Home of the mighty Christchurch Crusaders rugby team, and the spiritual heart of the city. The chance to take in a Super 14 match should not be passed up, and the quality of the rugby played is superb. Just don’t expect too much from the atmosphere – the Kiwis may be the Brazilians of rugby, but the resemblance ends there. The knights on horses riding around the pitch before the game are good hokey fun, but after that the supporters only really cheer when their team scores. Then again, that is fairly often...

Tickets: Usually available at the stadium, but can be bought online.
Website: www.jadestadium.co.nz
Telephone: (64-3) 3791765

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A vast, shambolic natural stadium. Or is it natural? It's an enormous hole in the ground, anyway, the scale of which can't possibly be appreciated from the outside. It's where Bradford so-called "Bulls" play. (Yuk! that's Bradford Northern to anyone with a sense of history).

Despite recent reductions in capcity and demolition of the terracing at one end, I can't recommend a visit to this unique place too highly. It was once (before the legislation which followed the disastrous fire at Valley Parade) officially rated as the biggest stadium in England and held a crowd of 107,000 in 1954, which was more than Wembley could take.

If you have no interest in rugby league, never mind - this place is worth seeing anyway. I doubt if any professional sport is played in a more gloriously eccentic stadium anywhere in Europe.

As you enter, look between your feet and you'll observe there's a pitch down there somewhere. The vast expanse of concrete terracing reaches only half way up the hill. Ascending it from the bottom, you may find the graffiti I came across a few years ago still legible on one of the crush barriers about a third of the way up. "Chris Bonnington gave up here" it says.

www.bradfordbulls.co.uk

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Rugby and football fans should go on the Millennium stadium tour, where you can take a look at the teams’ dressing rooms, visit the VIP area, walk through the players’ tunnel and marvel at the famous retracting roof. It’s £5.50 for adults and £3 for children.

www.millenniumstadium.com/

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There’s no landmark in Cardiff which can give you a view of the city in the way that the London Eye or the Eiffel tower would, although the Garth and Wenault mountains are worth venturing out to for a view of the city from a distance. But if you want a window into the Welsh nation, go to Cardiff when there’s an international rugby fixture on. For the Welsh, rugby is the expression of a nation and it’s an experience you will never forget. The sight of 75,000 people - mostly wearing red - in such a huge stadium is itself a spectacle, and the singing will make your hair stand on end.

www.millenniumstadium.com

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