7 of the world’s most spectacular sporting venues, from Europe’s highest football pitch to the longest golf course, in China
- Boasting scenery that matches the action they host, these jaw-dropping venues are worth a visit for their backdrops alone
- On the list: a 2,000m-high football pitch, a Himalayan golf course, a Unesco-recognised Italian town centre, and the world’s most prestigious Formula One race
Attending football matches during my childhood in England was a rough and ready experience. Dad frequently took me to dreary towns, where stadiums were hemmed in by rows of decaying Victorian-era terrace houses.
Cigarette smoke mixed with the whiff of sweat and asbestos dust, and you could smell the stench of the toilets long before you got anywhere near the entry turnstiles.
Fortunately, not all sporting theatres are as dilapidated and dismal as those I visited in the 1970s. Here are seven venues where the jaw-dropping scenery rivals the intensity of the contest.
1. Ottmar Hitzfeld Arena, Switzerland
If only dad had been a diehard fan of FC Gspon, in the Swiss Mountain League. We would have watched our football at the sublimely scenic Ottmar Hitzfeld Arena, Europe’s highest, at 2,000 metres (6,651 feet) above sea level.
Cable cars transport players and spectators to the pitch and nets are fitted to stop balls disappearing down the mountainside – although club officials reckon they’ve still managed to lose 1,000 footballs over the past 20 years.
Heavy snowfall puts an end to the season in October and the village of Gspon transforms into a ski resort.
2. Galle International Stadium, Sri Lanka
There are plenty of breathtakingly beautiful cricket grounds around the globe.
The West Indies is home to a number of spectacularly sited, palm-fringed venues and the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, in Dharamshala, India, boasts Himalayan vistas. The Dalai Lama lives just down the road. But Galle International Stadium, in Sri Lanka, gets my vote.
Fans can either pay a few rupees to watch the action from the stands or, better still, they can head up onto the ramparts of the Portuguese- and Dutch-built, Unesco-designated Galle Fort, from where there are commanding views of the match in one direction and the churning Indian Ocean in the other.
The 2004 tsunami took a severe toll on Galle and reduced the picturesque ground to rubble in seconds. The global cricket community were quick to put hands in pockets, however, and funds were soon raised to rebuild the much-loved venue.
3. Jade Dragon Snow Mountain Golf Club, China
At the eastern end of the Himalayas, the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain Golf Club, in Lijiang, in China’s Yunnan province, looks like it was CGI generated. The 7,816-metre course is the world’s longest and, at 3,100 metres above sea level, the second highest.
The fairways nestle in a valley overlooked by towering peaks and the air is so thin that oxygen masks are provided in the golf carts. And nearby Lijiang is a Unesco World Heritage site.
The city’s cobbled streets, lined with wooden shophouses, distinctive Naxi minority architecture and serene landscapes, deserve at least a day or two of exploration. And with Jade Dragon Snow Mountain still serving as an imposing backdrop, tourists gather to photograph Moon-Embracing Pavilion and Suocui Bridge at Black Dragon Pool.
4. Shandur Pass, Pakistan
Every summer, teams travel from the Pakistani districts of Gilgit and Chitral to compete against each other at the Shandur Polo Festival. The tournament, which has been contested every year since 1936, takes place on the world’s highest polo field – the 3,700-metre Shandur Pass.
For much of the year, the lofty location is home only to grazing yaks but for three days in July, the “Roof of the World” becomes one of the most strikingly beautiful sporting venues on Earth.
The part-time playing surface is flanked by formidable mountains, rolling hills and verdant meadows. Shandur Lake sparkles in the sunshine, the sky is the bluest of blues and the tangy Himalayan air energises competitors and onlookers alike.
5. Piazza del Campo, Siena, Italy
Ten jockeys, each representing a city district, ride bareback around an Italian town square three times in a race that’s all over in about 90 seconds. Il Palio is run twice a year (July 2 and August 16) at the Piazza del Campo, in Siena, Tuscany.
The world’s oldest horse race dates from the Middle Ages and is a serious business.
Tempers flare, fist fights aren’t unusual and the drugging of rival horses has been known. But it’s the gorgeous Unesco World Heritage setting that makes the event so special.
The town square is surrounded by medieval buildings, including the Palazzo Pubblico (city hall), the magnificent Fonte Gaia fountain and the Torre del Mangia, a tower with panoramic views.
The perimeter of the piazza is lined with seats and barriers which create a racecourse that slopes downward to form an amphitheatre – ideal for watching the blink-and-you-miss-it battle.
6. Alpe d’Huez, France
Part bicycle race, part promotional video for the French tourist office, the Tour de France combines carefully choreographed helicopter footage with sporting endeavour. Lingering images of sunflower fields are interspersed with shots of snowy peaks, chateaux and lakes.
Le Tour doesn’t do industrial estates but the organisers are rather partial to mountain stages, of which the most spectacular is Alpe d’Huez.
Riders ascend more than 1,100 metres, zigzagging ever higher as they negotiate steep switchbacks. Hairpin seven, known as Dutch Corner, is a meeting place for thousands of raucous orange-clad Netherlanders but it’s the mesmerising Alpine vistas that steal the show.
Perched on a hill, the photogenic Saint-Ferréol d’Huez church provides a sense of serenity that contrasts with the roadside commotion. As soon as the cycling circus has passed and the crowds have dispersed, lace up your hiking boots and discover the beauty of the French Alps.
7. Monaco Grand Prix, Monaco
From France we move to the principality next door and the thrills and spills of motor racing. The annual Monaco Grand Prix, which takes place in May, is the most prestigious weekend in the Formula One calendar and one of the few sporting events where the VIP spectators are even more famous than the drivers.
The city streets serve as a racetrack that runs alongside the glistening Mediterranean Sea and fans watch the action from any vantage point they can find (or afford). Cars zip past marinas full of glamorous vessels and casinos crammed with high rollers.
Above the city, the Alpes-Maritimes mountain range offers a craggy, windswept contrast to the luxury and opulence below.
