Prepare to samba by the harbourside if Bristol wins its bid to be a host city for the 2018 World Cup.

Hundreds of thousands of visitors will be expected to flock to our city for the biggest festival it has ever seen if Bristol clinches selection – and Bristol City Council is busy eyeing up sites for special fan parks to cater for them all.

FIFA wants city centre locations for big screens, stalls and stages and out-of-town spaces for tented villages where fans can congregate and celebrate.

And Bristol has a mouth-watering list of possible venues.

At the last tournament, Germany 2006, more than 18 million fans headed for special fan parks to watch matches, meet and greet locals, share stories and sample the best of the local stalls, stands and musical offerings.

Just imagine fans gathering in Ashton Court, a stone's throw from the action itself in Ashton Vale.

Picture a sea of shirts of all nationalities milling around the harbourside, spending their money in Bristol's shops or enjoying music and dancing in between the football at Eastville Park.

Then there is the prospect of innumerable games between fans on the extensive green reaches of the Downs.

Council partnerships director Stephen Wray told the Evening Post: "We are looking at a range of sites and have started with locations that we know can handle big events."

Ashton Court hosts the annual Bristol Balloon Fiesta where over three days each August more than 100 hot air balloons take to the sky every morning and evening in mass launches which draw in more than 100,000 spectators.

A quarter of a million are expected to line Bristol's harbourside for the 2009 Harbour Festival, the biggest free event in the South West, another annual extravaganza of colour and music which showcases the creative talents of the local community.

And when the sun is shining where better to take your picnic and your pint than Bristol's parkland, particularly the glorious Downs or Eastville Park.

But the council's wealth of resources for events is not limited to the city itself.

"We have had a conversation with North Somerset Council about something in Weston and are open to all suggestions," revealed Mr Wray.

In addition to the fan parks, FIFA requires proposals for big screens. Queen Square has been used to host film festivals during the Harbour Festival, accommodating up to 10,000 people, and there is capacity for a further 4,000 in Millennium Square, which has a permanent big screen and scope for a larger temporary one.

"There are some fantastic sites with great views," said Mr Wray. "And we are not just catering for visiting fans. We want people to get out, away from the TVs in their homes, and celebrate with the community. We need to make this a united city bid."

On Monday, members of the Bristol bid team will be meeting with senior officials from Bristol's twin city Hannover.

The German city hosted four group matches and a quarter-final encounter at the 2006 World Cup and are well placed to advise on how best to prepare for the biggest sporting event in the world.

Bristol has until July 8 to confirm an initial list of venues for fan parks and will find out in December whether the city is going to be part of the FA's plans. Then it is over to the England bid team, who face competition from eight other countries for the dream of hosting the prestigious football tournament in 2018 or 2022.

Australia, Belgium/Holland, England, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Spain/Portugal and the United States are all stepping up their promotional campaigns, and now South Korea and Qatar have entered the race for the 2022 World Cup.