Cactus League spring training runs from mid-February through late March, and for those weeks the Phoenix metro becomes the center of the baseball world. All of the ballparks sit within roughly a 45-minute drive of one another, but the Valley is wide, hotel prices surge during these peak weeks, and rooms near the most popular ballparks sell out weeks in advance. The smartest way to book the trip is to reverse the usual search: pick the ballpark you most want to see first, then choose your hotel around it. This guide walks through the lodging logic for each ballpark, the realistic split between the East Valley and West Valley, sample multi-game weeks, and how private door-to-door shuttles tie the whole schedule together. Sloan Park shuttle
Start With the Ballpark, Then Book the Hotel
Spring training is peak season for the entire Valley, and that changes the booking math. Rooms near the most popular ballparks sell out weeks in advance, hotel prices surge across the metro, and the perfectly located hotel you find in a January search may be gone by February. Anchoring the trip to one ballpark cuts through the noise: you book around the stadium you care about most, then decide whether the rest of your itinerary leans east or west. Camelback Ranch shuttle
The quick map of who plays where:
- Chicago Cubs — Sloan Park, 2330 W Rio Salado Pkwy, Mesa, near Tempe and Tempe Town Lake
- Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox — Camelback Ranch, Glendale, next to the Westgate Entertainment District
- Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies — Salt River Fields, 7555 N Pima Rd, near the Scottsdale North/Loop 101 corridor
- San Francisco Giants — Scottsdale Stadium, Old Town Scottsdale
- Los Angeles Angels — Tempe Diablo Stadium, Tempe
- San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners — Peoria Sports Complex, 16101 N 83rd Ave, Peoria
- Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals — Surprise Stadium, 15850 N Bullard Ave, Surprise
- Cleveland Guardians and Cincinnati Reds — Goodyear Ballpark, 933 S Ballpark Way, Goodyear
One more pattern to plan around: it is common for a single fan party to attend games at two or three different ballparks in one week. Your hotel choice matters less for the games themselves and more for where you will spend the mornings, evenings and non-game hours in between. Salt River Fields shuttle
East Valley Home Base: Mesa, Tempe and Scottsdale
Cubs — Mesa. Sloan Park sits at 2330 W Rio Salado Pkwy in Mesa, right against the Tempe line and Tempe Town Lake. The Sheraton Mesa Hotel at Wrigleyville West is the natural anchor here, in the ballpark district, with Tempe's restaurants and the lake a short ride away. Renaissance Phoenix Glendale shuttle
Angels — Tempe. Tempe Diablo Stadium anchors the south side of Tempe. A Tempe hotel base splits the difference well: Sloan Park sits nearby to the north and Old Town Scottsdale to the northeast, which makes Tempe a flexible pick if your week mixes Cubs and Giants games around an Angels game. Aloft Glendale at Westgate shuttle
Giants — Old Town Scottsdale. Scottsdale Stadium is the rare spring training park you can build an entire trip around. Hotels in Old Town Scottsdale put you within an easy walk of the gate, and the surrounding restaurants and bars cover everything from pregame coffee to postgame dinner.
D-backs and Rockies — North Scottsdale. Salt River Fields sits at 7555 N Pima Rd near the Scottsdale North/Loop 101 corridor. Lodging along that corridor keeps you minutes from the ballpark while still putting the rest of the East Valley within reach.
Overall, the East Valley is the friendliest geography in the Cactus League: Sloan Park, Tempe Diablo Stadium, Scottsdale Stadium and Salt River Fields all sit inside that roughly 45-minute sphere, so one well-chosen hotel can serve a four-ballpark week.
West Valley Home Base: Glendale, Peoria, Surprise and Goodyear
Dodgers and White Sox — Glendale. Camelback Ranch sits beside the Westgate Entertainment District, so dining and evening entertainment are already next door. Two hotels with dedicated route pages anchor the area: the Renaissance Phoenix Glendale Hotel & Spa and the Aloft Glendale at Westgate, both convenient for Camelback Ranch games and for events at nearby State Farm Stadium.
Padres and Mariners — Peoria. The Peoria Sports Complex at 16101 N 83rd Ave hosts two clubs all spring. A Peoria hotel base keeps Camelback Ranch to the south and Surprise Stadium to the northwest — exactly the arc a Padres-Mariners-Royals week follows.
Rangers and Royals — Surprise. Surprise Stadium sits at 15850 N Bullard Ave on the Valley's western edge. Because it is the farthest hub from the East Valley ballparks, Surprise pairs best with Peoria and Glendale on a West Valley schedule.
Guardians and Reds — Goodyear. Goodyear Ballpark at 933 S Ballpark Way serves two clubs at the metro's southwest corner. From Goodyear, Camelback Ranch and the Westgate hotels are a straightforward drive north.
The West Valley's four ballparks — Camelback Ranch, Peoria, Surprise and Goodyear — cluster tightly enough that a single Glendale or Peoria hotel can serve a three-game week without ever crossing to the East side.
Sample Multi-Game Weeks
Since two or three ballparks in one week is the norm, it helps to see how the geography plays out in practice. These two samples assume you would rather watch baseball than improvise drives you did not plan for.
An East Valley week
- Day 1: Cubs at Sloan Park, with a Mesa or Tempe hotel as the base
- Day 2: Giants at Scottsdale Stadium — the shortest hop of the week if you are sleeping in Old Town
- Day 3: Angels at Tempe Diablo Stadium, with dinner in Tempe afterward
- Day 4: D-backs or Rockies at Salt River Fields to finish the week up north
A West Valley week
- Day 1: Dodgers or White Sox at Camelback Ranch, sleeping at the Renaissance Phoenix Glendale or the Aloft at Westgate
- Day 2: Padres or Mariners at the Peoria Sports Complex, an easy ride up the road
- Day 3: Rangers or Royals at Surprise Stadium, the farthest point of the week
- Day 4: Guardians or Reds at Goodyear Ballpark on the drive back south
The split-stay option. If your must-see list genuinely spans both sides — a Cubs game and a Dodgers game in the same week, for example — consider two shorter hotel stays instead of one. A few nights in Mesa or Scottsdale followed by a few nights in Glendale keeps every game day short, and a door-to-door shuttle can move your party and luggage between hotels in a single trip.
How Private Shuttles Stitch the Days Together
This is where a spring training week either runs itself or comes apart. The trip is really a chain of short transfers: airport to hotel, hotel to ballpark, ballpark to dinner, dinner to hotel, and sometimes hotel to hotel mid-week. Airport Shuttle of Phoenix runs private door-to-door rides 24/7, so every link in that chain is one booked ride in a vehicle dedicated to your party — no shared rides with strangers, no surge pricing when the whole Valley seems headed to the same ballpark at the same hour.
On the airport legs, flight tracking means your driver follows your inbound flight, so a delayed landing does not become a missed pickup. And because booking is open 24/7, early-morning departures and late-night arrivals — both common during peak season — are handled the same as a midday run.
For stadium days, Airport Shuttle of Phoenix maintains dedicated route pages for Sloan Park, Camelback Ranch, Salt River Fields, Peoria Sports Complex, Surprise Stadium, Scottsdale Stadium, Tempe Diablo Stadium and State Farm Stadium. Pull up the page for each ballpark on your itinerary and the hotel-to-stadium piece of that day is planned before you land.
Groups feel the difference most. One private van keeps everyone together between the hotel, the ballpark and dinner, rather than splitting across two rental cars or waiting in rideshare lines outside a crowded gate.
Practical Booking Habits for Peak Season
A few habits separate a smooth spring training week from a stressful one:
- Book rooms weeks ahead, not days ahead. Rooms near the popular ballparks sell out well in advance, and prices climb as game dates get closer.
- Anchor on the must-see ballpark. Choose the hotel around the stadium you will visit most, and treat everything else as a day trip.
- Lock in airport rides when you book flights. Arrival and departure transfers are the two rides you cannot improvise, and setting them early keeps the bookends of the trip predictable.
- Share exact addresses. Ballpark addresses like 2330 W Rio Salado Pkwy or 16101 N 83rd Ave, plus your hotel name, remove all guesswork on game day.
- Pad the schedule. The 45-minute ceiling between ballparks is a good planning rule, but congestion around ballpark lots is real, so leave a buffer rather than cutting it close.
Plan Your Ride
Once your ballpark list and hotel are set, transportation is the last piece. Airport Shuttle of Phoenix provides private door-to-door shuttle service across Phoenix, the metro area, Tucson, Sedona, Flagstaff and destinations throughout Arizona, with 24/7 booking, no shared rides and no surge pricing. Whether you need an airport pickup to open the week, a daily hotel-to-ballpark transfer, or one ride that moves your group between an East Valley and a West Valley hotel mid-trip, each ride is scheduled around your plan rather than the other way around. Check the route page for the ballpark on your itinerary, book the airport legs early, and let the driving be the simplest part of your spring training week.
Frequently Asked Questions
How far apart are the Cactus League ballparks?
All of the spring training facilities in the Phoenix metro sit within roughly a 45-minute drive of one another. In practice, game-day traffic around the lots can stretch those drives, and a West Valley-to-East Valley run is the longest pattern of the week.
Where should I stay if I want to see both the Cubs and the Dodgers?
That pairing puts one game in Mesa and one in Glendale, on opposite sides of the Valley. A split stay works well: a few nights near Sloan Park or in Tempe, then a few nights at the Renaissance Phoenix Glendale or the Aloft at Westgate. A private shuttle can move your party and luggage between the two hotels in a single trip.
Do you offer shared rides or surge pricing?
No. Airport Shuttle of Phoenix runs private, door-to-door rides only. Each booking gets a dedicated vehicle for your party, pricing does not surge when demand spikes around game days, and booking is available 24/7.
What happens if my flight arrives late?
Airport legs include flight tracking, so your driver follows your inbound flight and the pickup adjusts to the actual landing. Booking is available 24/7, which covers the late-night arrivals and early-morning departures that are common when the Valley is at its busiest.
When should I book my spring training hotel?
As early as you know your dates. Rooms near the most popular ballparks sell out weeks ahead, and hotel prices surge through the season, so the best-located options around Sloan Park, Camelback Ranch and Old Town Scottsdale go first.
Which ballparks have dedicated shuttle route pages?
Sloan Park, Camelback Ranch, Salt River Fields, Peoria Sports Complex, Surprise Stadium, Scottsdale Stadium, Tempe Diablo Stadium and State Farm Stadium all have dedicated route pages, which makes it simple to match each hotel neighborhood to each stadium day.
