My Review of the Stade de France Behind the Scenes

What the tour shows

You enter through the players' entrance. First the changing rooms, smaller than you might imagine, then the tunnel, then the moment everyone waits for and no one describes well: stepping out onto the edge of the pitch. The museum is included. Allow 1 hour 30 minutes in total, with a guide who speaks French, English, Spanish or German depending on the chosen departure time. Cancellations are free up to 24 hours in advance, so you can book even before planning the rest of your day.

The meeting point is worth noting: gate H, inside the shop. A stadium this size has many gates, they all look alike, and arriving just in time while searching for the right letter is the best way to miss your departure. Allow a quarter of an hour in advance. From the Basilique de Saint-Denis, it’s one tram stop or about fifteen minutes on foot; the route follows the canal and is quite pleasant.

What comes up in the reviews

The guide, above all. Out of 4,165 reviews, it’s the guide who makes the tour. Laure (Switzerland): "My son loved it, the guide was friendly and full of anecdotes." Connor (UK): "My partner, my daughter and I loved it, the guides were fantastic." Susan (UK) sums it up in three words: "A wonderful tour." Two of these three reviews mention a child, and it’s no coincidence: this is the outing that saves a family afternoon when the recumbent statues have exhausted the patience of the youngest.

With a rating of 4.4 and such a high volume, it means there are some less successful visits. What I hear in the neighbourhood aligns with the lukewarm reviews : the content depends on what’s happening at the stadium that day. When a concert setup takes over the pitch or a match is approaching, some areas are dropped from the programme, and the visit ends up shorter in substance. There’s not much that can be done about this, except avoiding the days leading up to a major event.

For whom, and for whom not

For whom : families, without hesitation. Football fans, obviously. And those who, like me, are annoyed that people only come to Saint-Denis for the stadium — because doing both in the same day finally lets you see the whole city : the necropolis where forty kings were buried, and the arena where eighty thousand people cheer on a Saturday night, just fifteen minutes’ walk apart.

For whom not : those who only have half a day and haven’t yet seen the gisants. Those with mobility difficulties : the visit is standing, after a basilica that also requires standing, and accessibility questions are covered on the accessibility page. The ideal order for the day — the Saint-Denis market on Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday mornings, and where to eat in between — is on around the basilica ; the details of the visit are on the Stade de France page.

Frequently asked questions