Where to stay for the US Open: a Brooklyn alternative

Most people deciding where to stay for the US Open pick between two defaults: a Midtown hotel on the 7 line, or a chain near Citi Field in Flushing. There is a third option that gets less attention. The Box House Hotel sits at 77 Box Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where the G train connects to the 7 at Court Square, and rooms run from 250-square-foot lofts to two-bedroom apartments with full kitchens. For a tournament that runs two weeks, that combination of one transfer and a place to actually live in matters more than being able to see the stadium from your window.

The 2026 tournament runs Sunday, August 30 through the men's final on Sunday, September 13, with Fan Week and qualifying the week before. That is fifteen days of main-draw tennis, and the question of where to stay for the US Open is really a question about how you want to spend the twelve or so hours a day you are not at the grounds.

Hotels near the US Open: what "near" actually buys you

The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, with its own subway stop at Mets-Willets Point on the 7 line. The hotels that market themselves as near the US Open are mostly clustered in downtown Flushing and along the Grand Central Parkway. You save on transit time. You give up nearly everything else.

Downtown Flushing has excellent food, particularly if you want dumplings at eleven at night, but it is not a neighborhood built for visitors to walk around in after dark. The hotel stock skews toward business chains. And once the tournament ends for the day, there is little to do that is not a car ride away.

Midtown Manhattan is the other default, because the 7 runs straight from Hudson Yards, Times Square and Grand Central to the grounds. The ride is roughly 35 to 45 minutes. The trade-off is that you are paying Midtown rates during one of the busiest weeks of the New York year, in a part of the city that empties out at night and fills with commuters by day.

Greenpoint sits between those two choices on the map and outside both of them in character.

How to get to the US Open from Brooklyn

From The Box House Hotel, the route is one transfer. Walk to the Greenpoint Avenue or Nassau Avenue station on the G train, ride two or three stops to Court Square in Long Island City, and change to the Flushing-bound 7. Mets-Willets Point is the stop for the tennis center, and from the platform it is a short walk across the boardwalk to the tennis center's East Gate.

Budget about 45 to 55 minutes door to gate. That is longer than a Midtown hotel on the 7, but not by as much as most people assume, because the G leg is short and the change at Court Square is an in-system transfer, so you never leave the station. During the tournament the MTA adds 7 service to Flushing, and the platform at Mets-Willets Point is set up to move stadium crowds.

If you would rather not take the train, a car from Greenpoint reaches the grounds by way of the BQE and the Long Island Expressway in 20 to 40 minutes depending on traffic, and the tennis center has official parking lots that fill early on big-match days. For a group of four splitting a rideshare, the cost per person is often close to a subway fare, and you skip the platform crowd after a night session.

One practical note: the 7 runs 24 hours, and the G runs overnight too. You are not racing a last train.

US Open night session late return

Night sessions on Arthur Ashe Stadium start at 7 p.m. and regularly run past midnight when a match goes five sets. Whatever hotel you choose, the question that matters is what happens when you get back at 12:45 a.m. tired and hungry.

At The Box House Hotel the front desk is staffed around the clock, so there is no after-hours buzzer to find. The Brooklyn Lantern, the hotel's own restaurant and bar, is on site, and the dining options at the hotel mean you are not scanning your phone for something open. If you would rather eat in, this is where the kitchens start to earn their keep. More on that below.

Greenpoint is also quiet at night in a way Midtown is not. The hotel sits on a residential block near the waterfront, not on an avenue, and the sleep you get after a late session is real sleep. For anyone doing more than a couple of days at the tournament, that compounds.

US Open hotels for families and groups

Two weeks of tennis is a long time to live out of a standard hotel room, and it is a very long time to feed a family on restaurant meals three times a day.

This is where the loft layouts change the math. The rooms and suites at The Box House Hotel start at 250 square feet with a kitchenette and run up to two-bedroom apartments of 1,200 square feet with full kitchens and terraces, some with Manhattan views. Suites at 650 square feet have a separate living room with a sofa bed and sleep four. The apartments sleep six. There is a 2,500-square-foot penthouse with two master bedrooms, two and a half baths, three wrap-around balconies, and a full kitchen and bar.

For a family of four, a suite means the kids can go to sleep while the adults watch the late match in the living room. For two couples traveling together, a two-bedroom apartment beats two Midtown rooms on space and on the ability to make coffee and breakfast before an 11 a.m. day session without leaving the building. Groceries are easy: Manhattan Avenue and Franklin Street both have markets within a few blocks.

If the group is coming for a single big day rather than the full run, the current offers are worth a look before booking, and the best rate is always direct.

Greenpoint vs Midtown vs Flushing

Here is the honest comparison for a US Open trip.

Flushing wins on transit time and loses on everything you do when you are not at the tennis. Expect a functional room, a short ride, and a neighborhood that is not designed with visitors in mind after dark.

Midtown wins on train simplicity, since the 7 is a single seat from several stations, and loses on price and on atmosphere. You are competing with every other visitor in the city for rooms during a peak week, and the area around the big 7 stops is not where New Yorkers spend their evenings.

Greenpoint gives up ten to fifteen minutes of transit time relative to Midtown in exchange for a neighborhood you would choose on a normal trip. Franklin Street and Manhattan Avenue have independent restaurants, bars and shops. MADRE, the hotel's MICHELIN-recognized sister restaurant, is a ten-minute walk. McCarren Park and the East River waterfront are close. And the hotel itself, with its loft rooms, original artwork and vintage yellow Checker cab out front, feels like a place rather than a lobby. You can read more about the building and the neighborhood before you decide.

The trade-off is fair. If you want the absolute shortest possible ride and nothing else, book Flushing. If you want the week to feel like a trip to New York with tennis in it, Greenpoint is the better base.

A few more logistics before you book

The tennis center sells day and evening sessions separately, and the grounds passes that get you into the outer courts during the first week are often the best value in the tournament. On a grounds pass day you may be at the park from 11 a.m. until well into the evening, so a hotel with a real breakfast option and a late-night return plan matters more than it does on a single-session day.

The hotel's pet, parking and check-in policies are on the hotel FAQ page, and it is worth a read before you book, especially if you are driving or traveling with a dog.

If you are extending the trip beyond the tournament, the earlier post on hotels in Greenpoint, Brooklyn covers the neighborhood in more depth, and the piece on hotels with balconies in NYC explains which room types here have private outdoor space.