For a fortnight at the end of May, the 16th arrondissement changes rhythm. Roland-Garros takes in close to six hundred thousand spectators over the tournament, and the Porte d’Auteuil area goes from residential to gridlocked from morning to night.
A stadium wedged against the ring road, and that is the whole problem
Roland-Garros is caught between the Bois de Boulogne, the périphérique and the Auteuil greenhouses. Its three entrances — Suzanne-Lenglen, Philippe-Chatrier and Mousquetaires — open onto narrow streets that normally see almost no traffic.
Parking around the stadium is suspended during the tournament, and the official drop-off points fill within the first hour. It is the kind of situation where arriving in your own car costs more time than the journey itself.
The timings that cause trouble
Day sessions start at eleven, so the drop-off happens in the middle of the morning flow between La Défense and central Paris. Night sessions sometimes end after midnight, when the metro thins out and on-demand cars quote waiting times.
Those two slots are exactly why our clients book ahead: a chauffeur waiting outside the stadium at the agreed time, even if the match has run long, changes the whole end of the evening.
What we organise during the fortnight
Many of our late-May journeys are return runs from the 8th, the 16th, Neuilly or La Défense, for corporate hospitality. The chauffeur drops as close as the accreditation allows, then repositions for the pick-up.
When there are guests to meet, we start at the airport or the station in the morning, call at the hotel, and the stadium follows — the same chauffeur and the same vehicle all day.
Around the tournament
The Bois de Boulogne, the Fondation Louis Vuitton, the Parc des Princes and the Auteuil village are minutes away: many days carry on into lunch or dinner nearby.
The car stays at your disposal from one stop to the next rather than leaving, which spares you looking for a ride between the stadium and the restaurant.
To organise your journeys during the tournament, give us the date, the session and the pick-up address: you receive a firm price before confirming. See also our private driver in Paris 16e page.
Photo: Remi Mathis / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 4.0
