Eurovision accommodation – Booking early before the winner is even known

For most fans attending the Eurovision Song Contest in any given year, one of the most expensive aspects of their planned trip is the accommodation in the host city.

If you are not fortunate enough to have family or friends who reside nearby, then trying to arrange accommodation for Eurovision can be a costly and time-consuming exercise.

Many fans attending this year’s contest in Basel have arranged accommodation in nearby Germany & France due to the much higher prices and shortage of accommodation in Switzerland.

This is further exacerbated by accommodation providers in a Eurovision host city raising their prices by at least double or triple when their city receives the news that their bid has been successful in hosting the Eurovision Song Contest.

So, what is one way to try and circumvent this issue?

Let’s have a look at what many savvy Eurofans do with their accommodation planning for the following year (usually booking for the 3rd week in May), even before a winner is known!!!

Accommodation Lottery

While the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest was taking place in Malmö, Sweden, Eurofans were playing the accommodation lottery in that apart from trying to predict the winner of the actual contest, at the same time they were anticipating that if their country pick won, where would the 2025 contest be held?

There were several people who predicted Nemo from Switzerland would win and that there would be a strong chance that Nemo’s hometown of Basel would be the next host city for Eurovision in 2025.

With most accommodation providers offering fully refundable bookings, this enabled Eurofans with foresight to pick up some great accommodation deals in and around Basel during the 3rd week of May for a fraction of the price of what was on offer from when they were announced as the host city.

Possible host cities based on Eurovision favourites

To be considered as a host city that wants to bid for Eurovision, they need to deliver on many requirements. Access to major airports is one, an arena of 10,000 capacity is another, and the promise to deliver at least 2,000 hotel rooms to delegations and sponsors arriving for the event is another.

As rehearsals and semi-finals for the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest are commencing shortly, based on some of the favourites to win, here are some possible cities that may host the 2026 contest.

As the contest due to its popularity with live audiences has expanded to large arenas, some of these cities which previously hosted would be incapable or not have the infrastructure in place to do so.

Sweden

On current odds, Sweden is the hot favourite to win Eurovision in 2025. So, if KAJ win with their fun and catchy song Bara bada bastu, which city may hold the 2026 contest?

There have been 3 cities in Sweden that have hosted Eurovision:

• Stockholm: 1975, 2000 & 2016

• Malmö: 1992, 2013 & 2024

• Gothenburg: 1985

Many are already predicting Stockholm to be the host city if Sweden win in Basel, especially as Malmö only just recently held the contest.

Austria

JJ from Austria is currently the 2nd favourite to win with his operatic song Wasted Love.

There has only been the one city in Austria that has hosted Eurovision:

• Vienna: 1967 & 2015 

The only other possibilities for Austria to host in 2026 may be as follows:

• Graz

• Innsbruck

France

Louane from France is currently the 3rd favourite to win with her beautiful ballad Maman,

France has hosted Eurovision on 3 occasions:

• Cannes: 1959 & 1961

• Paris: 1978

If the 2026 contest was not held in Paris and with Cannes no longer being an option, there are many other cities in France with large indoor arena capabilities such as:

• Lille

• Lyon

• Montpellier

• Strasbourg

Finland

Erika Vikman from Finland is one of the fan favourites for Basel with her banger Ich Komme.

Finland has hosted the Eurovision Song Contest on 1 occasion.

• Helsinki: 2007

There are a few other host city options for Finland:

• Tampere

• Turku

Tampere is probably one of the favoured options outside Helsinki, being Erika Vikman’s hometown and having recently hosted UMK, in what has highly regarded as one of the best Eurovision national song selection contests for 2025.

Netherlands

Claude from Netherlands is currently high in the odds to win with his song C'est la vie.

Netherlands has hosted Eurovision on 5 occasions:

• Hilversum: 1958

• Amsterdam: 1970

• The Hague: 1976 & 1980

• Rotterdam: 2021

The favoured options for 2026 if Netherlands were to win would be Amsterdam or Rotterdam.

Other possible host cities

There are a number of countries participating in Eurovision in 2025 that have never hosted the song contest and many of these primarily have the one main city which would be strongly favoured to host in 2026 if they won.

Some examples as follows:

• Albania:  Tirana

• Czechia:  Prague

• Malta:  Valletta

Have any of you already booked your Eurovision accommodation for 2026, or will you be waiting until the host city is announced?

We wish you luck in your accommodation lottery!!!

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