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The 2026 World Cup — the first World Cup to ever be joint-hosted by three countries (USA–Mexico–Canada), will see the U.S. host 60 games in 11 stadiums across the country between June 8 and July 3 of that summer. It’s going to be nuts.
WE GOT NEXT
The men's FIFA World Cup in 2026 can't come soon enough ⏳ pic.twitter.com/3TyNn9P8hq— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) December 18, 2022
This will be the second time the United States hosts the World Cup competition.
Although there are about as many venues in U.S. tourist attracting cities for the competition than you can ask for, there’s been a growing dissatisfaction with one particular thing about the choosing of the venues in such a large country.
The key difference between 2022 and 2026 World Cup
In the 2022 World Cup, Qatar built eight stadiums in the city of Doha to create a jam-packed soccer experience for fans who — if they wished to do so — could attend multiple games on the same day. The farthest distance between stadiums was around 40 miles.
A map of the visualized capacity of 2022 FIFA World Cup stadiums. Except for Lusail and Al Bayt Stadium, most of the stadiums have a capacity of around 40,000 people. The stadiums are located on the outskirt of Doha and are connected by highways and the metro.#map #qatar #qgis pic.twitter.com/RAkLpFSU3P
— Grant Huang (@yanchen00) December 10, 2022
Dissimilar to Qatar, the stadiums for the upcoming World Cup were not built solely for the tournament, and considering the U.S. is one of the largest countries in the world, the distance between venues will make a tremendous jump from those in 2022. For the 2026 World Cup, the closest distance between stadiums will be 95 miles. Get ready to travel, soccer fans.
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Long distance travel, more accommodations and larger expenditures — some of soccer fans' concerns for the upcoming tournament.
Yet, even when these might be seen as a hassle for most, we at The18 would like to believe that this is a perfect opportunity to take advantage of the disadvantages that this World Cup will bring as opposed to 2022.
In light of the distances between venues and games for the tournament, we offer fans who plan on attending the World Cup in 2026 a fun and unique way to get the most out of the return of the tournament to the U.S. since 1994: road-tripping!
The locations of the 11 venues in the U.S. will allow for the planning of three different road trip routes that will take you to three or more matches in multiple states and with numerous tourist locations in between and along the trip.
World Cup 2026 Host Cities pic.twitter.com/Ita7FLPBBZ
— Barstool Football (@StoolFootball) December 12, 2022
You can choose to rent and pack the classic American road tripping RV with your family and friends, or solo-adventure into what will be the biggest World Cup (48 teams) in history. You will be able to enjoy all the World Cup all while having the opportunity to visit America’s most widely-renowned cities and tourist attractions.
Now, without further ado, here are the best U.S. cities to start a road trip at for the 2026 World Cup.
Best U.S road trip routes/cities for the 2026 World Cup
Los Angeles–San Francisco–Seattle
Perhaps the most beautiful and best sight-seeing, but longer route on this list.
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This road trip route will have you start out attending a game at either Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium (rumored to host the opening match) or Seattle’s Lumen Field, two of the most beautiful sports venues in the country.
The total travel distance between each end point will be 1,185 miles (about a 17-hour drive) with San Francisco’s Levi’s Stadium as your second stadium destination of the trip.
The distance between Seattle and San Francisco will be 835 miles (about a 13-hour drive), whereas the distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco will be 350 miles (about a 6-hour drive).
What’s there to visit?
Driving through basically the entire west coast will have you travel along the beautiful greens of the upper west coast between Oregon and Washington, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and with a vast pool of tourist attraction locations in the city of Los Angeles.
Philadelphia–New York–Boston
The closest distance between stadiums in the World Cup.
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This road trip will see you start out attending a game at either Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field or Boston’s Gillete Stadium, two stadiums built in the 21st century.
The total travel distance of the trip and between each end point will be 305 miles (about a 5-hour drive) with New York’s MetLife Stadium as your second stadium destination of the trip.
The distance between Boston and New York will be 210 miles (about a 4-hour drive), whereas the distance between Philadelphia and New York will be 95 miles (about a 1-hour-and-30-min drive).
What’s there to visit?
This road trip route takes you to cities that have an abundance of tourist attractions. Traveling through the upper northeast will give you the opportunity to visit the Boston National Historical Park, bounce around New York through the Statue of Liberty, Times Square and Empire State Building and learn a bit more about the history of the country in Philadelphia with the Franklin Institute, the Liberty Bell or the Independence National Historical Park.
Houston–Dallas–Kansas City
Not the best of the three road trip routes, but it’ll work.
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This road trip will see you start out attending a game at either Houston’s NRG Stadium or Kansas City’s Arrowhead stadium (one of the oldest venues of the World Cup).
The total travel distance of the trip and between each end point will be 760 miles (about a 12-hour drive) with Dallas’ AT&T Stadium as your second stadium destination of the trip.
The distance between Houston and Dallas will be 240 miles (about a 4-hour drive), whereas the distance between Kansas City and Dallas will be 520 miles (about an 8-hour drive).
What’s there to visit?
Traveling through the spine Texas and Missouri will offer more than just soccer games. You will be able to visit the Houston Zoo, Space Center and Museum of Natural Science, Dallas’ World Aquarium and Arboretum and Botanical Garden, and Kansas City’s National WWI Museum and Memorial or The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
