SIAL Paris 2026 runs 17-21 October at Paris Nord Villepinte - five days, eight halls and a Saturday start. Your complete guide to the four ticket tiers and the add-ons that are not included, the hall-by-hall sector map, the new spaces for 2026, and what the show's own conflicting attendance numbers actually mean.
| Detail | Info | Detail | Info |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📅 Dates | 17-21 October 2026 (Sat-Wed) | 🏛️ Location | Villepinte, Paris, France |
| 🍽️ Focus | Food and drink across the whole supply chain - grocery, fresh, frozen, dairy, meat, seafood, produce, ingredients, equipment | 🏢 Venue | Parc des Expositions Paris Nord Villepinte |
| 🔁 Frequency | Biennial (even-numbered years) | 🌍 Exhibitors | 7,500 at the 2024 edition, from 127 countries |
| 👥 Attendance | 285,000 at 2024; 295,000 promoted for 2026 | 🎟️ Access | Paid, trade-only, 16+ - €130 to €210 by tier |
Quick Answer: When is SIAL Paris 2026 and what is it? SIAL Paris 2026 runs at , north-east of Paris near Charles de Gaulle airport. It is the world's largest food and drink trade exhibition, held every two years, and it takes over eight halls and roughly 270,000 to 280,000 square metres of floor. Halls open . It is . Standard visitor access is paid, although qualifying buyers may get in free through the . The , rising to and . Several things people assume are included are not: the three cost €140 each or €300 for all three, and the meeting lounge costs €100. New for this edition: SIAL Bakery, SIAL StrEat Lab, the Meet & Match space, three new Summits, and a VIP ticket that is open to all professional visitors for the first time.
If you searched "SIAL Paris 2026," you are probably one of three people: a food producer or exporter weighing a stand against the cost of a week in Paris, a buyer or category manager trying to work out which halls and which ticket actually matter, or someone who has just been handed a plane ticket and told to "cover SIAL."
The thing to understand first is the scale. SIAL is not a big trade show in the way most industries mean it. It is 285,000 people across five days in eight halls, with 400,000-plus products on display. You cannot walk it. You can only plan a route through it, and the difference between a good week and a wasted one at SIAL is almost entirely decided before you arrive.
This guide covers the 2026 schedule and the unusual Saturday start, how the ticket tiers and the paid add-ons work, the hall-by-hall sector map so you know where your category actually sits, the feature spaces and what is genuinely new this year, what the show's conflicting attendance figures mean, what exhibiting involves including the build-up timetable, and how to get out to Villepinte.
SIAL - the Salon International de l'Alimentation - has run since 1964 and is the flagship of a global network of food exhibitions. It is held in Paris every two years, in even-numbered years, which means 2026 follows the 60th-anniversary 2024 edition and the next one after this lands in 2028.
What makes SIAL different from most large trade fairs is that it is organised by product category rather than by company or country. The organiser reintroduced a strict sectorised layout in 2024 and has kept it for 2026: each part of the food industry gets its own dedicated halls, so a buyer sourcing frozen desserts walks a different route from one sourcing olive oil. If you have been to shows where national pavilions scatter the same product category across six halls, this is the opposite of that, and it is the single biggest reason experienced buyers rate the show.
The other defining feature is how international it is. At the 2024 edition, 78.5% of visitors came from outside France, from around 205 countries, and exhibitors came from 127 countries. The top five visitor nations were France, Italy, Spain, the UK and the Netherlands; the top five exhibiting nations were Italy, France, Spain, Turkey and China. This is a European show by address only.
| Year | Dates | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 15-19 October | |
| 2024 | 19-23 October | 60th anniversary edition |
| 2026 | 17-21 October | Saturday to Wednesday |
| 2028 | To be announced |
Note the day shift. The 2024 edition ran Saturday to Wednesday as well, but it started two days later in the month. If you are planning from an older diary, check the actual dates rather than assuming "third week of October."
The show runs Saturday 17 to Wednesday 21 October 2026.
| Date | Day | Hall hours |
|---|---|---|
| Sat 17 Oct | Day 1 | 10:00-18:30 |
| Sun 18 Oct | Day 2 | 10:00-18:30 |
| Mon 19 Oct | Day 3 | 10:00-18:30 |
| Tue 20 Oct | Day 4 | 10:00-18:30 |
| Wed 21 Oct | Day 5 (final day) | 10:00-17:00, last admission 14:00 |
Three scheduling details matter more here than at most shows.
It starts on a Saturday, and that is deliberate. SIAL explicitly says the show opens on Saturday "in order to avoid peak hours in transport and improve the comfort of our visitors and exhibitors." Paris Nord Villepinte is served by a single RER line that also carries commuters and airport traffic, and a Saturday opening moves day one off the weekday crush. Practically, it means you should be in Paris on Friday evening, not Sunday.
Wednesday has a hard cut-off. The final day closes at 17:00, and last admission is 14:00. That is not a soft guideline - if you plan a lunchtime flight arrival on the Wednesday intending to do an afternoon sweep, you may not get in at all. Treat Wednesday as a morning.
The middle of the week is where the content sits. All three SIAL Summits run on Monday 19 and Tuesday 20 October (see section 6), and school groups are restricted to those same two days. If you want the conference programme, you need Monday and Tuesday.
SIAL Paris is a paid, strictly trade-only event. There is no free public tier and no consumer day, and the age rule is enforced: children under 16 are not admitted even when accompanied. Tickets are personal and non-transferable, ID may be requested at the door, and the organiser reserves the right to ask for proof that you work in the industry. The one route in without paying is the vetted Top Buyers Programme, covered at the end of this section.
Registration is compulsory, and the on-site rate is punitive if you leave it late.
All prices include VAT. A standard ticket is valid for all five days.
| Tier | Dates | Solo | Group (min. 3) | VIP | School |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Early bird | 15 Apr - 16 Jun | €90 | €80 pp | €350 | €50 pp |
| Standard | 17 Jun - 9 Sep | €130 | €105 pp | €350 | €50 pp |
| Late bird | 10 Sep - 16 Oct | €160 | €130 pp | €350 | €50 pp |
| On site | From 17 Oct | €210 | not available | €350 | not available |
Two things to take from that table.
The next deadline is 9 September 2026. The €90 early-bird rate closed on 16 June. The €130 Standard rate runs until 9 September, then jumps to €160 from 10 September and €210 once the doors open on 17 October. In other words, waiting past 9 September costs you €30 a head, and turning up without a ticket costs you €80. SIAL markets the Standard rate as almost 38% below the on-site price, which the published numbers support.
The group rate is the biggest lever most teams do not pull. Three people is the minimum, and at the Standard tier it saves €25 per head; at Late Bird, €30. If you are sending a sourcing team, register them together.
The €350 VIP ticket is flat-rated - it does not rise across the tiers, which means its relative value improves the longer you wait. More significantly, 2026 is the first year it is on sale to all professional visitors. It was previously reserved for institutions and strategic partners.
What the extra money buys, on top of everything in a standard ticket:
One caveat on the early access: SIAL's published information contradicts itself. Some pages give the VIP Club an 08:00 opening; the current ticket page says only that it opens one hour before the show, which against a 10:00 hall opening would mean 09:00. The two claims appear in the same sentence in places. If early access is the reason you are buying the upgrade, confirm the lounge time with the organiser rather than relying on either figure.
This is the part that catches people out. A standard SIAL ticket gets you into every hall and every free feature space - SIAL Innovation, SIAL Taste, SIAL StrEat Lab, SIAL Bakery, SIAL Talks, SIAL Start-up - plus the online business-meetings and matchmaking service. It does not cover:
Note that "SIAL Meet & Match" refers to two different things on the show's own site, which is a genuine source of confusion. The matchmaking and business-meetings service - the tool you use to find exhibitors and book appointments in advance - is included with any ticket. The 700 m² physical lounge in Hall 6 is the €100 add-on. Only the second one costs money.
If you are a genuine decision-maker, do not buy a ticket before checking this. SIAL's Top Buyers Programme gives qualifying buyers free access for all five days, plus fast-track entry, a shuttle service, the Business Lounge and VIP Club, priority access to SIAL Innovation and SIAL Taste, Meet & Match access, a dedicated concierge from three weeks out, and invitations to the Top Buyers Cocktail.
Eligibility is genuinely restrictive: you need to work in agri-food or a related sector in import-export, retail, catering, food service or food processing, and hold a decision-making purchasing role - CEO, store director, purchasing manager or buyer, category manager. Applications go through a form on the show's site and are assessed. The 2024 edition ran an 8,000-strong major-buyer programme, so the bar is not impossibly high.
The €50 school ticket is valid for one day only, either Monday 19 or Tuesday 20 October, and schools are not admitted on the other three days. It is not sold at the door, and it has to be arranged by email with visit@sialparis.com rather than bought directly.
One live contradiction to be aware of: the fees page and the current visitor landing page both state a minimum of 3 people including an accompanying adult, while the badge platform states a minimum of 8. Two sources against one favours 3, but confirm by email before booking travel around it.
Visitors needing a French visa can request an invitation letter, but the sequence matters: you must buy your ticket first, then complete the invitation-letter form from your visitor area. Exhibitors do the same thing through the badge process in their exhibitor area, and each invitation letter has to be attached to a named badge. Given French visa processing times in autumn, this is a September job, not an October one.
This is the section worth screenshotting. SIAL publishes a full product-category-to-hall breakdown, and because the show is sectorised, knowing your hall genuinely halves your walking.
| Hall(s) | Sector | What is in it |
|---|---|---|
| 1, 2, 3, 4, 5A, 6A | Savoury food | Spices and seasoning, stocks and soups, oils and fats, canned and preserved, pasta and couscous, sauces, dressings, condiments, aperitif snacks, general grocery |
| 5A, 6A | Frozen products | Frozen fruit and veg, fish and shellfish, dairy and egg, ice cream and frozen desserts, frozen pastry, ready meals, meat and poultry |
| 5A | Gourmet; Regions of France | Fine food for specialist retail; French regional producers |
| 5B, 6A | Confectionery, biscuits and pastry | Sugar and sweeteners, biscuits, chocolate, sweets, jams and honey, desserts, flours, industrial baking, bakery and viennoiserie, breakfast |
| 5C | Wines, spirits and beverages | Wines, spirits, liqueurs, aperitifs, beers, ciders, waters, juices, syrups, sodas, plus hot beverages - coffee and tea |
| 4A, 6 | Ready-to-eat | Delicatessen, hot and cold starters, fresh dough and pasta, ready-made vegetable, fish, meat and poultry dishes, salads, sandwiches and snacks |
| 6 | Seafood, cured meat, meat and poultry | Fresh fish, molluscs and shellfish, semi-preserves; cooked, salt-cured and dried meats; fresh meat, minced, offal, vacuum-packed; fresh poultry, foie gras, game, rabbit |
| 7 | Dairy, ingredients, pet food, organic and wellness, services and equipment | Butter, cream, cheese, milk, eggs, yoghurt; technical and functional ingredients; pet food; dietetic, baby food, vegan and plant-based; processing equipment, packaging, hygiene, logistics, R&D services |
| 8 | Fruits, vegetables, pulses and grains | Fresh and ready-to-eat produce, tropical and non-tropical fruit, dried and dehydrated, potatoes, cereals, rice, corn, seeds, plants, tobacco |
Two traps in that map. First, plant-based products are in Hall 7, not with the meat or ready-meal sectors - SIAL flags this explicitly on its own categorisation sheet, because it is the mistake people make. Second, several categories are split across halls: savoury food touches six halls, frozen sits in two, confectionery in two. If your category appears twice, check the interactive map for the specific exhibitor rather than trusting the hall label.
Entrances are at Hall 8, Hall 5C, Hall 6 North and Hall 1. Pick the one nearest your first meeting rather than the one nearest the station - at this scale, the walk between halls is the expensive part.
Luggage and cloakrooms. Suitcases, trolleys and travel bags are banned from the halls. Only rucksacks and professional document or sample carriers are allowed. Luggage storage sits at the Hall 8, Hall 5C, Hall 6 North and Hall 1 entrances; paid cloakrooms are in the reception gallery between Halls 2 and 3, in Hall 5A and in Hall 7. If you are flying out on the Wednesday, plan for this - it is a common way to lose an hour.
Accessibility. Reserved parking is available (16 spaces in P1, 8 in P3) with a shuttle to the entrances, and PRM reception desks in Hall 1 and Hall 5C offer wheelchairs and assistance.
SIAL's feature programme is unusually large, and most of it is free with a standard ticket. Here is where everything sits.
| Space | Hall | Included? | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| SIAL Innovation | 6 | Free | The show's innovation competition and showcase |
| SIAL Taste | 6 | Free | 15-minute guided tastings of competition products |
| SIAL Start-up | 6 | Free | The Start-up Village, plus early-stage projects |
| SIAL For Change | 6 | Free | CSR and sustainability space and award |
| SIAL Meet & Match | 6 | €100 | 700 m² meeting lounge |
| SIAL StrEat Lab | Hall 6 connecting tunnel | Free | 600 m² street-food and foodservice "living lab" |
| SIAL Bakery | 5B | Free | 85 m² working bakery |
| SIAL Talks | 5A | Free | Conference and roundtable forum |
| SIAL Summits | not published | €140 / €300 | Three premium half-day summits |
| La Guinguette | Esplanade, in front of Hall 6 | Free | Casual food, drink and evening entertainment |
SIAL Innovation, run in partnership with Protéines XTC since 1996, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this edition with 2,500 products in competition, an enriched winners' showcase and dedicated discovery trails across the show floor. If you are scouting new products, this is the shortest path from arrival to a shortlist. It sits in Hall 6.
SIAL Taste is its tasting arm, also in Hall 6. Roughly 100 products from the competition are served in 15-minute sessions of 5 products each, hosted by a culinary expert. There is no schedule and no way to know which five you will get - you queue and take what comes. Sessions hold 25 people, so the queue moves faster than it looks.
SIAL Bakery (Hall 5B) is a brand-new 85 m² working bakery modelled on a Parisian shop, with two bakers running demonstrations, a functional workshop showing partners' ovens, mixers, fermentation and laminating equipment in real conditions, and a tasting and coffee bar. It is aimed squarely at foodservice, snacking and hospitality buyers. Hours mirror the show: 10:00-18:30 Saturday to Tuesday, 10:00-17:00 Wednesday.
SIAL StrEat Lab is a 600 m²-plus reimagined Parisian street in the Hall 6 connecting tunnel, covering street food, snacking, world cuisines and out-of-home formats. Food and drink stations, live cooking shows run by exhibitors, interactive content and performances. If you work in food-away-from-home, HoReCa, snacking or convenience retail, this is the one to book time for.
SIAL Meet & Match (Hall 6) is the new 700 m² business space - a meeting area of 25 tables and 85 seats plus a lounge with refreshments and device charging. Tables are booked on site for one-hour slots, consecutive bookings are not allowed, and each meeting takes up to 3 guests. Access is €100 including VAT and capped at 1,000 passes across the five days, free for VIP ticket holders and Top Buyers. Worth doing the maths: if you would otherwise buy a €130 standard ticket plus €100 for Meet & Match, the €350 VIP is €120 more and adds the dedicated entrance, the 08:00 VIP Club and the concierge.
SIAL For Change (Hall 6) has been upgraded from a competition into a full immersive space for 2026. It is the show's CSR and sustainability platform, launched in 2024 with the CSR agency Hyssop, which both sets the award criteria and judges entries as an independent third party. If your purchasing brief carries ESG criteria, this is where the answers are collected.
La Guinguette on the esplanade in front of Hall 6 is the show's social space, indoor and outdoor, open to all with no reservation. Published hours are Saturday, Monday and Tuesday 10:00-20:00, Sunday 10:00-18:30, Wednesday 10:00-17:00 - note that Sunday closes earlier than the days either side of it, which is how the organiser has published it.
The Summits are the one part of the content programme you have to pay for, and they are worth understanding before you build your diary, because all three run on just two days.
| Summit | Day | Time | Question it addresses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feeding a world under pressure | Mon 19 Oct | 10:30-13:00 | How must the food industry adapt to environmental and geopolitical pressure to secure its future? |
| Food intelligence: the new value chain | Mon 19 Oct | 14:00-16:30 | How are technology, data, platforms and AI reshaping the game? |
| The rise of personalized food | Tue 20 Oct | 14:00-16:30 | How are trends transforming how we eat, and how are science and technology reinventing personalised nutrition? |
Pricing: €300 for the full Summits Pack covering all three, or €140 for single access to one. Places are limited. Both are bought as add-ons through the SIAL ticketing platform, on top of a visitor ticket.
On the maths: three single passes would cost €420, so the pack saves €120, or about 29%. SIAL advertises the pack as a 50% saving, but its own published prices do not support that figure.
The sessions run in French and English with simultaneous interpretation both ways, which is not always true of French trade-show programming and is worth knowing if your team is not francophone.
Two practical notes. The Monday summits run back to back with an hour's gap - if you buy the pack, Monday is essentially gone from 10:30 to 16:30, so put your stand meetings on Saturday, Sunday or Wednesday morning. And the 2024 edition ran four summits (CSR, AI and deeptech, supply chains, and Africa); 2026 has been rebuilt down to three, so do not plan from the old programme.
SIAL Talks, in Hall 5A, is the free alternative: a rolling forum of conferences and roundtables covering consumer trends via SIAL Insights, global market and geopolitical shifts, food innovation, and sustainability. If you cannot justify €300, this is where much of the same ground gets covered.
SIAL's headline figures need care, because the organiser's own pages carry four different sets of them. Here is what each source actually says.
| Source | Visitors | Exhibitors | Space |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comexposium post-show release, 2024 edition | 285,000 (78.5% international, 205 countries) | 7,500 (127 countries) | 270,000+ m² |
| SIAL "why visit" page | 285,000 expected, 85% international, 200+ countries | 7,500 (125 countries) | not stated |
| SIAL "exhibit" page | 295,000 expected, 205 countries | not stated | not stated |
| SIAL news post, April 2026 | 295,000 | 8,000 | 280,000 m² |
The 2024 post-show release is the only one of these that reports something that actually happened, so it is the number to plan around: roughly 285,000 visitors and 7,500 exhibitors across 270,000 m². The 295,000 and 8,000 figures are targets for this edition, not results, and the international share varies between 78.5% (measured in 2024) and 85% (a projection).
The rest of the 2024 official numbers are more useful than the headline ones, because they describe buying behaviour rather than crowd size:
The organiser's exhibitor-facing marketing quotes slightly different versions of some of these for 2026 - 134 contacts per stand, 5,000 top buyers with €60 billion in purchasing power, 92% of visitors in a purchasing role, 88% of 2024 exhibitors signing contracts with new countries, and 8 in 10 exhibitors intending to return. Where the 2024 post-show release and the 2026 sales page disagree, the post-show release is the one with a completed edition behind it.
Space is still bookable. Unlike some October shows, SIAL's stand-booking flow was still open and running a countdown as of late August 2026, with a five-step quotation process and the option to be called back by an advisor. There is no published rate card - floor space is quoted per project through the exhibitor portal, which is standard for a show this size and means the only way to get a real number is to request a quotation.
This is published and specific, and it is the thing that most often goes wrong for first-time exhibitors:
| Phase | Dates | Exhibitor hours |
|---|---|---|
| Set-up | Mon 12 - Wed 14 October | 07:30-19:30 |
| Set-up | Thu 15 - Fri 16 October | 07:30-22:00 |
| Show open | Sat 17 October | 08:00-20:00 |
| Show open | Sun 18 - Tue 20 October | 09:00-20:00 |
| Show open | Wed 21 October | 09:00-17:00, then 17:00 to midnight |
| Dismantling | Thu 22 - Fri 23 October | 07:30-19:30 |
| Dismantling | Sat 24 October | 07:30-14:00 |
Four details worth pulling out:
Exhibitors get 1 badge per 4 m², capped at 150, for direct exhibitors and pavilion organisers; co-exhibitors and collective direct exhibitors get 10 each on top of the host's quota. Badges are generated in the exhibitor area, each needs a unique email address, and they cannot be downloaded until all invoices are settled - a genuinely common reason teams arrive without credentials. A photo on the badge is optional but removes the need to show ID at every entry.
Service-provider badges only work during build-up and dismantling; they will not get anyone in during show days. Sharing a stand requires a Partner registration fee and a formal declaration through the "Partners" tab, with organiser validation before the co-exhibitor appears in the public exhibitor list.
Passenger-vehicle parking is no longer sold through the online shop for this edition. You take a ticket at the barrier and pay on exit for the time used, which means a fresh ticket each day if you are attending throughout. Light commercial and heavy goods vehicle spaces are still bought in advance and collected from Exhibitor Reception during build-up. Parking during set-up and dismantling is free, but every vehicle has to be registered on LOGIPASS first, with access via the A104 exit 1.
Four organiser-run routes are open to exhibitors and cost nothing but effort: submitting a product to SIAL Innovation, putting a product forward for a SIAL Taste session, speaking at SIAL Talks, and entering the SIAL For Change CSR award. For a mid-sized exhibitor these are usually a better return than more square metres.
The venue is at Parc des Expositions de Paris-Nord Villepinte, 82 Avenue des Nations, 93420 Villepinte, between central Paris and Charles de Gaulle airport.
By RER. Take RER B towards Aéroport Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle and get off at Parc des Expositions. From Gare du Nord it is about 20 minutes, with trains roughly every 7 minutes between 07:00 and 20:00.
The single most common mistake: there is a station called Villepinte on the same line, and it does not serve the exhibition centre. You want Parc des Expositions.
Which ticket. The station is outside Paris proper, so a standard Metro ticket is not valid. You need a Ticket Métro-Train-RER, which covers the whole Île-de-France rail network including connections - €2.55 per journey in 2026 - or a Navigo Day pass. Note that these are no longer sold as paper tickets: you load them onto a smartphone via the Île-de-France Mobilités app, or onto a reusable Navigo Easy card bought at a station. RER tickets are non-exchangeable and non-refundable. SIAL's own advice is to buy your return leg in the morning to avoid the ticket-machine queues when the halls empty.
From the main stations:
| From | Route |
|---|---|
| Gare du Nord | RER B direct |
| Gare de l'Est | Walk to Gare du Nord, then RER B |
| Gare de Lyon | RER A to Châtelet-Les Halles, then RER B |
| Gare Montparnasse | Metro 4 to Denfert-Rochereau, then RER B |
| Gare Saint-Lazare | Metro 14 to Châtelet, then RER B from Châtelet-Les Halles |
| Gare d'Austerlitz | Metro 5 to Gare du Nord, then RER B |
From the airports. CDG has two RER B stations, and picking the right one saves a detour. From Terminal 2, the station (Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 2 TGV) is inside the terminal between the CD and EF buildings - take RER B towards Paris and get off at Parc des Expositions. From Terminal 1, take the free CDGVAL automatic shuttle to Terminal 3-Roissypôle, about ten minutes, then board RER B towards Paris at Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 1. From Terminal 3, that same station is a five-minute walk. SIAL's own page sends Terminal 1 passengers to the Terminal 2 station instead, which works but adds a leg in the wrong direction - trains from CDG2 towards Paris call at CDG1 anyway. From Orly, Metro 14 to Châtelet, then RER B towards Roissy - about 50 minutes in total. Visitors landing at Paris-Le Bourget get a free shuttle from the North Roundabout.
By car. From Paris, A1 or A3, then the A104 slip road towards Soissons, following signs for Parc des Expositions. If the A1 is blocked, exit at Le Bourget and come in via the N2, N370 and CD40. From Roissy or Lille, A1 then A104. From Nancy or Metz, A4 then A104.
Accommodation. B-Network is the show's official hotel reservation partner and offers preferential rates. Book early: a major international audience travelling through the Paris-CDG corridor in the same week does what you would expect to hotel pricing, and the hotels nearest the airport and the venue go first.
SIAL Paris is the flagship of a network of food shows that runs in the years and regions in between, which matters if the October dates do not work or you want a regional route to market:
Buyers accepted into the Top Buyers Programme may be invited into The SIAL Society, the network's buyers' club, which carries VIP status across 11 SIAL shows worldwide.
SIAL Paris 2026 runs from Saturday 17 to Wednesday 21 October 2026 at Parc des Expositions Paris Nord Villepinte, north-east of Paris. Halls are open 10:00-18:30 Saturday to Tuesday and 10:00-17:00 on Wednesday, with last admission at 14:00 on the final day.
Solo visitor tickets are €90 at the early-bird rate, €130 standard, €160 late bird and €210 on site, all including VAT and valid for all five days. Groups of three or more pay €80 to €130 per person depending on tier. A VIP ticket is €350 at every tier. The €90 early-bird rate closed on 16 June 2026. The €130 Standard rate runs until 9 September 2026, the €160 late-bird rate applies from 10 September to 16 October, and the €210 on-site rate applies from 17 October.
No. SIAL Paris is strictly a trade-only event. Children under 16 are not admitted even when accompanied, tickets are personal and non-transferable, ID may be requested at the entrances, and the organiser can ask for proof that you work in the industry before issuing a ticket or refuse entry.
Savoury food spans Halls 1, 2, 3, 4, 5A and 6A. Frozen products are in 5A and 6A; gourmet and Regions of France in 5A; confectionery, biscuits and pastry in 5B and 6A; wines, spirits and beverages in 5C; ready-to-eat in 4A and 6; seafood, cured meat, meat and poultry in Hall 6; dairy, ingredients, pet food, organic and wellness and services and equipment in Hall 7; and fruits, vegetables, pulses and grains in Hall 8. Plant-based products sit in Hall 7, not with meat or ready meals.
The 2026 edition adds SIAL Bakery, an 85 m² working bakery in Hall 5B; SIAL StrEat Lab, a 600 m² street-food and foodservice space in the Hall 6 connecting tunnel; SIAL Meet & Match, a 700 m² paid meeting lounge in Hall 6; and three new SIAL Summits. SIAL Innovation marks its 30th anniversary with 2,500 products in competition, SIAL For Change expands into a full immersive space, and the VIP ticket is on sale to all professionals for the first time.
No. The three SIAL Summits are a paid add-on: €140 for single access to one summit, or €300 for the full Summits Pack covering all three. Since three single passes would cost €420, the pack saves €120, or about 29% - SIAL advertises it as a 50% saving, which its own published prices do not support. Places are limited. They run on Monday 19 and Tuesday 20 October only, in French and English with simultaneous interpretation.
The 2024 edition drew 285,000 visitors, 78.5% of them international from around 205 countries, and 7,500 exhibitors from 127 countries across more than 270,000 m². The organiser is promoting 295,000 visitors and 8,000 exhibitors for 2026, but those are targets rather than results.
Only through the Top Buyers Programme, which gives qualifying buyers free five-day access plus fast-track entry, a shuttle, the VIP Club and Business Lounge, Meet & Match access and a concierge service. You must work in agri-food or a related sector in import-export, retail, catering, food service or food processing, and hold a decision-making purchasing role such as CEO, store director, purchasing manager or category manager. Applications are assessed by the organiser.
Yes. The exhibitor booking flow was still open as of late August 2026, with a five-step online quotation process and the option to speak to an advisor. SIAL does not publish a floor-space rate card, so pricing comes from a per-project quotation. Note that the deadline to request early stand installation before the official build-up dates is 23 September 2026, after which charges rise by 20%.
Take RER B towards Aéroport Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle and get off at Parc des Expositions, about 20 minutes from Gare du Nord with trains roughly every 7 minutes. Do not get off at Villepinte station, which does not serve the exhibition centre. A standard Metro ticket is not valid; you need a Ticket Métro-Train-RER at €2.55 per journey in 2026, or a Navigo Day pass, loaded onto a smartphone via the Île-de-France Mobilités app or onto a Navigo Easy card. Coming from CDG Terminal 1, take the free CDGVAL shuttle to Terminal 3-Roissypôle and board RER B at Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 1. Buy your return leg in the morning to avoid closing-time queues.
