Hotels for Six Nations 2027: France v Wales

Two of the championship's oldest rivals meet on a Saturday, with the away side always bringing a strong following across for the weekend. Expect a build-up thick with flags, singing and pre-match drinking in the streets and squares nearby, then a crowd noise that swells sharply whenever the home side attacks.

Six Nations weekends like this draw families, club groups and long-time season-ticket holders rather than casual fans, and the fixture's result can shape the destiny of the whole tournament.

France host Wales at the Stade de France on the opening weekend of the 2027 Six Nations, one of the championship's most keenly awaited fixtures and a trip that Welsh supporters make to Paris in force. The tournament is the northern hemisphere's flagship, evolved from the old Five Nations and expanded to six when Italy came in for the 2000 championship.

The Stade de France is the country's national stadium, built for the 1998 football World Cup and holding around 80,000 in the northern suburb of Saint-Denis, quickly reached by RER or Metro from the centre of Paris. That puts the whole of the French capital — the museums, the cafes, the boulevards — on either side of the match, and a Six Nations Saturday fills hotels right across the city. Stay central near a good transport line for the easy trip out to the ground, and make a full weekend of it.

France's national stadium, the Stade de France in Saint-Denis just north of Paris hosts football and rugby internationals, cup finals and the very biggest stadium concerts. The surrounding area is urban and busy, geared to moving huge crowds, with central Paris a short train ride away. RER lines and the Métro serve stations right beside the stadium, linking swiftly into the city. Booking a room near a convenient RER stop, or centrally in Paris, makes reaching the ground and returning afterwards straightforward.