Intro
Last weekend I was fortunate to be in Marseille for two of the Rugby World Cup 2023 games - England v Argentina, and Scotland v South Africa. I thought I’d share some tips for getting the most out of attending any games in Marseille (so you can avoid some of the mistakes I may have made!).
The Stadium
Working backwards from the Stadium itself - it’s a football stadium so isn’t designed for 65,000 rugby fans who all want a few pints during the game. Within the stadium itself (i.e. when you enter via on the the numbered gates) there are a number of bars on each concourse, but they only sell beer (and only Asahi at that) and water - there are no other alcoholic drinks available. Any bottled drinks (water, soft drinks) were being sold with lids removed. The other downside is that the bars are extremely slow - all drinks are poured to order! This will, unless you are at the ground straight after gates open, mean you will queue to get served - potentially over 30mins. My only tip to avoid this is to try to find some of the mobile beer sellers (staff with backpacks of beer) - they are typically quicker. My other warning on this front is, the bars do quickly run out of beer! For both games, by the middle of half time, many of the bars in the stand I was (Ganay) in had closed due to not having any beer left to sell.
Similar to most stadiums, leaving can also be a bit slow. Firstly, for both games I went to, no bars were serving after the game (not sure if this was intentional, or because they’d run out of beer to sell!). Leaving involved some queues forming around pinch points such as security barriers and the steps leading down to Bd Michelet.
Getting to the Stadium
With regards to getting into the stadium there are two entrances - for those in the Ganay and Virage Sud stands, then there are a set of gates near the Sainte-Marguerite Dromel metro stop, for those in Jean Bouin and Virage Nord, then the may gates are near Rond Point du Prado metro.
I didn’t have a problem getting in either day, but did find the Rond Point du Prado entrance did get slightly backed up as it is the entrance everyone sees first and you have to go up a set of steps before getting to the first security point (where they check your ticket / do a search).
Before the game
Marseille has some great bars with many by the port having large outside bars set up and in the rugby mood!
Nearer the ground on Avenue du Prado there are also a number of cafes / bars that are open during matches selling beer, wine and food. La Saint Giniez was a favorite of mine - great service, and a nice little shop next door cooking hot dogs!
An alternative to local bars is to pop by one of the fan zones. The official RWC “rugby village” is by the port. I never got to visit as it was closed to fans due to a VIP event on the Friday of the first weekend so can’t really comment on it. The second choice is the fab zone next to the beach at Escale Borély which has a couple of large screens, plus a bunch of local bars all with their own screens as well. I visited here twice and really enjoyed it!
