Mercedes-Benz Stadium Tour: Tickets and What You'll See

No game on your Atlanta dates? A behind-the-scenes look at one of the city's most distinctive buildings gives you the stadium experience without the matchday ticket. The Mercedes-Benz Stadium tour takes you through concourses, premium clubs and field-level areas that regular ticket holders rarely see up close, guided by stadium staff who know the building's engineering and design quirks.

This is the home of the Atlanta Falcons (NFL) and Atlanta United FC (MLS), and the building itself is the draw as much as the teams. The retractable roof — eight triangular panels that open like a camera aperture — took engineers years to get right, and it's the first thing most visitors photograph. The 360-degree halo video board ringing the upper bowl is another, running at a scale that's hard to appreciate on television.

I'd rank this below the Georgia Aquarium and World of Coca-Cola for pure entertainment value, but above most generic city bus tours for the specificity of what you actually see. It's not a thrill ride or an interactive museum — it's an architecture and sports-history walk-through, and it suits a particular kind of visitor better than others.

A Game-Free Alternative for Visitors

If your trip doesn't line up with a Falcons or Atlanta United home date, the tour is effectively your only way inside. Game tickets can run well beyond a tour's cost and require juggling a schedule; the tour runs on a far more flexible, day-to-day basis independent of the sports calendar. For travelers passing through Atlanta for a day or two, that flexibility matters more than catching an actual match.

Who the Tour Suits Best

Families with kids who like sports or big machinery tend to enjoy it most — the scale of the roof and the field impresses even non-fans. Solo travelers and world travelers checking off notable stadiums (think comparisons to London's Wembley or Munich's Allianz Arena) will find it a worthwhile hour or two. Couples looking for a quiet romantic activity should probably skip it for Centennial Olympic Park instead.

Tour routes vary slightly depending on what's accessible that day — sometimes a club or tunnel is closed for event setup — but the core stops stay consistent. You'll move through at least one premium club level, see the field from sideline or tunnel level, and get a close look at the roof and halo board from inside the bowl.

Guides tend to lean into stadium trivia: the retractable roof's design, the sustainability features (the stadium holds LEED Platinum certification), and the building's role hosting the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship and Super Bowl LIII. If you like that kind of detail, ask questions — guides generally have more material than the standard script covers.

Field, Halo Board and Architecture

Standing at field level looking straight up at the halo board is the single best photo opportunity on the tour — better than anything from the upper concourse. The roof panels, when open, frame the Atlanta skyline in a way few stadiums manage. Photographers should budget extra time here rather than rushing through on a guide's schedule.

Locker Rooms and Premium Spaces

Access to locker rooms isn't guaranteed on every tour slot — it depends on team use and event prep — so don't book specifically for that. Premium clubs and suite levels are more reliably included, and they show off the stadium's food-and-beverage concept, which was a genuine departure from typical stadium concessions when the building opened. Don't expect hands-on exhibits here; it's a walk-through, not a hands-on museum stop like the College Football Hall of Fame nearby.

There's no real "self-guided wander the stadium on your own" option — access is controlled, and you'll move through on a scheduled, staff-led route. The real choice is whether you book the stadium tour directly and treat it as a standalone stop, or fold it into a broader guided city tour that bundles transport and narration for the rest of downtown.

Booking directly gives you control over timing and lets you pair the visit with whatever else is on your list that day — Centennial Olympic Park is a 10-minute walk, for instance. Bundled city tours save you the logistics of getting between attractions but usually move faster through each stop, which isn't ideal if you want to linger at field level for photos.

Booking the stadium tour directly gives you more time inside and flexible scheduling, while bundled city tours trade that for convenience.

Mercedes-Benz Stadium tour options compared: booking method, pace and best use

Durations and inclusions vary by date and event setup; confirm current tour length and route on the official stadium site before booking.

Booking Independently

Booking directly through the stadium's official ticketing channel is the simplest route and the one I'd default to. It lets you pick a time slot that fits your day, confirms availability for that specific date, and avoids any uncertainty about whether a third-party reseller's listing is current. Always check the official stadium site for the exact current schedule before finalizing other plans around it.

Combining It With a City Tour

Some downtown Atlanta sightseeing tours package the stadium visit with stops at Georgia Aquarium, World of Coca-Cola or Centennial Olympic Park. These work well for visitors with only one full day downtown who want everything handled, but you'll spend less time inside the stadium itself. If the stadium is your priority, book it separately and add the rest on foot.

Mercedes-Benz stadium tour tickets are sold in timed entry slots, and capacity per slot is limited — popular weekend slots can sell out, especially around holidays or major conventions downtown. Buying a day or two ahead is safer than assuming you can walk up.

Where to Buy and What to Check First

Buy directly through the official Mercedes-Benz Stadium website rather than third-party ticket marketplaces, which sometimes mark up prices or sell outdated tour formats. Before booking, check three things: the date against the Falcons/Atlanta United/event calendar, the specific tour route offered that day (it can shift), and whether any areas are closed for maintenance. The site publishes current pricing and start times — treat anything you see elsewhere as unverified until you confirm it there.

Accessibility and Bag Rules

The stadium is fully ADA accessible, with elevators connecting all tour levels — a real advantage over older stadiums in Charlotte or Nashville that weren't built with the same standards from day one. Bag policies mirror NFL/MLS game-day rules: small clear bags are generally the safe bet, and large bags or backpacks are usually turned away at entry. If you're arriving with luggage between hotel checkout and a flight, don't bring it on the tour — there's no real storage.

Mornings on weekdays tend to be quietest, with smaller groups and more flexibility to linger at photo spots. Weekends bring more families and larger tour groups, which slows the pace. If you're visiting Atlanta primarily for the tour rather than squeezing it between other plans, a weekday morning is the better call.

Event Days vs Non-Event Days

This is the detail that trips people up most: tours are typically suspended on Falcons and Atlanta United game days, and often for several days around major concerts or conventions while the building is reconfigured. A mercedes-benz stadium tour without a game is actually the default experience, not a workaround — most tour dates on the calendar simply aren't event days. Still, always cross-check the tour date against the stadium's event schedule before you book flights or hotels around it, since closures can extend a day or two beyond the event itself for setup and teardown.

Downtown Atlanta packs several major attractions within a short walk of the stadium, which makes it easy to build a full day around the tour. This cluster is genuinely more walkable than Orlando's spread-out attraction zones or Charlotte's more car-dependent downtown — a real point in Atlanta's favor for visitors without a rental car.

Attractions Within Walking Distance

Centennial Olympic Park sits about a 10-minute walk away and is free to visit — a good decompression stop after the tour. Georgia Aquarium and World of Coca-Cola are both within 10-15 minutes on foot and easily combine into a half-day if you start early. The College Football Hall of Fame, a short walk in the other direction, pairs naturally with the stadium tour thematically since much of its exhibit content ties directly to venues like this one. State Farm Arena, home to the Atlanta Hawks, is close enough to note if you're comparing the two buildings' designs, though it doesn't offer a comparable public tour program.

Getting There by MARTA

MARTA's rail system makes this area simple to reach without a car — the Dome/GWCC/Philips Arena/CNN Center station (on the Blue and Green lines) sits a few minutes' walk from the stadium entrance. A single ride is a few dollars, cheaper and less stressful than event-day parking, which can run considerably higher near the stadium on game days. If you're staying in Midtown or near the airport, MARTA connects directly without transfers in most cases, which beats driving into an unfamiliar downtown grid.