Getting to Chase Field

The quick read

Chase Field is one of the easier parks in baseball to get to. It sits in the heart of downtown Phoenix, not stranded in a ring of parking lots, so you have real choices: a short rideshare, a light rail that stops right outside the gates, or a downtown garage. That is a real contrast with the car-only parks, where driving is the only practical way in.

So here is the order we recommend. Rideshare first, because it skips the parking math and the post-game garage crawl entirely. Then the Valley Metro light rail, which is unusually good here: a stop sits right outside the park, so for a lot of fans it is the simplest way in. Then driving and parking, which is a real and easy option in a downtown full of garages, especially for groups.

One planning move beats all of this: drop “Chase Field” into your maps app with your hotel as the start and toggle through drive, rideshare, and transit. It will give you the real time and cost from your exact starting point in about fifteen seconds.

Parking rates, light-rail fares, rideshare zones, and gate times shift year to year. Give anything time-sensitive below a quick check against mlb.com/dbacks or valleymetro.org before you build a plan around it.

Check your own trip in the maps app

Start here. Type “Chase Field” into Apple Maps or Google Maps, set your hotel as the start, and toggle through the modes: drive, rideshare, transit. The apps have the Valley Metro schedule built in, so they will tell you the real time and cost for each option from your exact starting point.

It matters because the right answer changes with where you start. From a downtown core hotel a few blocks away, you might just walk. From near a light-rail stop, the train is the easy answer. From farther out, a rideshare or a downtown garage wins. Let the app sort it for your specific case, then use the sections below for the detail.

Rideshare

Rideshare is the easy default here, and it is the option we lead with. Uber and Lyft drop off and pick up along Jefferson Street or 4th Street near the main entrance. The appeal is simple: you skip the parking math, and you skip the slow crawl out of a downtown garage after the game.

The ride in is straightforward. The ride home is the part that catches people. When the park empties at once, the apps surge for the first stretch after the final out. The fix is easy at a downtown park: walk a block or two toward Washington Street or 1st Avenue before you request, and you will usually get a faster pickup and a lower fare than standing right outside the gates with everyone else. Or grab a drink nearby and let the rush fade before you ride. Those spots are in the around-the-ballpark guide.

The light rail

Public transit is a real option at Chase Field, which is not something we get to say about most parks. Valley Metro light rail (the Phoenix-area light-rail system) stops right outside the park at 3rd Street and Jefferson, with the Downtown Phoenix Hub station at Jefferson Street about a two-minute walk away. For a lot of fans this is the easiest way to the game: no parking, no garage crawl on the way out, and the train drops you within a short walk of the gates.

The fares are cheap. A single ride runs about $2 and an all-day pass about $4, per person. Free park-and-ride lots feed the line, so you can park away from downtown for nothing and ride the rest of the way in, which sidesteps both the downtown parking cost and the post-game traffic.

One thing to confirm before you go: Valley Metro recently restructured the system into separate lines (cited as A and B lines), so check which line serves the downtown stops on a game night and where it runs from your end. The maps app will sort this for you, or you can pull it up on the Valley Metro site.

When the light rail is the right call

Your hotel is a short walk from a light-rail stop on a line that runs to the downtown stops.
You are flying in and would rather not deal with a car (the light rail connects from the airport via the Sky Train; see below).
You want to skip the downtown parking cost and the post-game garage crawl entirely.
You are traveling solo or as a couple, where the per-person fare math is best.

Driving and parking

Driving is a real option, and at a downtown park like this it is an easy one. Unlike the lot-ringed stadiums, Chase Field is surrounded by downtown garages and surface lots, so finding a spot is rarely the problem. It is the practical default for a group of three or more, where the per-person rideshare cost adds up, or anyone already in a rental car for the rest of an Arizona trip. The only trade-off is the slow crawl out of a downtown garage when everyone leaves at once. Go in expecting it and it is manageable.

A few things to know.

Downtown garages and surface lots run roughly $15 to $35, depending on proximity and the day. Advance is cheaper than paying at the gate.
The Chase Field Garage on 4th Street is the closest, which is the trade-off for the price: closest costs more, a few blocks out costs less.
Buy your parking in advance. It is cheaper than the gate and it speeds up entry on a busy night.

SpotHero for a spot in advance

For a spot reserved ahead of time, SpotHero is the simplest way to lock in Chase Field parking. SpotHero is a parking-reservation app: you book a downtown garage or lot in advance, prepay in the app, and drive straight to it on game day. Prices spike by event, so check live.

How it works:

Open the SpotHero app or the Chase Field parking page.
Enter your game date and time.
Filter by walking distance, price, or covered versus open.
Reserve and pay in the app.
Show the digital pass at the lot entrance.

Heads up: the SpotHero link above is an affiliate link. If you book through it, we get a small cut at no extra cost to you. It doesn’t change what we recommend.

When driving is the right call

You are a group of three or more, where the parking cost beats per-person rideshare fares.
You are staying somewhere outside an easy light-rail connection.
You want full flexibility on when you leave after the game (and you are fine with the garage crawl as the price of it).
You already have a rental car for the rest of your Arizona trip.

From the airport

This is one of Chase Field’s quiet advantages. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) sits about four miles east of downtown, one of the shortest airport-to-ballpark hops in the majors. You have two easy ways in: a rideshare or cab straight to the park, which is the simplest with luggage and only a few miles, or the light rail with a transfer via the PHX Sky Train (the free airport people-mover that connects the terminals to a Valley Metro light-rail station). If your timing lines up, the train is cheap and drops you near the gates.

Gates and getting in

Go to whichever gate is closest to where you parked, got dropped off, or stepped off the light rail. There is rarely a reason to hike around the stadium for a different entrance, and at a downtown park the closest gate is usually the one your garage, drop-off, or train stop already points you toward.

Gates open about 90 minutes before first pitch on Sunday through Thursday and about 2 hours before on Friday and Saturday.