The first match of the first World Cup was played here on 13 July 1930, and the oldest stadium in the Americas is still where Club Nacional de Football plays every other week. This visit takes you through the tunnel onto the pitch, into the dressing rooms and up into the stand of the most famous fans in the country, with a guide who knows every story, transfers from your hotel, and the option of lunch in the restaurant above the pitch.
The Gran Parque Central was opened in 1900 on the grounds of a country house, the Quinta de la Paraguaya, where in 1811 Jose Artigas was named leader of the Orientales, the people who would become Uruguay. Thirty years later it hosted the opening matches of the 1930 World Cup, and it has been rebuilt around that history ever since. The visit is a guided walk of about forty-five minutes, in English and Spanish, through the places the public never sees.
We collect you at your hotel, take you to the stadium for the tour and bring you back afterwards, or, if you choose the option with lunch, leave you at the Restaurante 1900, with its windows onto the pitch, and collect you after the meal. It runs on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, subject to the club's match calendar, as a regular or a private service.
The visit begins at the monument to Artigas under the ibirapita tree, where the guide goes back two hundred years to the day the country's founder was proclaimed leader here, on the ground that became the stadium.
A gallery of unpublished photographs of the ground before 1944: the first park of 1900 with its two pitches, the pavilion, the old lookout and the windmill, and the wooden stadium that made it the main arena of the continent.
The statue of Miguel Prudencio Reyes, the club's kit man who became the first football fan on record, and then inside the stand where the club's supporters gather at every match, with the mural to Abdon Porte and one of the most moving stories in the game.
An exhibition of mannequins and objects set in the 1930 World Cup matches played here, with one of the original wooden benches of the time to sit on for the photograph.
The dressing room, the walk down the tunnel and the moment of coming out onto the field as the players do. On the pitch, a photograph with the stands behind you and a seat on the substitutes' bench. The visit ends at the club shop, with the option of going up to the Restaurante 1900 for lunch overlooking the ground.
The tour starts on the hour and the stadium does not admit latecomers, which is one reason we include the transfer. On rainy days the pitch itself is not visited and other areas are shown instead. Shirts of other Uruguayan clubs are not allowed inside, and photographs are taken only where the guide indicates.
Days and times follow the club's calendar: on match days and special events the visit is moved, and we confirm yours before you travel. The lunch option is at the Restaurante 1900 inside the stadium, with starter, main course of your choice, dessert and a drink.
No. It is an extra we add to your Uruguay trip: 01Argentina arranges the whole stay — the ferry or flights, your hotel, your transfers and your days — and this is one of the afternoons you can add in Montevideo. When you write, we send you the detail for your dates.
The transfer runs as a regular service or as a private one for your party alone; the guided visit inside the stadium is the club's own tour, in a group. Tell us when you write and we quote it either way.
Yes. The stadium guides lead the visit in English and Spanish at the same time.
Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, subject to the club's match calendar. We confirm the day and time for your dates before you travel, and move it if a match or an event gets in the way.
It takes about half a day with the transfers, or a long lunch with the restaurant option, so it fits a free afternoon in Montevideo or the morning of the day you leave by evening ferry. If your days in Montevideo are a Thursday, Friday or Saturday, tell us and we build it in.
No. The 1930 World Cup, Artigas and the first fan in history are Uruguayan history, not club history, and the walk down the tunnel onto the pitch works on everyone. Children enjoy it, and the lunch overlooking the ground is a good one with or without a match in mind.
Tell us when you are travelling and how many days you have in Montevideo, and we will come back within 24 hours with the whole trip laid out — this extra included if it fits.
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