There’s not much convincing needed to get Green Bay Packers fans to travel to opposing teams’ stadiums. Packer fans follow their team better than any other fanbase in the league. However, if you don’t have the time and/or resources to travel to several games and need help picking the best one to build a vacation around this season, then you’re in the right spot.
Below, all the road games are broken down into tiers and ranked according to which ones would make for the most appealing trip.
Tier One: Make the Trip
Week 13 @ New Orleans Saints – Sunday, December 6, Noon
I would build a vacation around the Saints game this season. New Orleans is the perfect combination of timing, weather, atmosphere, activities, competition, and, most importantly, food.
The timing is perfect because it’s the week after Thanksgiving, so you’re no longer tied down to being with family. It’s also December, so you’re probably ready to escape the weather. The weather in the South in December should be extremely pleasant. Both outside the stadium and on Bourbon Street there will be a party filled with other Packers fans.
You can spend your whole weekend out in the French Quarter and on Bourbon Street. Or you can check out the WWII Museum, potentially catch a Pelicans game, and get out to the Bayou for a swamp tour. Or just take the streetcar around to the endless amounts of delicious food options and indulge in some gumbo, po boys, muffalettas, beignets, or whatever Cajun and Creole floats your boat. (Pro tip: Willie Mae’s near the stadium is tough to beat, but you’ll need reservations. Also, the jambalaya at the Howlin’ Wolf is sneaky great, and while you’re there you can grab cheap drinks at the sublimely dive-y Corporation Bar nearby.)
Lastly, the Superdome is an experience in itself, and the Saints are in a spot where the game should be competitive, but the Packers are the better team and hopefully leave the fans happy.
Week 4 @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Sunday, October 4, Noon
This game is early enough in the season that you’re likely not sick of the cold weather quite yet, but there’s nothing wrong with extending your time in the warm sunshine. Tampa doesn’t have the culture and atmosphere of New Orleans. However, it has a beach, and spending a weekend there and enjoying some Packers football sounds like a great time.
Finally, as with all NFC South teams, the Bucs will be competitive, but the Packers are the better team.
Week 12 @ Los Angeles Rams – Wednesday, November 25, 7 PM
The Rams game will take some convincing for the family, but what a time it would be. Thanksgiving Eve in LA in a matchup between two of the better teams in the NFC. If you can convince the family to spend Thanksgiving in LA, you’ll get the chance to escape the chilly November weather to enjoy an electric matchup and have a long weekend on the backend to take in the whole city. The only downside is you may have to take out a loan to get the whole family out to LA for a long weekend.
Week 1 @ Minnesota Vikings – Sunday, September 13, 3:25 PM
While I was raised a Packers fan, I am a born-and-raised Minnesotan. Therefore, I may be a bit biased. Still, as brutal as the winters are here, there’s no place I’d rather be in the summer than in Minnesota.
With this game being Week 1, we will still be getting that beautiful Minnesota summer weather. Plus, logistically the trip for Wisconsinites is an easy drive west. So, if you want to get to a road divisional game this season, this is the one I’d pick.
Tier 1 Honorable Mention: Preseason Week 1 @ Pittsburgh Steelers – August 13-16
I highly doubt he plays, but this is likely the last time you’ll get to see Aaron Rodgers as an active player on the football field during a game in the presence of the Green and Gold. Unless the Packers and Steelers give us a rematch of Super Bowl 45, we’ve likely seen the last of Rodgers in a game that features the Packers.
However, the possibility that he takes a snap or a drive against his former team makes the game more intriguing. Plus, the game will be much cheaper to attend than a regular-season game, and it’ll be August in beautiful Pittsburgh, a city that I’ve never heard a bad word about.
Tier 2: Flawed but fun
Week 8 @ New England Patriots – Sunday, November 8, 3:25 PM
The game will be awesome, and Boston is a great city. However, it’ll be November in the northeast, and Gillette Stadium is hardly in the Boston area. Still, you only get the opportunity to get out to a Packers game in Foxborough once every eight years, so if you want to check it off the list, might as well do it when both teams are fun.
Week 2 @ New York Jets – Sunday, September 20, Noon
New York City in September would be a great time. It’ll be expensive, but there are endless things to do, and the weather should be pristine. However, the Jets aren’t cutting it. On the bright side, this should be a relatively stress-free game for Packers fans as long as the players can survive the MetLife turf.
Tier 3: You can get there any year, and this isn’t the year
Week 16 @ Chicago Bears – Friday, December 25, Noon
Packers fans are already going to swarm Soldier Field. The game is going to be awesome and will likely have massive implications on the division. However, it’s on Christmas Day and will likely be freezing.
If you’re going to this one, it’s for the game, not to build a trip around it. However, it is on a Friday, so if Green Bay comes away with the win, the celebration the rest of the day could be exhilarating. That’s if you don’t have to get back home to finish celebrating Christmas. It may also be one of the last times the trek down south is only to Chicago, because you may be heading to see the Indiana Bears in the future.
Week 7 @ Detroit Lions – Sunday October 25, 3:25 PM
As with the Bears game, the Packers fans are going to have their fair share of representatives in the crowd. You’ll likely be going to this game for the game, not to get out to Detroit for any other reason in late October.
It is also a late-window Sunday game, which makes the logistics tough. Using that precious PTO to spend an extra night in Detroit in late October, which would let you travel on Monday, isn’t how I’d want to use it. You can go to Detroit any season. Maybe wait to take the trip until it’s a bit earlier in the season, so you can also enjoy some beautiful weather.
