The BNP Paribas Open is one of the largest tennis events in the world outside the Grand Slams, a combined Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 tournament held every March at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. It draws 450,000-plus attendees over two weeks. The venue sits in Indian Wells, California, a small city that sits almost exactly between Palm Springs and Indio.
That geography creates the core accommodation question: Palm Springs to the west, or Indio to the east? Both are about 20-25 minutes from the venue. The right answer depends on what you want the non-tennis hours to look like.
The Indian Wells Tennis Garden from above. Stadium 1 seats just over 16,000. The practice courts in the back are where you can watch top players warm up at very close range on a grounds pass.
Indian Palms Country Club in Indio, about 20 minutes from the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Quiet neighborhood, private pools common, good value for groups.
What the BNP Paribas Open Actually Is
If you're coming specifically for the tennis, context helps. The BNP Paribas Open runs two full weeks in March, typically starting the first week. It's one of only nine Masters 1000 tournaments on the ATP Tour and a concurrent WTA 1000 event, meaning the full depth of the women's draw plays alongside the men's. Top-10 players from both tours attend.
Stadium 1 is the main draw, with capacity just over 16,000. There are also permanent show courts and outer courts where you can watch early-round matches with a grounds pass at much closer range than you'd get at a Grand Slam. The venue itself is well-designed for the desert: shaded concourses, open sightlines, and a layout that makes it easy to move between courts.
Match days run from roughly 10am to 10pm with multiple courts running simultaneously. Most attendees spend 6-10 hours at the venue on a match day. That's a long time in stadium seats in March desert heat, and it makes what you come home to more important than it might seem when you're booking.
Staying in Palm Springs
Palm Springs sits about 20 minutes west of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Highway 111. It's the most well-known Coachella Valley city, with a walkable downtown on Palm Canyon Drive, a strong restaurant and bar scene, and more hotel and boutique rental inventory than anywhere else in the valley.
The advantages for a tennis trip: after a full day at the tournament, you can walk to dinner. If you're staying for multiple days and want to mix in some city activities, Palm Springs rewards that. The midcentury architecture, Indian Canyons, and the aerial tramway are all accessible from a Palm Springs base. For a couple staying a week, the city earns its keep.
Palm Springs in March. The weather is close to perfect: mid-70s to low-80s during the day, cool evenings, minimal wind. One of the best months in the desert.
The trade-offs: Palm Springs accommodation during the BNP Paribas Open is expensive. The tournament is as well-known as Coachella for causing rate spikes across the valley, and Palm Springs properties tend to price higher to begin with. Private pools, which matter in the desert, are less common in the Palm Springs hotel and condo market at a given price point compared to what you'd get in a larger single-family rental in Indio. The daily drive to the venue is easy, about 20 minutes, but adding it up over a week of match days starts to feel repetitive.
Good for: couples, solo travelers, people who want a hotel format, and anyone who wants Palm Springs itself to be part of the trip. For this group, our Palm Springs property, The Sundune, is a 2BR/2BA condo in central Palm Springs within easy range of both the city and the venue.
Staying in Indio
Indio sits about 20-25 minutes east of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, making it roughly equidistant from the venue as Palm Springs. The city itself is different in character: less tourist infrastructure, more residential, a dense local food scene that most tournament visitors miss entirely.
The advantages for a tournament trip are clearest for groups. Vacation rentals in Indio typically offer more space per dollar than comparable Palm Springs options during tournament week. Three-bedroom houses with private pools are common in Indio neighborhoods like Indian Palms Country Club, and private outdoor space in the desert is not a small thing. After 8 hours in stadium seats on a 78-degree March afternoon, a private pool with no time limits and no shared-space etiquette is a different recovery experience than a hotel room.
Private pool at Terra Luz in Indio. After a day at the tennis, this is worth more than any hotel pool on a shared schedule.
Full kitchen access matters more than people expect going in. Stadium food at major tennis events is expensive and the food quality reflects a captive audience. Being able to make breakfast, pack snacks, and come back to a real dinner each evening adds up to real savings over a week. Stock the kitchen on arrival day and you'll use it every day after.
The trade-off: Indio requires a car. You're not walking to dinner or wandering a downtown after the match. The food scene is worth knowing before you arrive, because it's genuinely good but not self-evident. The Palm Springs vs. Indio comparison covers the restaurant and lifestyle differences in detail.
Good for: groups of four or more, families, people who want private outdoor space and a kitchen, anyone prioritizing recovery comfort over walkable city access. The Cozy Cactus is our 3BR/2BA in Indio with a private hot tub, community pool steps away, and game room. Terra Luz, our second Indio property, sleeps 8 with a Latin-inspired design and private saltwater pool.
The hot tub at The Cozy Cactus. March nights in the desert drop to the low 50s. This is where tournament days end well.
What to Look for in a Rental During Tournament Week
Whether you're in Palm Springs or Indio, a few things matter more for a tennis trip than they might for a beach vacation.
Private pool access, heated. March desert nights drop to the low 50s. An unheated pool in March is mostly decorative. Confirm the pool is heated and what the process is for adjusting the temperature. A heated pool at the end of a long match day is a specific kind of good.
Kitchen with real cooking capacity. Full-size refrigerator, counter space visible in photos, a described coffee setup. The kitchens that matter for a tournament trip are the ones where you can make breakfast for four people efficiently and come back to a real dinner without needing to go back out.
Fast WiFi. If you're working remotely between morning and evening sessions, bandwidth matters. Ask the host for a speed test result or look for specific mentions in reviews. "Good WiFi" means nothing specific. 100+ Mbps down is useful information.
Proximity to a grocery store. You want to stock the kitchen on day one without a 20-minute detour. Most Indio rentals in Indian Palms are 10-15 minutes from a full grocery store. Ask or check the map.
Outdoor space for evenings. March in the desert is one of the genuinely beautiful weather windows. Mid-70s to low-80s during the day, cool evenings with a light jacket, no humidity. A covered patio with decent outdoor furniture gets used every night. It's worth prioritizing in a listing.
Stadium Logistics Worth Knowing
Parking at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden is available but costs between $20-40 per day in general lots. Walking from the far lots in March heat before a full day of tennis eats into your energy budget. Rideshare works and doesn't surge as dramatically as Coachella weekend, but plan for a wait post-headliner sessions when everyone leaves at once.
The venue itself is well-organized. Grounds passes let you watch outer court matches at very close range, which is some of the best tennis-watching you can do anywhere. A grounds pass plus a single session ticket to Stadium 1 for a key round or the finals is often a better two-week plan than buying stadium seats for every session.
Stadium 1 during a match session. The sightlines are excellent from most seats. If you only buy one stadium ticket, make it a quarterfinal or later, when the draws are down to players you'll recognize.
The Indian Palms Country Club amenity area. Pickleball and tennis courts on-site, which is a specific bonus for a tournament trip.
When to Book
The BNP Paribas Open is one of the biggest booking events in the Coachella Valley. The valley's best properties, in both Palm Springs and Indio, typically fill up for tournament weeks by November or December of the preceding year. If you attend one year and plan to come back, start looking immediately after the current tournament ends.
If you're reading this after January for the current-year tournament, check shoulder locations. Palm Desert and Rancho Mirage are 15-20 minutes from the venue and often have more availability than the primary cities. Quality varies more in these markets but the good properties are worth the extra few minutes of drive time.
The desert in March is worth building a real trip around. The weather is the best it gets all year, the tennis brings the full ATP and WTA top 10 to one venue, and having the right place to come back to each evening makes the whole week work better.
If you're planning the full trip: the Palm Springs weekend itinerary covers how to structure a 3-day visit with the right balance of activities and rest. The Coachella Valley restaurant guide covers where to eat in Indio specifically, which matters more than people expect once they're here. And if you want to understand the full picture of what the two cities offer each other, the Palm Springs vs. Indio comparison covers everything side by side.
For accommodation: The Sundune is our Palm Springs 2BR if you want the city access option. The Cozy Cactus and Terra Luz are both 3BR options in Indio, 20-25 minutes from the venue. Terra Luz has a private saltwater pool; Cozy Cactus has a private hot tub and community pool steps away. All three book out early for tournament week. Check availability before it goes.