Attending the Australian Open from the US is actually cheaper than traveling to the US Open

Maybe you come home from a cold day in the Northern Hemisphere, see the world’s best tennis players battling for the Australian Open title on TV, and start dreaming of your own escape to Melbourne. You may ignore this desire and think about its costs. However, I ran the numbers and it is actually cheaper to attend the AO than it is to attend the US Open in New York (at least from the west coast of the US). Flights from California to New York, for example, cost around $450 round-trip, while from San Francisco or Los Angeles you can expect to pay around $1,200. For the sake of this piece, though, we’ll dig into the other costs and suggest you save your miles for your Trans-Pacific flight to Australia next year.

Here’s an apples-to-apples comparison: four nights in mid-range hotels, three days at the tournament, two days using ground passes and one in the main arenas, Rod Laver Arena and Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Let’s start with accommodation. I was lucky enough to receive the media award at the wonderfully quiet Pullman Hotel at the parkwhich is also only an eight minute walk to the tennis court. The Pullman is part of the Accor group, so you can reduce costs with points. Melbourne CBD (Central Business District) offers a strong selection of mid-range hotels, some within walking distance of Melbourne Park, with comfortable three- to four-star rooms, typically around $150-200 per night (US dollars). In contrast, hotel prices in New York tend to be significantly higher around the US Open. Even modest mid-range options near public transportation in Queens or Manhattan often cost $300-$450 and more per night during the tournament. That means four nights could easily cost $1200-$1800 or more, taking a much bigger bite out of your travel budget than Melbourne at $700-800.

On tickets to see the tennis. In Melbourne, adult ground passes for the first week of the main tournament are often very affordable, with early bird prices starting at $33 per day and a seven-day pass for the second week just $65 (USD). Granted, the main action takes place in the stadiums, but there are plenty of high-quality doubles matches to watch for less than $10 a day. A reserved seat at Rod Laver Arena adds about $120 to your ticket cost, but it’s a much more intimate arena than Arthur Ashe Stadium, where the nosebleed seats make it difficult to track the ball without binoculars (seriously!). At the AO: two days of grounds + one day at Rod Laver Arena = approximately $186 and up, while at the US Open: two days of grounds ($288/each + one day at Arthur Ashe Stadium ($699 and up) = $1279 (and these prices can add up to hundreds more if you buy the tickets through the resale market, which most fans have to do.) So your ticket savings will roughly cover your plane ticket, or put almost $1,100 back in your wallet if you use miles/awards points.

While it isn’t cheap to eat out in Melbourne, meals in NYC will cost 61.6% more, An example: the signature drink at the US Open, the Honey Deuce, costs $23, while the equivalent of Lemon Ice at the AO costs $16 (in USD). Final calculation: Four nights in Melbourne, three days of tennis plus food = $1200 versus $3080 for the same experience in New York (I rounded up the final numbers slightly to account for public transport, which is free in Melbourne but is almost zero in New York, but…). So even if you can’t use points for airfare, it’s still a few hundred less to make the trip to the land below. And what’s not to love about a winter escape to the only slam you can Want to get up close and personal with koalas, wombats and kangaroos?