On a testé le concept Enigmatch : un voyage mystère autour d'un match de football ! On vous raconte.

Imagine heading off for a weekend to watch a football match without knowing the destination ... Enigmatch created it just for you!

The concept behind Enigmatch is simple: you head off for a weekend to watch a football match without organising anything or knowing the destination in advance. A single attractive price: €399 per person including the match ticket, return flights, 3 nights' accommodation and a PDF guide to help you on the ground. They also offer packages without accommodation at €200 or an annual subscription at €89/month to reduce the price.

Departures are on Friday and return on Monday.

 

Last weekend Enigmatch invited us to try out this mystery trip concept. Here's our full experience report (with full editorial freedom)!

 

Before the weekend.

It all starts several weeks in advance: you need to choose your weekend and your departure point. They generally offer all French airports and Brussels. If you'd like to depart from another location or by train it's possible to contact them on contact@enigmatch.fr or on Instagram by specifying your wishes. Similarly if you'd like to travel alone or with more than 6 people, contact them directly for a bespoke offer.

Then we don't have anything else to think about or prepare, we just go with the flow!

About 1 week before the weekend, you receive an email with all the weekend details: hotel reservation, match tickets, flight information (you'll receive your plane tickets a few days before the flights due to check-in) and a PDF guide to help you on the ground with all the key places and useful information.

To keep the surprise going as long as possible we didn't open the documents and asked a friend to just tell us the flight times. Until we got to the airport, we didn't know the destination!

 

Day 1: Departure.

The weekend departure is on Friday. We arrive at the airport and it's time to discover the destination ... Heading to Valencia and Mestalla for our weekend! In mid-September what a lucky chance to head off into the sunshine, and especially to discover Mestalla, an iconic stadium, which will be replaced within 2 years by the Nou Mestalla. 

Once we arrived in Valencia, we picked up our hotel room in the heart of the city, incredibly well located just a stone's throw from all the key tourist attractions and 25 minutes' walk from the stadium. The hotel is quality with excellent services, everything is perfect.

We took a first tour of the city in the sunshine and 30 degrees, a lovely and pleasant summer city with many historical monuments to see and a bustling old town centre. In the evening it was time to try the traditional specialty: tapas. Many quality restaurants are located around the hotel and Enigmatch recommended some in their guide.

 

Day 2: Match day.

Saturday evening sees our match Valencia CF - Athletic Club. This leaves us the day to explore the city. 

We started the day with the hotel breakfast and particularly the Spanish tradition: chocolate con churros. During the morning we headed to Valencia's central market, an absolute must-see in the city. It's a huge covered market with many stalls where you can find local specialities, grab food, taste new products ... It's open until 3pm.

In the afternoon we visited the City of Arts and Sciences, a complex with exceptional modern architecture. Many buildings with shapes inspired by nature (whale, eye, shells ...) featuring a planetarium, IMAX cinema, science museum, botanical garden, an exceptional aquarium, the Reina-Sofia Palace of the Arts ... The complex is magnificent to explore and different visits are possible depending on your preferences. We loved this surreal place worthy of Sydney or Dubai.

 

Day 2 continued: The match at Mestalla.

In the evening it's time to head to Mestalla for the Valencia CF - Athletic Club match. The surroundings of the stadium are festive, bars are full, there's a supermarket to buy drinks or cheap food and there are many stalls selling scarves and flags. An original feature: merchandise for Valencia CF is sold, but also for Athletic Club (and other Spanish clubs). 

Mestalla is gigantic, very impressive from the outside. We also came across a small procession of Athletic supporters arriving at the stadium.

We enter the stadium to discover this marvel, massive stands, a mini Camp Nou that already seems so huge. And then we settle into the stands for the match. The stadium fills in the quarter hour before the match starts. The stadium will be full.

On the pitch it's complicated for both teams but a red card in the second half for Athletic Club will swing the match and Valencia will end up winning 2-0. The goals released the stadium which could celebrate its players as they should, who are having a difficult season start. Worth noting in the stands a small kop of supporters who animated the stadium throughout the match.

After the match we head back to the hotel in about twenty minutes on foot, a perfect day!

 

Day 3: Beach.

The day after the match, we made the most of the hotel breakfast again and had a full day free to enjoy the city. Valencia is located by the sea, the weather was gorgeous, so we headed to the Malva-Rosa beaches on the advice of the Enigmatch PDF guide. A seafront with very large beach stretches, many festive restaurants and bars, a fully summery setting! At midday we had the chance to try local paella at a restaurant recommended by the Enigmatch PDF guide. After 2 days of sightseeing and the match, a lovely day of rest by the sea.

 

Day 4: The departure.

Monday it's time to head back. We enjoyed the breakfast one last time and headed to the airport during the day to return to our departure point.

 

In summary it was an exceptional experience. Even though we're used to travelling and discovering new stadiums, the sensation of surprise without preparing the trip in advance is brilliant! You leave without conceptualising the destination and the stadium, imagining it could be North or South or East, anything is possible. The trip organisation is perfect, we have nothing to think about except enjoying ourselves. Plus it leaves us plenty of time on the ground to do sightseeing and enjoy the destination.

 

A big thank you to Enigmatch for the invitation, a very nice experience that we highly recommend to you! 

If you'd also like to head off on a mystery trip around a match, head to their Enigmatch.fr website.

We know one concern is about the destination: we reassure you there are no nasty surprises! Enigmatch only organises weekends that they'd dream of doing too! A few examples of recent traveller destinations: Atlético Madrid, Bilbao, Ferencvaros, Fulham, Genoa, Manchester, Milan, Tottenham, Lisbon ... and the list is long.

 

Do you have any questions about the concept? Feel free to contact the Enigmatch team on contact@enigmatch.fr or Instagram, or contact us on the various Stadium Traveller networks.

 

See you soon for new experiences in stadiums!