1 · The short answer
The Tour de France is three weeks of racing every July, finishing in Paris near the end of the month. The 2027 edition has been announced with a Grand Départ in Edinburgh, Scotland, followed by stages through England and Wales before the race crosses to France. We could not read the organiser's own page to confirm the stage dates, so check letour.fr before you book anything.
Following the Tour means moving every day, often across a border, and standing for hours on a roadside or a mountain pass. Ringo Light's Europe plan covers the United Kingdom, France and the other countries the race usually touches on one eSIM, with unlimited data at full speed; it arrives by email and installs in one scan, so the whole trip is one plan.
Ringo Light's Europe plan covers the whole of Europe: unlimited data at full speed, 2 weeks for $22.99 or 30 days for $35.99, nothing renews. The plan is at ringoesim.com/europe, and every brand's price for Europe is compared on one day in Best eSIM for Europe.
Get Ringo Light for the Tour de France route, from $22.99.
Installed once, next to your own SIM. Your eSIM arrives by email in seconds.
Secure payment by Stripe. By paying you agree to the Terms.
Your eSIM arrives by email, usually instantly, occasionally within a few minutes. If it is not in your inbox, check Spam or Junk. It is on your dashboard too.
- Unlimited data, no throttling, full speed
- Works in 33 European countries, France included
- One price, no roaming bills
- Data only, next to your own SIM and number
- Install in one scan, no app needed
- No renewal
Unlimited data at full speed. When you use a lot, we add extra data automatically for $22.99 each time, charged to your card, up to 5 times per trip. We email you each time. Switch it off any time on your dashboard or by replying to your eSIM email.
- Your card details never touch our servers.
Traveling all year? The Global plan is unlimited data, month by month.
We sell data eSIMs for now to fund the full Ringo service. Ringo is self funded. Every plan bought here pays for the build of one plan that works everywhere.
2 · How to follow the race in person
There are no tickets for the roadside: watching the Tour is free. The trick is choosing where to stand. Stage starts are good for seeing riders up close at the team buses; finishes have big screens and grandstands; mountain stages give you the longest look as riders climb slowly past. The publicity caravan passes about an hour or more before the riders.
Roads on the route close hours before the race passes, and on the big mountain stages much earlier. Plan to arrive by bike, on foot or by the first train, and check the official road closure times in advance.
3 · Signal on a mountain pass
On a famous climb such as Alpe d'Huez or Mont Ventoux, tens of thousands of fans gather on a road that normally sees a few cars. Mountain cells were never built for that, and data slows to a crawl once the crowd builds. Expect to lose live video entirely in the hour before the riders pass.
Download the stage route, the road closure map and your train or bus times while you have a good signal in the valley. A battery pack matters more than anything else: you may wait six hours on the roadside with your phone as your only screen for the race coverage.
4 · The official app and getting between stages
- ✓Tour de France app. The official app shows live race tracking, stage profiles and the passage times for the caravan and the riders at each point on the route.
- ✓Trains in France. SNCF Connect holds TGV and regional train tickets offline once downloaded. Book early: trains near the big stages fill up.
- ✓Trains in Britain. For the 2027 UK stages, National Rail and the train operators' apps hold e-tickets, and contactless works in many city areas.
- ✓Paying. Cards and phone wallets work almost everywhere along the route, though a few roadside stalls on the mountain stages still prefer cash.
5 · Making a trip of it
A Tour holiday is a road trip with a race attached. Base yourself in a town with good train links and pick two or three stages within reach. Edinburgh is worth several days on its own for the Grand Départ, and the Alps or the Pyrenees are best seen on a stage that ends on a summit. Finish on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, where the final stage loops through the city.
6 · Along the route
Three places that show the Tour at its best, from the 2027 start to the traditional finish.
7 · Frequently asked questions
8 · Sources
- Tour de France official site: www.letour.fr/en/, route, stages and the official app
- ESPN: Tour de France returning to UK in 2027 with start in Edinburgh: africa.espn.com/olympics/cycling/story/_/id/44317561/tour-de-france-returning-uk-2027-start-edinburgh, Grand Départ announcement
- SNCF Connect: www.sncf-connect.com/, trains in France
- Ringo Light: prices from the catalogue our checkout charges, on the day you read this.
Read next: best esim for europe · best esim for france
