11 Bucket-List Soccer Stadium Tours in Europe and the UK

To complete any trip to Glasgow, the behind-the-scenes tour of Celtic Park Stadium is essential. Scotland’s largest football stadium is home to the legendary Celtic Football Club, and with a professional local guide, you’ll gain access to areas most visitors never see, including the dressing rooms and player’s tunnel. The stadium is affectionately known as “Paradise,” a phrase coined upon its 1892 opening as a move from its previous site, less lovingly dubbed “the graveyard.” Today, it’s known for its unmatched, high energy atmosphere. Walking through the stadium’s quieter corners, hearing stories about Glasgow’s most popular football team, you start to feel and understand the legacy of Scottish football culture. Not to mention there are multiple departure times, allowing for more flexibility while planning your day.

Stadium: Celtic Park
Team: Celtic FC

Manchester is all about its football legacy—defined by a fun and intense rivalry between its two local and historic teams, Manchester United and Manchester City. Today, the walkable city celebrates sport just right, through history, food, and bars right next to its stadiums. This guided tour covering both Manchester United and Manchester City offers a glimpse of just that. You’ll start at Old Trafford, home to Manchester United since 1910. Walk around the stadium’s exterior to see the statues, the Munich Tunnel, memorials, and the Megastore, while uncovering hidden club secrets few visitors notice. After a coffee or lunch break at Salford Quays, the tour continues to the Etihad Campus to explore both men’s and women’s stadiums, statues, and other sporting centers. You’ll conclude in Ancoats, the original football neighborhood, where the city’s first fans lived. Along the way, you’ll hear incredible stories about a dog that saved Manchester United, the church that became Manchester City, and all of the football pioneers who helped to globalize the sport.

Stadiums: Old Trafford, Etihad Campus
Teams: Manchester United, Manchester City

Explore Real Madrid’s Bernabéu stadium from each and every angle without the crowds, all while tracing the club’s storied history and laying eyes on prized trophies. You’ll venture behind the scenes to learn about the stadium’s striking architecture, walk the field, head to the dressing rooms, then tour the expansive museum which charts the club’s achievements. The immersive tour is put on by ExperienceFirst Europe, a group that has been hosting curious travelers for over 15 years, Each step is led by a sports-loving Madrid local who brings visitors through Madrid’s cool city streets and stadium alike.

Stadium: Bernabéu
Team: Real Madrid

While in London, opt in to this highly-rated and trusted tour of Stamford Bridge, home to Chelsea Football Club. Here, you’ll walk the surreal player’s tunnel to the pitch side with a local guide, then explore the Chelsea FC Museum at your own pace. The museum recounts Chelsea’s greatest victories and is home to shiny trophies and glittery artifacts well-earned by the beloved team. This hour-long stadium tour gives fans and curious travelers an intimate look behind the scenes at one of the world’s most iconic football clubs in the world. (While you will get entry tickets to both, do note that there’s no official guided tour through the museum—just the stadium itself.)

Stadium: Stamford Bridge
Team: Chelsea FC

For all you Liverpool fans out there—and I know there are plenty—this epic football club and stadium tour is bookable via Airbnb, and boasts unparalleled access to the world-famous Anfield Stadium. Over an hour and 15 minutes, you’ll see the dressing rooms (if it’s not match day), the press conference holding area, the field and audience sections, and Liverpool’s many trophies and awards, as well as gain some context on the stadium build itself. Guests ages five and up can opt in for this fun-filled activity, making it a great activity for the whole family. The host? Swia, a decades-old events company that is known for gaining fans direct access to some of the biggest stadiums in the world.

Stadium: Anfield
Team: Liverpool FC

Arsenal FC is one of the most well-loved, and most prestigious, soccer teams in the world. Since 2006, the team has called Emirates Stadium home. Iconic in its own right, it’s one of the largest and most modern soccer arenas in all of England. On this highly-rated, all-access tour, you’ll walk in the footsteps of soccer legends past and present. (One previous tour reviewer states that this site in London “is a must-visit for any soccer fan,” period.) You’ll listen to match day experiences and watch some never-before-seen footage with an audio guide available in seven different languages (though the English audio guide is narrated by David Frimpton, who is a host of Arsenal FC himself), have your photo taken with the famous trophy in honor of Arsenal’s 2003-04 “Invincibles season,” and much more.

Stadium: Emirates
Team: Arsenal FC

Gabriel, a seasoned local with 20 years of international club experience, leads this comprehensive FC Barcelona tour. And according to the many positive reviews from previous tour guests, he does it all in honor of his deep knowledge and genuine passions for La Liga. If you book this epic journey during your next Barca trip trip, you will learn all about the team while exploring its four clubs and two museums, including Camp Nou and Espanyol, with VIP access to locker rooms, the presidential box, media rooms, pitch, and substitutes’ bench. Start with a free beer with Gabriel while discussing Spanish fútbol, then uncover how iconic team rivalries shaped neighborhoods like Gràcia. Reviewers call it “a football culture experience from another world,” praising the host’s endless stories and on-point organization. This is a tour that really transcends sport, linking it together with culture and the city’s history during each and every stop.

Stadium: Camp Nou
Team: FC Barcelona, Espanyol

This 90-minute Wembley Stadium tour is a fun-filled activity for any London itinerary. Led by expert guides and enhanced by the tour guide’s web-based app, the exclusive, access-to-all-areas experience moves brings you everywhere from the spectator’s seat to the dressing rooms and players’ tunnel to the pitch-side and the storied Royal Box. The journey traces a narrative from the 1924 British Empire Exhibition to today’s wins, including the England Women’s historic Euros success. Through the Crossbar Exhibition and the Walk of Legends, you can learn all about the venue’s architectural and cultural evolution. (The tour takes about two hours in total; booking tickets ahead of time is recommended.)

Stadium: Wembley
Team: Tottenham Hotspur

Led by a highly-reviewed expert guide, this tucked-in-Rome tour is a fun mix of sports, history, and art. You’ll start at Olympic Park and explore Rome’s Olympic Stadium and Foro Italico; learn about timeless Mussolini-era architecture and the Lazio-Roma rivalry; and get more than a glimpse of the stadium’s ins and outs. You’ll enter through the players’ tunnel, get a sneak peak of their locker rooms, and walk the pitch where legends have left their mark. Tours are available in Italian, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and German.

Stadium: Stadio Olipico
Teams: AS Roma, SS Lazio

The legendary San Siro is home to two of Italy’s most famous soccer teams, AC Milan and Inter Milan. When in Milan, make it a point to book this tour, which covers sidelines, stands, changing rooms, mixed zones, and the otherwise private tunnel to the pitch. On top of all that, you’ll have quick and easy access to the San Siro Museum, showcasing the teams’ historic jerseys, kits, and somehow-still-shining trophies. You’ll have a private tour guide sharing anecdotes on the stadium’s history and an inside scoop on each team’s history, from success stories to the hottest game plays. The tour concludes at “Italia 110 & Lode,” an exhibition dedicated to the Italian National Team and World Cup European Championship memorabilia.

Stadium: San Siro
Team: AC Milan, Inter Milan

France’s largest stadium, host of the 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2016 finals, opens its locker rooms, private boxes, and player’s tunnel to visitors via this behind-the-scenes tour. You can learn about the architecture, legendary matches, and iconic concerts that the stadium—home of France’s national soccer team, Les Blues—has endured; then finish the day at the museum with archives, jerseys, autographed memorabilia, and heaps of stadium history. If you didn’t have enough and want to tack on another sporty experience, enhance your visit with this Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) football game at Parc des Princes. Here, you’ll have the opportunity to watch some of the biggest stars in European soccer in action and feel the stadium’s game day energy, abuzz with excited local and international fans alike.

Stadium: Stade de France
Team: Les Blues