GENK - Away Supporters Infor

[LeuvenClaret]

I just got this from the Genk Forums for travelling fans- Hope its useful! (Sorry if this has been posted before!)
Getting back to the station/town center could be a challenge!


[Europe] - Fan Guide for Visiting Fans (+Q&A)
Bericht door Blauwbeer » 30 sep 2016, 14:55

Welcome to Genk – Fan Guide for Visiting Fans

A big welcome from the Genk fans to all of you visiting our club. Travelling to support your team is one of the joys of European football. Over the years, fans from Madrid, Stuttgart, Basel, Cork, Lille, Athens, London & Rome have all visited Genk. The fans at www.blauwwit.be have decided to create this fan guide to make a visit to Genk as enjoyable as possible.

Getting to Genk
If you need to fly to reach Genk, you can choose between different airports. Maastricht airport (MST), Liège airport (LGG) and Eindhoven airport (EIN) are closest, but typically have limited flight options. You’ll probably have more options flying to Brussels (BRU) or Brussels-South (CRL), but don’t forget about Dusseldorf (DUS) or Dusseldorf-Weeze (NRN). Especially NRN and CRL have decent low-cost options – if you can fly to either of those it’s likely to be the cheapest option. On the other hand, BRU has the easiest public transport connection as you can just hop on a train to get closer to Genk (train tickets at www.belgianrail.be, when traveling by group please consider a Go-Pass or Rail-Pass). Trains from all other airports listed above are likely to be more complicated & expensive compared to BRU.

Brussels is also a hub for international high-speed rail, such as the Thalys and Eurostar. Fans coming from France or England might consider that option. For fans traveling in from Germany or further East, the German ICE-network runs into Belgium as well, with Brussels and Liège as possible stops. Genk has a train station, as does Hasselt.
Reaching Genk by car is very easy: Genk is right next to the E314 highway, which connects to Brussels in the west or Aachen in Germany in the east (both Brussels and Aachen are 45-55 min away). Genk has two exits on the E314 (Exits 31 & 32) and both exits are fairly close to the stadium. Visiting fans are encouraged to use Exit 31 and follow the stadium signage.

Staying in Genk
Genk itself has 65.000 inhabitants, but is also a city spread over multiple villages or ‘cités’, an urban spread that goes back to the mining history of the city. This means that the actual city center of Genk is slightly less developed compared to what you would expect from a city this size. Unfortunately, for visiting fans, this means somewhat limited options when it comes to hotels and bars. Bars of note in Genk are Bierpunt (large selection of Belgian beers), Wonderbar, Rootsbar, De Waerd, Camargue & Bar Bistro Boulevard. For larger groups Het Stadscafé would be recommended, they have a sizeable indoor area as well as a large outdoor seating area, right in the middle of the city centre (ie, good meeting point).

There are 5 hotels in the city centre of Genk:
- M-Hotel (****)
- Green Hotel (***)
- Hotel Ecu (***)
- Carbon Hotel (****)
- Hotel 't Hert (**)

Despite a limited bar & hotel offering, the food options in Genk are pretty good – because of the mining history of Genk there are Belgian, Greek, Italian & Turkish restaurants aplenty. Especially the Italian cuisine in Genk is top notch. Great Italian restaurants in the city centre include La Botte, Dante, La Dolce Vita, Peppe's and Pastabar G&G. Great Greek restaurants are Olympia, Orestis, El Greco (all three of them on the Hoevenzavellaan), Pyrgos, Corfu and O Geros. Great Belgian restaurants are Het Gerechtje, Peper en Zout, Grand Café Relaxy, The Thrill and Kristalijn.

Staying in Hasselt
An alternative to Genk is staying at larger cities such as Brussels or Maastricht, but don’t discount Hasselt. Even though the size of Hasselt is similar to Genk, the city center is much more developed - all within walking distance. Hasselt has a larger offer of hotels for example, with popular choices in the city centre being:
- Holiday Inn Express (***)
- Holiday Inn (****)
- Yup Hotel (**)
- Hassotel (***)
- Radisson Blu Hotel (****)

Furthermore, Hasselt also has a brand new hostel (Hostel H) for the budget traveler, located right next to the train station.
Hasselt also has a much more vibrant nightlife. From one of Belgium’s best know clubs (Versuz) to beer pubs such as De Egel or Hemelrijck, Hasselt has a lot to offer for one or more party nights. For larger groups of fans, meeting and gathering at the Dusart Square is advised. There are a couple of pubs next to eachother (Koestal, Export & Vangogh) with a combined outdoor seating area that can take hundreds of fans. You'll have Belgian beer, it's easy to meet up and great for singing or having a party.
Hasselt also has about 50 good restaurants & snack bars to choose from – covering cuisines around the world. For larger groups, the following restaurants are recommended: The Century, Goei Goesting, Nostalgia, the Hassotel restaurant & Buon Eatalia.

Getting to the stadium
One of the biggest challenges you’ll face as a visiting fan is actually getting to the Genk stadium (address: Stadionplein, Genk). There is almost no public transportation to speak of to and from the stadium, and walking from Genk city centre will take you over an hour. The club has addressed this by installing 5 bus lines to the stadium during almost all games (€3 bus ticket), but these lines comprise of just one bus. For example, for a 21h game, there will be one bus passing the Dusart Square in Hasselt at 19h30 you can grab. It will leave at the stadium again at 23h30, dropping you off at the same Dusart Square at midnight. More information on these bus lines can be found here http://www.krcgenk.be/nl/faq/1/bereikbaarheid (in Dutch).

Almost all Genk fans have organized their transport privately, either by car-pooling or by hiring bus coaches. Some visiting fans (eg those from Cork) have been known to hire a local bus coach themselves, to pick them up in Hasselt and return them after the game (cost per person is believed to be €15).
Some local bus coach companies:
• Jacobs Transport
• De Zigeuner Transport
• Kroon Reizen
• Heidebloem Autocars

For smaller groups, pre-arranging a taxi is strongly advised. The below companies typically also have minivans for groups up to 8 people. There is no Uber coverage in Genk, so please work with a local taxi company such as:
• Taxi V-cab
• Taxi Peters
• Taxi Midden-Limburg
• Axi Taxi
• Taxi HTM
• HGT Taxi

Beware, there are almost no pubs (or even buildings) around the stadium (De Kring, a pub, is in the vicinty of the stadium and the only notable exception to this), the Genk stadium is in a fairly remote location. Plan to be in the stadium for the game, but apart from the Goalmine museum and the club shop there is no reason to plan for any extra time in or around the grounds.

When larger groups of fans have visited Genk in the past (eg Stuttgart, Basel & Rapid Vienna), local law enforcement has decided to offer bus transportation from a central location to the stadium & back - for example from and to the Genk train station. It is unclear which rules apply to have this sort of free, organized bus transport kick in - it will be up to your club & fan federation to apply for this treatment.

At the stadium
The Genk stadium (which is currently called the CeGeKa-Arena under a sponsor agreement) officially holds 23.718 people. Maximum capacity for European games is slightly lower because the terraces behind the south goal are converted to a seating section. The stadium dates back to the former André Dumontstadion but has been completely rebuilt in different phases between 1999 and 2007. By Belgian standards, it is one of the nicest stadiums in the country.
The away section is behind the north goal and (for small amounts of traveling fans) only comprises Section AA, an all-seating area with a capacity of around 450 seats. For larger groups, the similarly sized Section A (right underneath Section AA) will also be made available. For very large groups, the away section can be expanded to also contain Corner Club 3&4, for a total away capacity of just under 1.500 seats. The size of the away section will depend on club negotiations. Ticket prices for this away section vary between €20 and €50 - KRC Genk has a policy of asking exactly the same amount to visitors as the prices Genk fans have to pay for their away game. Typically tickets for the away section can NOT be bought at the stadium but are sold exclusively through the visiting club.

A few words about mixing with the home fans. Typically, the Genk fans are friendly and will tolerate visiting fans in and around the stadium - especially when everyone behaves respectfully. Sadly, the tradition of 'mixing fans' is slowly disappearing in Belgium (most games in Belgium require police-escorted group travel and ban individual travel). In many cases travelling European fans will have some freedom on whether they want to mix with the home fans or not before or after the game, but local law enforcement will always default to fan separation. For example, if your fan federation is offered free bus travel to and from the stadium, these buses will typically drive into a totally secluded parking area behind the away section and you will be required to stay in this separate section before, during & after the game.

As of August 2016, the Genk stadium is officially smoke-free, although this is hardly enforced. The beer served at the stadium is typically the excellent Cristal beer (€2,20 for 30cl). In the stadium, free WiFi is available.

What to do in Genk/Hasselt
Obviously you’re coming over for a game of football and between the drinking, partying, cheering & (some) sleeping you might not have any ‘spare time’. If you do book additional days on your trip, the Belgian cities of Bruges, Antwerp, Brussels & Ghent are very popular choices, but they are also hours away. Instead, why not try something local?
For example C-Mine in Genk is a converted coalmine which acts as a culture & tourism hub for Genk. From exhibitions to guided tours and a real ‘C-Mine Expedition’, one can easily spend half a day here. C-Mine is about 4 kilometres from the stadium. The Genk stadium itself also has one specific and popular museum called Goalmine, showing the history of the club.
Hasselt itself is popular for shopping (from fashion to food) but when you’re with a bunch of blokes there might be one specific museum of interest, the Jenever Museum. Jenever is a juniper-based grain spirit and very typical for Hasselt. This museum will give you an overview of jenever distilling across centuries, and a chance to try out some different flavours. Apart from jenever, Hasselt is also known for fashion, and therefore the Hasselt Fashion Museum might also be worth a visit.
Between Hasselt and Genk, one can also find Bokrijk, Belgium's biggest open air museum (open from April to October). Bokrijk offers a unique view into life in the 18th & 19th century - and is one of the most visited attractions in Belgium.

Feel free to use this guide and post it on other fan forums, but please always credit the source as www.blauwwit.be. Blauwwit.be is the biggest unofficial Genk fan forum - visiting fans are always welcome here in case of questions.
De volgende gebruikers vinden dit bericht leuk:
Cash • thordurgudjonsson • Kanjer • Pepe Silvia • Bun • JohanB • KenKaniff • Namviet • cometolon • Robinopel en nog 49 gebruikers

[LeuvenClaret]

Forgot to say there are buses to the ground before the game but there are no or very limited buses on return, I have emailed Genk for more info.
De Lijn, is the bus company, if you wanted to check on their website.

I have organised a taxi from the ground after the game to the station, for a mini bus this was 45Euro, to give you an idea.

[Spike]

Forgot to say there are buses to the ground before the game but there are no or very limited buses on return, I have emailed Genk for more info.
De Lijn, is the bus company, if you wanted to check on their website.

I have organised a taxi from the ground after the game to the station, for a mini bus this was 45Euro, to give you an idea.

Is that 45 euro both ways and for how many ? Which company was this please?

Thanks for the info so far

[Devils_Advocate]

Good info and with the ground being so remote and lacking in public transport it might be worth those going to try and organise some sort of group transport like a minibus or a small coach to get them all to and from the ground

[LeuvenClaret]

Is that 45 euro both ways and for how many ? Which company was this please?

Thanks for the info so far

Thats one way for up to 8 people in a mini bus. V-Cab https://www.v-cab.be/