For 13 years the ritual that opens every Tour de France, the parade of all 22 teams in front of the host city crowd two days before the first stage, has been a free pavement spectacle. On Wednesday 30 June 2027, on the esplanade below Edinburgh Castle, a ticket will be required for the first time in more than a decade.

Around 9,000 tickets will go on sale, starting at £27, according to the official announcement from Grand Départ GB 2027. The ceremony begins at 6:30pm local time and the opening stage follows on Friday 2 July.

Pre-sale starts Friday, public sale on 30 October

Priority access is being staggered across a single week. Subscribers to the Grand Départ GB newsletter get the first window from midday on Friday 23 October, with members of British Cycling, Scottish Cycling and Welsh Cycling joining the queue a day later. Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo customers are added on Monday 26 October. All priority windows close at midnight on Wednesday 28 October, and the general sale opens at midday on Friday 30 October.

The team presentation is being produced by the organisation behind the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, the annual pipes-and-drums show on the same esplanade each August. The program promises Highland dancers, massed pipes and drums and new music written for the occasion, built around the roll-out of each of the Tour’s 22 teams.

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First paid ticket since Leeds 2014

The last time fans needed a ticket for a Tour team presentation was when the race started in Yorkshire in 2014, where the ceremony was staged inside Leeds Arena. Every Grand Départ since, from Utrecht to Brussels, Copenhagen, Bilbao, Florence and Lille, has used an open square or waterfront where anyone could turn up and watch for nothing.

According to reporting from Domestique Cycling, the switch to a paid gate is being driven by the limited capacity of Edinburgh Castle’s walled esplanade rather than any change of policy from race owner ASO.

What ticketholders get, what the rest of the city gets

Inside the esplanade, the 9,000 ticketholders will see each team ride on in front of the castle’s floodlit backdrop as part of a Tattoo-style show. Outside, the organisers say the celebration will spill into the surrounding streets, with riders moving through central Edinburgh on their way to the venue and fans able to watch that passage without a ticket.

Rob Dickson, Director of Industry and Events at VisitScotland, tied the ceremony to the city’s existing summer calendar in an official statement.

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“The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is one of Scotland’s most spectacular cultural events, and the 2027 Grand Départ will be another global moment in Scotland.”

The 2027 race will be the first Tour de France ever to begin in Scotland. The first batch of tickets goes on sale at midday on Friday 23 October 2026 through the Grand Départ GB newsletter pre-sale.

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