Petco Park parking: where to go and what it costs
Six official lots, all needing a pre-paid pass for the Preferred ones. The Padres publish no prices for any of them, and their own advice is that parking is extremely limited and you should take transit.
- Official lots
- Six
- Published prices
- None
- Preferred lots open
- 4 hours pre-game
- Team's own advice
- Take transit
Three of them Padres Preferred
Pre-paid passes only
Until 2:00 a.m.
Parking 'extremely limited'
The short version
- The Padres run six official lots: Tailgate Park, Padres Parkade, the Lexus Premier Lot, the Bayfront Hilton Garage, the Convention Center Garage and Park 12 Valet.
- No prices are published officially for any of them — passes are pre-bought through the Padres, not paid at a gate.
- The Padres' own transportation page says parking is extremely limited and encourages transit or rideshare.
- Tailgate Park still operates as a Padres Preferred lot, despite years of redevelopment headlines, and runs a free shuttle to the ballpark.
- Preferred lots open four hours before first pitch and stay open until 2:00 a.m.
Parking at Petco Park is the part of the trip most likely to cost you more than you planned and still leave you walking. The unusual thing — and the reason this page exists — is that the Padres do not publish a price for any of it.
The six official lots
Where the official lots are
The six lots the Padres list officially. Preferred lots open four hours before first pitch and close at 2:00 a.m.
Tailgate Park has not gone anywhere
This is the bit of local knowledge worth having. Tailgate Park — the big surface lot east of the ballpark — has been the subject of redevelopment plans, a city sale process and subsequent litigation for years, and a lot of people assume it is gone. It is not. As of today it is still listed as a Padres Preferred lot, limited tailgating is still permitted there, and a complimentary shuttle runs from Tailgate Park to the ballpark from two hours before first pitch until about half an hour after the final out.
The honest recommendation
When a team's own transportation page tells you that "parking is extremely limited and public transportation and/or rideshare is encouraged," that is not boilerplate — the East Village has been building on its surface lots for a decade and the supply genuinely shrank. Three Trolley lines stop within two blocks of the gates, which is a better answer than any lot on this list. See getting to Petco Park without driving.
If you cycle
There are bike racks around the perimeter of the ballpark. There is no bike valet — several guides claim one, but no official Padres page mentions it, so plan to lock up rather than hand over.
SOURCES
Everything above traces back to one of these. Follow them — if one has changed and we haven't, that's our mistake, not yours.
San Diego Padres / MLB · Checked September 30, 2026
The six official lots and their entrances, the pre-paid pass requirement, lot opening hours and the Tailgate Park shuttle.
San Diego Padres / MLB · Checked September 30, 2026
That parking is extremely limited and transit is encouraged; bike racks and the absence of a bike valet.
City of San Diego · 2022
That a sale of the Tailgate Park site was formally proposed and analysed by the City.