Nowadays, Villa park has a capacity of around 43,000, but in it's hay-day held a record attendance of 76,588. Visiting fans are usually allocated around 3000 tickets, and will find themselves located either in the lower tier of the 'North Stand', or in the rather cheesily named 'Doug Ellis' stand.
The first thing that you notice about Villa Park, is that it appears to be HUGE. Walking from Witton Station, and approaching the ground you are simply amazed at the size of the thing the Doug Ellis stand, appears to go on for miles.
Once inside, you meet the usual features that you would expect to find in most stadia these days. There is a decent refreshment bar, properly integrated into the stand. A fair standard of food and drink is available (chips, pies, tea, Bovril, etc). But it's nice to know that the Villa staff have high regard for the visiting masses as they a greeted with a steel mesh grill across the serving area ? same also applies to the programme kiosk. Marvellous.
Having only sat in the lower tier of the North Stand, you get a very good view of the pitch which is raised slightly. Legroom is virtually non-existent, so if you are quite tall, you may find it a tad uncomfortable. The ground has a kind of European feel to it with the concertina tunnel, the dug out benches and covering, along with the press fraternity directly above it in the Trinity Road stand.
Overall, you can understand as to why Villa Park was for years, and still is, the venue of choice for domestic Cup semi's, such is the size of the ground, and extremely accessible via public transport. Well worth visiting if the opportunity arises.