A Guide to Attending the French Open at Roland Garros in Paris, France

Consider a Custom Package to Attend the French Open at Roland Garros in Paris, France

A custom package to attend the French Open involves tailoring the experience to your preferences. Helping you choose a hotel in Paris, adding your preferred match-day experience and making it a trip to remember are all musts. Packages, of course, include first-class accommodations in Paris, a hospitality area with an open bar and hors d’oeuvres, expert pre-travel assistance, personalized itineraries and an official program.

How Many Days Should You Plan For?

It depends. How much tennis do you want to watch? For center court, there is a day session and a night session. You will not know who will be playing the night before. They try to mix the players up at different playing times. The further you get into the tournament, it is more predictable in terms of who will be playing at what time, due to the number of players left in the field. You will likely see a ladies' match and a gentleman's match. One or two days is enough.

What Ticket Should I Purchase?

If you want a guaranteed seat, you can purchase a ticket to the three main stadiums (Philippe Chatrier, Suzanne Lenglen, Simonne Mathieu). These will also feature some of the bigger names in the draw. You will also have access to the outside courts. These are open seating. There will still be big names on these outside courts, but you are less likely to see Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal. The other option is to purchase a ground ticket. The grounds ticket allows you only access to the outside courts, with no access to the main stadiums.

Getting to Roland Garros for the French Open

Getting to Roland Garros is pretty easy. The Paris transportation system is as good as any major metro area. I stayed near the Champs Elysees; from there, it was a 15-20-minute Uber ride. You can take the subway, which would take about 30 minutes.

What to Do at the French Open

Take some time to walk the grounds and soak up the atmosphere. You will notice that the stadiums are huge, but it’s not as open as the US Open. It’s still quite a massive area, only there is less ground to cover. This is not a negative, just my comparison between the grand slams. Your ticket will cover several matches, but make sure if there is a player you want to catch, work your schedule around that. Catch a doubles match; a doubles match in person is even better. Catch a match at one of the outside courts. It's going to be smaller crowds, but just as exciting.

Drink plenty of water, and apply plenty of sunscreen. If you catch the French Open on a nice day, you will get a fair amount of sun on a spring afternoon.

Day Trips:

• Champagne tasting in Champagne.

• A private tour of the Palace of Versailles.

• Visit the Eiffel Tower.

• Musee du Lourve.

• The Catacombs of Paris.

• Notre Dame Cathedral

• Depending on if you choose a hospitality package, there will be a mix of four premium club-style locations and four different on-site venues.

• For a non-premium guest and sit-down option, there is the Brasserie des Mousquetaires.

• Every tennis tournament has a food court. The food court offers a mixture of options.

• Every tennis tournament also has a signature drink. The signature drink of the French Open is Moet + Chandon champagne..

• Near Suzanne Lenglen Court is a hamburger option. French hamburgers are actually pretty amazing compared to what you would get in the US.

• You can't go to Paris and not go to a patisserie. Of course there is on at Roland Garros - Yann Couvreur patisserie.