First Time at Gillette Stadium - What You Need to Know

Parking and Tailgating at Gillette Stadium Before an Event

First thing you need to know about Gillette Stadium is that it's nowhere near Boston. For Patriots fans, this comes as no surprise. However, my first trek to Gillette Stadium caught me off guard. I was staying outside of Boston and was shocked to see a 1.5-hour estimated arrival when I typed in Gillette Stadium into my GPS. For this reason, it is essential to lock in a designated driver and come in with a plan of where to park near the home of the New England Patriots and New England Revolution.

Parking

When arriving at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, the only choice is to take US-1 (also known as Route 1). If coming from Boston, you're entering from the north and the stadium will be on your left-hand side. If visiting from Providence, you're entering from the south and the stadium will be on your right-hand side. This is important to take into account when planning which Gillette Stadium parking lot you'd like to target.

As a general rule of thumb, the earlier you arrive, the closer you'll be able to park to Gillette. For football games and concerts, the lots open 4 hours prior to the event start time and for Revolution games lots open 2 hours prior. Depending on what you are looking for, different lots provide different ideal experiences for each fan.

Parking on the East Side

On the east side of US-1 you'll find roughly 15 lots. These lots are smaller but also the closest to Gillette Stadium. Due to their smaller size, these are typically the first to fill up. In comparison to the lots on the west side of US-1, these lots are much less rowdy. The majority of the lots found in this area are reserved for ADA Parking, Club/Suite package parking, and retail-only parking. For this reason, we suggest only aiming for the few general parking lots on the east side of US-1 if proximity to the stadium is your top priority.

West Side Parking

The west side of US-1 features 9 large lots that are all reserved for general parking. These lots fill up in a sequence of arrival, i.e. first the lots closest to US-1 are filled before moving back to the further lots. Due to this, coordinating efforts to park near friends and family is difficult unless you each pull into the lot one after another. Once parked, this is the area to be. With so many fans, packed together, the energy is immediately felt. If you are looking for a more rowdy tailgating experience, certainly aim for one of these lots.

Use caution when paying a ridiculous amount of money to park at an unofficial lot. Parking at any Gillette Stadium lot for a Patriots Game or Concert is $40 for cars and $150 for Buses, Limos & RVs. For Revolution soccer games, all lots are completely free.

If paying for parking isn't something you're too excited about, Gillette Stadium offers a cool program for Patriots football games. Lot 55 is reserved as the Delayed Exit Lot. Ticket holders are able to park in Lot 55 free of charge. The only stipulation is that fans can not leave until 75 minutes after the football game has ended. To sweeten the deal, fans parked in Lot 55 are granted access into the Cross Pavilion post-game where they can enjoy complimentary food and non-alcoholic beverage as they wait out those 75 minutes. So long as you don't mind the long walk and late egress, this is the sweetest deal at Gillette. 

Tailgating

Gillette Stadium is very lax when it comes to their tailgating policy. Tailgating is allowed in all official parking lots. The only major rule is no open fire pits. Fires, if contained in an appropriate fire burning device (i.e.: grill), are allowed. What they are looking to prevent are giant pits that are immovable in the instance of an emergency. If you do decide to bring an appropriate fire-burning device, it is imperative that it is never left unattended.

As mentioned above, the best lots to tailgate in are west of US-1. These lots are the largest, contain the most amount of people, and hence have the potential to get the most exciting. That said, the lots east of US-1 have some added benefits for tailgating as well. These east lots are near the stadium and the surrounding plaza.

The plaza just outside Gillette feels like an upscale outdoor shopping mall. The plaza is filled with restaurants and bars that become packed just before kick-off. For those who don't enjoy tailgating out of the back of a car in the sun, feel free to hang out at one of these establishments. Saves the hassle of cleaning up and you'll be less than a 5-minute walk from the gates of Gillette.