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FIFA World Cup 2026 Travel Guide

The San Francisco Bay Area is set to play a prominent role in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, hosting six matches at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. Here’s what you need to know about why the region was chosen, how to get to the games, and tips for exploring the Bay Area in July.

SF has a rich soccer history, a diverse population, and world-class infrastructure. In 1994, the Bay Area was one of nine US host regions for the FIFA World Cup, with matches played at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto. The Bay Area’s international population, transit infrastructure, and longstanding soccer fan base earned it one of the 16 host-city slots. Soccer is also established in the region, as San Jose is home to the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer, and San Francisco’s new Golden City FC is set to begin playing in the MLS Next Pro league by 2027 in Golden Gate Park. Bay FC is the local women’s professional soccer team, currently building a training site on Treasure Island between San Francisco and Oakland.

If you’re attending a match in the area, come prepared for the city’s unpredictable summer weather. It’s often sweater weather all year long in SF thanks to the famous fog that can creep in off the ocean. In fact, the fog is so ubiquitous that it has its own name: Karl the Fog. According to the Bay Area National Weather Service, the average temperature in San Francisco for June through July 2025 was a chilly 57.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

All that is to say: don’t assume summer temperatures in summer. Check the weather forecast in San Francisco before you leave for the matches, even if it’s bright and sunny outside.

Here’s your guide for everything to know about the World Cup matches in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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• About Levi’s Stadium
• Tickets and matches
• Getting to San Francisco
• Getting around during the World Cup
• Details on the FIFA Fan Zone
• Hotels, soccer bars, and what else to do
• More about San Francisco

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Venue: Levi’s Stadium

Levi’s Stadium (which will officially be “San Francisco Bay Area Stadium” during the World Cup, per FIFA’s no-corporate-names policy), opened in 2014 and has been the home of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers for just over a decade. It took just over two years to complete at a cost of $1.27 billion. It seats around 68,500 fans for normal events but can expand to more than 71,000 for major events. It has a 27,000-square-foot green roof, solar panels, and water-saving systems and sits in the center of Silicon Valley.

Ahead of the dual hosting of Super Bowl LX in February 2026 and the World Cup that summer, the 49ers completed a two-year, $200 million renovation — fully privately funded by the team’s ownership — that added the largest 4K video boards in the NFL (70 percent larger than the previous screens, with four times the pixel count) and a new field-level hospitality space called The Elevate Club. It has also hosted the Copa América Centenario and the College Football Playoff National Championship. Worth noting for visitors: the stadium is in Santa Clara, roughly 45 miles south of San Francisco, so plan accordingly.

Fun fact: the stadium has a working rooftop farm, named “Faithful Farm” after the 49ers’ fanbase. Throughout the year, 40 rotating crops are grown and harvested for use in club-level dining at the stadium, including tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and edible flowers. It’s the first rooftop farm ever installed on an NFL stadium.

The San Francisco World Cup schedule

The San Francisco Bay Area will host six FIFA World Cup 2026 matches.

• Saturday, June 13: Group B — Qatar vs Switzerland
• Tuesday, June 16: Group J — Austria vs Jordan
• Friday, June 19: Group D — Türkiye vs Paraguay
• Monday, June 22: Group J — Jordan vs Algeria
• Thursday, June 25: Group D — Paraguay vs Australia
• Wednesday, July 1: Round of 32 — Winner Group D vs 3rd place team from B, E, F, I or J

Tickets are now sold first-come, first-served at FIFA.com/tickets, and the window stays open through the final on July 19. FIFA uses dynamic pricing, so prices fluctuate; check the official site for current rates and seat availability. Hospitality packages, which guarantee specific matches, are sold through On Location.

How to get to the San Francisco Bay Area

First-timers should know that the Bay Area is served by three major airports, and which one you choose matters. San Francisco International (SFO), Oakland International (OAK), and San José Mineta International (SJC) all serve the greater Bay Area. SFO is the largest and closest to downtown San Francisco at 13 miles south of the city, and is the main hub for most international arrivals from Europe, Asia, Latin America, and beyond. From SFO, you can take the BART (public transportation) to downtown in about 30 minutes, payable with Apple Pay and other tap-to-pay apps.

Oakland tends to be less congested but it’s farther from the city, and you have to transfer trains at Coliseum Station to get downtown.

Because Levi’s Stadium sits 45 miles south of San Francisco, fans with weeknight matches may prefer to stay in Santa Clara, San Jose, or Mountain View — closer to the stadium and the South Bay’s tech-corridor hotel inventory. SJC is the go-to for Silicon Valley and towns south of San Francisco, with faster check-ins and quieter terminals. It’s much closer to Santa Clara and the stadium, but tends to mostly accept shorter and domestic flights, so you’ll likely have to add a connection somewhere if that’s where you want to land. From the airport, a free shuttle bus connects to the nearby Santa Clara Caltrain station.

Getting around town during the World Cup

Levi’s Stadium is about 45 minutes south of San Francisco by car, depending on traffic. It’s almost always a better idea to try to get there on public transportation, even if it takes longer.

The first option is to take Caltrain to Mountain View Station (about an hour). At Mountain View, transfer to the VTA Light Rail’s Orange Line toward Alum Rock. Exit at the Great America Station next to Levi’s Stadium’s north entrance. The light rail segment takes about 35 minutes, but give yourself about two hours for the full trip, especially on match days when trains and platforms will be more crowded.

Alternatively, you can take BART to Millbrae Station or Milpitas Station, depending on where you’re staying, and connect to Caltrain or VTA Light Rail from there. From Milpitas, you can skip Caltrain entirely and take the VTA Orange Line directly to Great America Station, which is often the more straightforward option. The Bay Area Host Committee has announced there will be special game day shuttles and shuttles from area hotels, though the details have not yet been announced as of mid-March 2026.

Your best bet to get around San Francisco is often to walk, since many major neighborhoods sit within a 30-minute walk of each other. However, if that’s not your thing, you find four public transportation options: BART and the Muni (light rail and the city’s famous cable cars) in the immediate San Francisco area, and Caltrain and the VTA light rail for moving further out from the city. Uber, Lyft, and everything from scooter to moped shares are also available throughout SF and nearby cities.

For payment, use a Clipper Card, which works across Caltrain, BART, and VTA. You can use a physical card or buy one on the Clipper app.

The Official San Francisco Bay Area Fan Zones

the Bay Area chose distributed fan zones over a single mega-fest, with 30-plus free public viewing sites across the region — including major activations at Thrive City (Chase Center), China Basin Park (hosted by the SF Giants), the SF Pride Watch Party at Yerba Buena Lane, and an Opening Weekend celebration at San Pedro Square in San Jose. You can find the full list here.

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