Away days: Southampton
With the Swans heading to Southampton on Saturday, we bring you a fan's guide to St Mary's to help your matchday experience.
Southampton v Swansea City
Saturday, August 10 (3pm kick-off)
Address: The St Mary's Stadium, Britannia Road, Southampton, SO14 5FP
Telephone: 0845 688 9448
Website: www.saintsfc.co.uk
What's it like? Up to 3,400 away fans are in the Northam Stand at one end of the stadium; the view of the pitch and facilities are excellent and the area is spacious. The concourse has a bookies and televisions showing the game as it is played. It has a number of eating and drinking outlets.
Hotels: Hotels in the city centre include two Ibis hotels, a Novotel, Jury's Premier Inn, Holiday Inn, Mercure and many more chain and independent hotels and bed and breakfasts.
Pubs and grub: Yates on Above Bar Street (SO14 7FH) is on the way from central station. For ale pubs, park in St Denys and try a few pubs and walk along the boardwalk by the river to the stadium.
The city centre has plenty of pubs to choose from - 'The Prince of Wales' (SO14 0QF) and 'The Rockstone' (SO14 0JL) are options. 'Sadler's Brewhouse & Barbecue' (SO15 2AJ) has dozens of beers from its brewery in the West Midlands, and serves American BBQ food and is an easy 20-minute walk to the ground.
Ocean Village (SO14 3TJ) also has a lot of friendly drinking holes including The Admiral Sir Lucius Curtis, a Wetherspoons.
There's a good mix of home and away fans in the 'The Standing Order' (SO14 2DF) - another Wetherspoons - in the city centre, but sometimes they only allow home fans in. The stadium is a 20-minute walk away.
A small pub, the 'Chapel Arms' (SO14 5GB), is a five-minute walk from the stadium. Although mainly a 'home' pub you'll be okay if you arrive early or have colours covered. To find it, go to the corner of the stadium that has the Saints Superstore on it and walk towards the city centre along the road that runs beside the river - the pub on your right.
'The Joshua Tree' (SO14 5QN) is a 5-10 minute walk from the ground. It is good for both home and away fans and is one of the closest to the away coaches in Britannia Road on the local industrial estate.
A pub that's reopened is 'The 'King Alfred' (SO14 0PD). It's a few minutes walk from the stadium - go towards the railway line to the right of the away end and go over the railway bridge.
Parking: There's no parking at the stadium for away fans while there are parking restrictions close by. Most fans head for the city centre car parks and walk 15-20 minutes to the stadium. The NCP city centre car park is £5.
After the game, roads around the city centre are grid locked, taking an hour to get away. Alternatively, park around the Marina area (Ocean Village) - £1 an hour and a ten-minute walk to the ground.
It's good at the end of the game as you avoid the city centre gridlock by going along the coast on the A3024 onto the M271/M27.
At Woolston - the other side of the Itchen Toll Bridge, which costs 60p - there is plenty of street parking, and it's a 15-20 minute walk from to the ground over the toll bridge. To find it, leave the M27 at J8 following the A3025 for 10 minutes to Woolston.
There's a free public car park on Oakbank Road at the junction of Bridge Road and Oakbank Road just south of the Woolston side of the Itchen Bridge.
By train: The stadium is 1.5 miles from Southampton station (large car parks there), and takes 30 minutes to walk.
There are signs to direct fans to the ground. A shuttle bus goes from Blechynden Terrace bus stop outside the station.
Trains leave Swansea at 7.29am, 8.29am and 9.29am for the three-and-a-half hour journey. Trains coming back are at 5.10pm, 6.10pm, 7.10pm and 8.10pm.
