens 18:00 to 02:00 Monday to Saturday and is closed on Sundays (Old Dubliner).
• The Old Dubliner Sports Pub, at the same Hauptplatz address, is the one with Sky and DAZN, and its beer garden runs noon to midnight daily. It opened on 29 August 2026, so it is new (Sports Pub).
• Over the river in Urfahr, Biergartl an der Donau at Fischergasse 17 has eight taps and trained beer sommeliers if you want something better than a standard lager (Linz Journal).

Wherever you end up, remember the ground itself is a card-only venue, so a wallet full of euro coins will not help you inside (LASK).

Where to eat

Prices are middling by Austrian standards: about €15 for a meal in an inexpensive restaurant, around €70 for three courses for two in a mid-range place, and roughly €4 for a cappuccino (Numbeo).

• The Linzer Torte is the thing to eat here and the city is named on it. It is a shortcrust tart with ground hazelnuts, walnuts or almonds, filled with redcurrant, raspberry or apricot preserve under a lattice top, and it is cited as the oldest cake ever named after a place (Wikipedia).
• Jindrak has been making it since 1929 and has nine shops across Linz, so you are rarely more than a few streets from one (Jindrak).
• Stiegl-Klosterhof on Landstraße does brewery-restaurant food alongside the beer garden and is the easy default for a group before a game (Klosterhof).
• Josef on Landstraße pairs its own-brewed beer with a kitchen and is central enough to work either side of kick-off, though the walk-in-only policy means it is a gamble at peak times (Linz Journal).
• The Uferei terrace on Untere Donaulände is one of the better outdoor spots in the city if the weather holds, sitting on the Danube by the cultural quarter (Linz Journal).

What to do

Linz is a UNESCO City of Media Arts and packs a lot into a walkable centre (Linz Tourism).

• The Ars Electronica Center on the Danube is the standout: a museum of the future where you can train self-driving cars, program robots and process your own DNA, and its Deep Space 8K room throws images across a 16 by 9 metre wall. Open daily 10:00 to 17:00 (Linz Tourism).
• The Pöstlingbergbahn is the steepest adhesion railway in Europe and climbs from Hauptplatz to the Pöstlingberg in 20 minutes for the view back over the city. A return is €9, a single €5.40 (Linz Tourism).
• The Mariendom, or New Cathedral, is the largest church in Austria, consecrated in 1924. You can climb 395 steps to the tower gallery at 68 metres, and guided tours start at about €6 (Upper Austria).
• Mural Harbor is an open-air gallery of large-scale street art down in the industrial port, and the Lentos Art Museum sits on the Danube in the centre (Linz Tourism).
• The Schlossmuseum in Linz Castle and voestalpine Stahlwelt cover the local and industrial history respectively, and Donaupark with the Brucknerhaus is the riverside walk (Linz Tourism).
• LASK runs stadium tours of the Raiffeisen Arena taking in the ASK and Black-White stands, the media area, the tunnel and the benches. They last about 90 minutes, start at 16:30, and cost €22.90 for an adult, with dates released a month ahead through the club shop (LASK).

Inside the stadium and away allocation

The Raiffeisen Arena holds 19,080 in total and 17,117 for international matches, and it cost around €65 million, rising to roughly €85 million once the offices, training pitches and restaurant are counted (Wikipedia). It is rated UEFA Category 4, which is the top tier (LASK).

Do not follow an older guide to Pasching. LASK moved out of Linz to Pasching in 2016 after falling out with the city council, and only came back when this ground opened (Wikipedia). The arena stands on the Gugl, on the footprint of the Linzer Stadion that was built in 1952 and demolished in 2021 (Wikipedia), (Raiffeisen OÖ).

The away sector is in the north-east of the ground and holds 1,908 (Raiffeisen OÖ), (FK Austria Wien). There are eight entrances, E1 to E8, and E6 is the one that serves the guest section, which has its own kiosk (LASK). For a domestic Austrian Bundesliga fixture, away tickets have gone for €18 through the visiting club (FK Austria Wien). European allocations and prices are set between the clubs and UEFA, so buy through your own club rather than the resale market.

Opposite you is the noise. The ASK terrace behind the goal takes roughly 4,500 standing for domestic games, converting to about 3,000 seats when UEFA rules require an all-seater (LASK), (Raiffeisen OÖ). There is a fan zone on the forecourt between the stadium square and that terrace, which opens well before the gates (LASK).

Two practical points. The arena runs a cashless payment system, taking all major cards and phone payments, and it is a bottle-free zone using only reusable cups, with the deposit refunded automatically to the card you paid with (LASK), (LASK). For the opening fixture the fan zone opened three hours before kick-off and the stadium itself two hours before, which is a fair guide to timings (LASK).

Money and safety

Austria is in the EU, in Schengen and uses the euro. British citizens travel visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180-day period, but your passport must have been issued less than 10 years before you arrive and be valid for at least three months after you plan to leave. Austria now uses the EU Entry/Exit System, so expect to give fingerprints and a photo at the border at no cost (gov.uk).

Crime levels are generally low. Pickpocketing is the realistic risk, more common in city centres and parks after dark and on public transport and at major stations (gov.uk). Two rules catch travellers out: you must have easy access to your passport, and a UK driving licence is not accepted as ID; and you must validate a transport ticket, with fines of €100 to €500 for travelling without one (gov.uk). On a matchday your match ticket covers you, but only inside that five-hour-to-midnight window (LASK).

Penalties for illegal drugs are severe and include lengthy jail sentences (gov.uk). Take a contactless card for the ground, since cash is no use at the kiosks (LASK).

Common questions

Which airport should I fly to for LASK?

Vienna (VIE), from Heathrow, Stansted, Edinburgh or Manchester, then the direct train from the airport station to Linz, fastest 1 hour 41 minutes (FlightConnections), (Trainline). Linz has its own airport, but with eight destinations in total and a UK route that only runs twice a week from Stansted between August and October, it will rarely fit a fixture (FlightConnections).

How do you get from Vienna to Linz?

By train. Around 64 services a day run from Vienna to Linz, all direct, with the fastest at 1 hour 8 minutes over 154 km and advance fares from about £9. ÖBB, WESTbahn and DB all operate the route (Trainline). Coming straight off a flight, take the direct train from Vienna Airport instead and skip the city altogether (Trainline).

How do you get from Linz Hauptbahnhof to the stadium?

Walk it in about 15 minutes down Ziegeleistraße, or take one of the Linz AG buses serving the ground, which include lines 17, 19, 26, 27, 45a and 46 (Komoot). On matchdays the bus frequency from the main station is increased and a lane of Ziegeleistraße is reserved for Linz Linien buses (meinbezirk).

Does the match ticket give free transport?

Yes. Your match ticket covers Linz AG services free from five hours before kick-off until midnight (LASK). Outside that, a 24-hour ticket is €6.40 and a single long-distance fare is €3.20 (Linz AG).

Where do away fans sit?

In the guest sector in the north-east of the ground, which holds 1,908 and has its own kiosk. Entrance E6 is the one you want (Raiffeisen OÖ), (FK Austria Wien), (LASK).

How big is the away allocation?

The away sector holds 1,908, which is the ceiling (FK Austria Wien). What your club actually receives varies by competition and agreement, and for international matches the ground's capacity drops from 19,080 to 17,117 anyway (Wikipedia). Buy through your own club's official channel.

Isn't LASK's ground in Pasching?

Not any more. LASK moved to Pasching in 2016 after a falling-out with Linz city council, and returned to the city when the Raiffeisen Arena opened in February 2023 on the Gugl, the site of the old Linzer Stadion (Wikipedia), (Wikipedia). Older guides and some club listings still carry the Pasching address, so go by Ziegeleistraße 76a, 4020 Linz (Upper Austria guide).

Can I pay cash inside the ground?

Plan on no. The arena was built as a cashless venue taking all major cards and mobile payments, and it uses reusable cups with the deposit refunded straight back to the card you paid with (LASK), (LASK). Take a contactless card.

How much is a beer in Linz?

About €5.45 for a half-litre of draught domestic beer, with most places falling between €5.00 and €5.80 (Numbeo). A meal in an inexpensive restaurant is around €15. Prices are estimates and move over time.

Which pubs work for away fans?

Stiegl-Klosterhof at Landstraße 30 takes 1,500 in its beer garden and is the obvious spot for a large group (Linz Journal), (Klosterhof). On Hauptplatz, the Old Dubliner Sports Pub has Sky and DAZN and a beer garden open noon to midnight (Sports Pub). The original Old Dubliner next door is the better pub but shows no sport at all and is shut on Sundays (Old Dubliner).

Is Linz safe for away fans?

Broadly yes. The FCDO puts crime levels in Austria as generally low, with pickpocketing the main risk in city centres, on public transport and around major stations (gov.uk). Keep your passport accessible, since a UK driving licence is not accepted as ID, and always validate a transport ticket if your match ticket is not covering you.

Where should I stay?

The Old Town around Hauptplatz, for the pubs and the tram links, or by the Hauptbahnhof if you want to walk to the ground in 15 minutes (Football Ground Guide), (Komoot). Motel One Linz-Hauptplatz and ARCOTEL Nike cover the centre, Schillerpark and Park Inn cover the station. Book early, because Linz fills up on European nights.

Is it worth staying a second night?

Yes, if you can. The Ars Electronica Center alone justifies a morning, the Pöstlingbergbahn gets you the view over the city for €9 return, and the Mariendom is the largest church in Austria with a 68-metre tower gallery you can climb (Linz Tourism), (Linz Tourism), (Upper Austria).

Why are UK fans going to Linz?

LASK won the Austrian league and cup double in 2025-26, their first since 1965, and reached the Champions League league phase (Wikipedia). Liverpool are among the eight clubs they face, and that fixture is at LASK, in Linz (Liverpool FC).