Paris's Major Sports Venues Are Open to You: Here's How to Get Through the Door

Two years on from the Paris 2024 Olympics, the city's relationship with its major sporting infrastructure has quietly transformed. Venues that once felt like distant cathedrals for professional athletes are now running public access programmes, guided tours, and community entry schemes at a scale the French capital has never seen before. The window is open — but most Parisiens have no idea.

The timing matters. France is heading into one of its busiest sporting autumns in recent memory, with the Top 14 rugby final returning to the Stade de France in Saint-Denis this coming May, and Paris Saint-Germain's renovated Parc des Princes schedule already filling up for the 2026-27 Ligue 1 season. Operators at both venues have been under political pressure — from the Préfecture de Seine-Saint-Denis and from Paris City Hall — to demonstrate that post-Olympic legacy spending is actually reaching residents, not just corporate hospitality accounts.

Start With a Stadium Tour

The Stade de France, sitting just off the A1 autoroute in Saint-Denis, runs guided visits seven days a week between 10h00 and 17h00 during the summer period. Adult tickets cost €18, with a reduced rate of €12 for under-18s and holders of a Carte Mobilité Inclusion. The 80,698-seat bowl is walkable from Saint-Denis–Porte de Paris on line 13, a journey of under 25 minutes from the Châtelet interchange. Staff take small groups onto the pitch perimeter, through the changing rooms used by the French national football and rugby teams, and up into the press tribune. Booking is done directly through the Stade de France website, though Saturday morning slots in July tend to sell out by Tuesday of the same week.

At the other end of the city, the Parc des Princes in the 16th arrondissement runs a similar programme. PSG's official stadium tour, branded as Le Monde du PSG, is priced at €25 for adults and includes access to the club museum on the Rue du Commandant Guilbaud side of the ground. Children under six enter free. The tour has been expanded since the club's renovation works finished in March 2026, and now includes the newly rebuilt west stand hospitality concourse. Metro line 9 to Exelmans, or the 72 bus from Pont de l'Alma, both drop visitors within a five-minute walk.

Beyond the two marquee stadiums, the Accor Arena in Bercy — officially the Accor Arena Paris Bercy, capacity 20,300 — hosts both sporting events and concerts, and offers a separate backstage tour programme on non-event days priced from €15. The venue at 8 Boulevard de Bercy has been particularly active in reaching out to secondary schools in the 12th arrondissement through a partnership with the city's Direction de la Jeunesse et des Sports, offering free group visits to classes that apply before the end of each academic trimester.

Getting More Than a Tour

For those wanting actual court or pitch time rather than a look around, the route runs through the Paris municipal sports infrastructure. The city operates 34 publicly bookable sports complexes, and the Complexe Sportif Jean-Bouin — immediately adjacent to the Parc des Princes on Avenue du Général Sarrail — offers athletics track sessions from €4 per session for Paris residents with a Carte Paris Famille. The complex was rebuilt for the 2013 Top 14 season and remains one of the best-equipped mid-capacity venues in the city.

The Direction de la Jeunesse et des Sports publishes its full schedule of open access sessions at equip.paris.fr, updated on the first Monday of each month. Several sessions at venues that formed part of the 2024 Olympic cluster — including the Aquatics Centre in Saint-Denis, which now runs public lane swimming from €4.50 per adult — are still priced at the promotional post-Games rates introduced last September. Those rates are under review and may not survive the autumn budget round at the Hôtel de Ville.

The practical advice is straightforward: book tours midweek, check equip.paris.fr for municipal session availability, and do not underestimate how quickly summer slots go. The infrastructure is there. The access is real. The only thing standing between most people and a lap of the Stade de France pitch is a €18 ticket bought before Friday.