Getting to Chase Field

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The quick read

Chase Field sits in the heart of downtown Phoenix, not in a ring of parking lots, and it is one of the more transit-friendly parks in MLB. Here is the order we recommend. Rideshare first: it skips the parking cost and the slow crawl out of a downtown garage after the game. Then the Valley Metro light rail, which stops right outside the park, so for a lot of fans it is the simplest way in. Then driving, an easy option in a downtown full of garages and the practical pick for groups.

The fastest planning move: drop “Chase Field” into your maps app with your hotel as the start and compare drive, rideshare, and transit. It answers the question for your exact trip in 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

Type “Chase Field” into Apple Maps or Google Maps, set your hotel as the start, and toggle through the modes: drive, rideshare, transit. The right answer depends on where you start. From a downtown hotel a few blocks out, you can just walk. From near a light-rail stop, the train wins. From farther out, a rideshare or a garage wins. Let the app sort your specific case, then use the sections below for the detail.

Rideshare

Uber and Lyft drop off and pick up along Jefferson Street or 4th Street near the main entrance. The appeal is simple: no parking cost, and no waiting out the garage exit after the game.

The ride in is easy. The ride home is the part that catches people: when the park empties at once, fares tend to surge for the first stretch after the final out. The fix is simple 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 at the gates with everyone else. Or wait the rush out somewhere nearby; the options are in the around-the-ballpark section.

The light rail

Valley Metro light rail (the Phoenix-area light-rail system) stops right outside the park at 3rd Street and Jefferson, and the Downtown Phoenix Hub/Jefferson Street station is about a 2-minute walk away. For a lot of fans this is the easiest way in: no parking, no garage exit, and a short walk at the other end.

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 outside downtown for nothing and ride the rest of the way in.

One check before you ride: Valley Metro recently reorganized the system into separate lines, so confirm which line serves the downtown stops on a game night and where it runs from your end. Your maps app will sort this, or pull it up on the Valley Metro site.

When the light rail is the right call

• Your hotel is a short walk from a stop on a line that serves the downtown stations.
• You are flying in and skipping the rental car (the light rail connects to the airport via the Sky Train).
• You want to skip the downtown parking cost and the post-game garage exit entirely.
• You are solo or a couple, where the per-person fare math works best.

Driving and parking

Downtown Phoenix keeps this part simple: garages and surface lots are everywhere, so finding a spot is rarely the problem. The trade-off is the slow crawl out of a garage when everyone leaves at once; go in expecting it and it is manageable.

• Garages and surface lots run roughly $15 to $35, depending on proximity and the date.
• The Chase Field Garage on 4th Street is the closest. Closest tends to cost the most; a few blocks out usually costs less.
• Buy parking in advance. It is usually cheaper than paying at the gate, and it speeds up entry on a busy night.

SpotHero for a spot in advance

SpotHero is the simplest way to lock in Chase Field parking ahead of time. It 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. Rates tend to rise on higher-demand dates, so book early.

How it works:

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

When driving is the right call

• You are a group of three or four and want the car door to door. Splitting a $15-to-$35 lot lands near the $4-a-head light-rail day pass, so this one is convenience, not savings.
• You are staying somewhere without an easy light-rail connection.
• You want full control of when you leave after the game, with the garage exit as the price of it.
• You already have a rental car for the rest of an Arizona trip.

From the airport

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) sits about 4 miles east of downtown, one of the closest airport-to-ballpark hops in the majors. Two easy ways in: a rideshare straight to the park, which is the simplest call with luggage, or the light rail with a transfer via the PHX Sky Train, the airport’s connector to the light-rail line.

Gates and getting in

Go to whichever gate is closest to where you parked, got dropped off, or stepped off the train. There is rarely a reason to walk around the building for a different entrance. Chase Field’s gates are A, B, F, J, and K, plus a Hall of Fame Museum Gate.

Gates open 90 minutes before first pitch Sunday through Friday, and 2 hours before on Saturday. If you are a D-backs Advantage Member, early entry opens 30 minutes earlier on Fridays and Saturdays at Gates B and J.

Know Chase Field better than we do? Tell us what we got wrong, or where we should be sending people instead.