Getting to Accor Stadium and Sydney Olympic Park: Trains, Driving and Parking

Published 19 July 2026

Whether it is a blockbuster NRL fixture, a stadium concert or a full day at the Show, every trip to Sydney Olympic Park starts with the same two questions: how do we get there, and how do we get home? The precinct is well served by transport, but on major event days it absorbs enormous crowds, and a little journey planning makes the whole night smooth and easy.

This is a practical, evergreen guide to reaching Accor Stadium and the wider Olympic Park precinct — trains via Lidcombe, event-night services, smart stadium parking tips, arriving from the airport, and the park-at-your-hotel strategy that regular visitors quietly rely on year after year.

Sydney Olympic Park at a glance

The Olympic Park precinct is home to three major venues within walking distance of one another: Accor Stadium (formerly ANZ Stadium and originally Stadium Australia), Qudos Bank Arena and Sydney Showground. Between them they host football codes, arena concerts, exhibitions and the Sydney Royal Easter Show, with DFO Homebush close by for outlet shopping on non-event days. It is a purpose-built event precinct: wide boulevards, big stations and venues designed to absorb and release huge crowds, which is why the transport plan matters more than the distance on a map.

The precinct sits west of the CBD, and for visitors the practical question is where to base yourself. Staying along the rail corridor a short ride away is great value on event nights and very nearly as quick. Our guide to accommodation near Sydney Olympic Park covers the options in detail — Marco Polo Motor Inn Sydney in Summer Hill, for example, is about 8 km from the precinct and 15 to 20 minutes away by car or by train via Lidcombe, with ensuite rooms from $145 a night Monday to Thursday.

Getting to Accor Stadium by train

Rail is the backbone of event transport at Olympic Park, and the standard route runs via Lidcombe: catch a train to Lidcombe, then connect for the short hop into Olympic Park station, which leaves you an easy walk from the stadium gates. From Summer Hill in the inner west the whole trip takes around 15 to 20 minutes, and Summer Hill station itself is only 400 m — about a five-minute walk — from the Marco Polo Motor Inn Sydney front door.

On major event days, extra event-night train services run to and from the precinct, which keeps crowds moving far better than any road option can. Give yourself a buffer on the way in, because trains fill noticeably closer to start time, and check the transport authority's advice on the day of your event, since timetables are boosted around big fixtures and shows.

Driving to Accor Stadium: the full picture

You can absolutely drive to Olympic Park, and outside event days it is an easy, uneventful trip with plenty of room to move. On event days the equation changes completely. Precinct parking is in high demand on event days and books out early, so many regulars prefer the train, which keeps the trip home quick and easy.

If you must drive on an event day, pre-book precinct parking as early as you possibly can and make peace with a slow exit afterwards. But if there is any reasonable way to leave the car outside the precinct, take it — your evening will end an hour earlier. The same logic applies across the precinct: on days when more than one venue is busy — a stadium fixture alongside an arena show, or a Showground event on the same afternoon — road space and car parks are shared between all of those crowds at once, and the train advantage grows even larger.

The park-at-your-hotel strategy

Regular visitors make parking easy by splitting the trip in two: drive to a hotel near the rail corridor, park free, and let the train handle the last leg. At Marco Polo Motor Inn Sydney every guest parks free in a gated, CCTV-monitored undercover car park spread across ground and first floors, with 24-hour access — full details on our free secure hotel parking page. From there it is a five-minute walk to Summer Hill station and a ride via Lidcombe into the precinct.

The maths is compelling: the hotel parking costs nothing, the train sidesteps the post-event traffic entirely, and the trip home is quick and relaxed. You also wake up next to your car, ready for an easy run home the next morning.

Arriving from Sydney Airport

Flying in for an event? From Sydney Airport, Marco Polo Motor Inn Sydney is roughly 9 to 10 km away — about 35 to 45 minutes by train door to door, or 20 to 25 minutes in a taxi. The rail route is straightforward and makes airport transfers easy; our Sydney Airport by train guide walks through the trip step by step. Check in, drop your bags, and you are one simple train ride from the stadium gates. If your event falls on arrival day, build in slack — checking in first and travelling light to the venue beats hauling luggage through an event crowd.

Travelling with kids or a group

Event crowds are much easier to manage when you remove time pressure. Travelling with children, allow extra time on platforms, agree a meeting point in case anyone is separated, and board a little earlier than you strictly need to. Groups should think about room layouts before they think about tickets: Marco Polo Motor Inn Sydney offers standard and deluxe rooms in single, queen, twin, triple and family configurations sleeping one to five, which keeps a travelling party together on one site with everyone's car secured in the same free car park.

Getting to the rest of Sydney

A trip built around Olympic Park does not have to stay at Olympic Park. From Summer Hill the city is unusually easy to reach: trains make Central in about 8 minutes, the L1 light rail from nearby Taverners Hill runs direct to Darling Harbour, and a bus stops right outside the hotel door. That makes it realistic to pair an event night with a harbour day, a museum morning or a show in town — our Sydney events guide is a good place to see what else is on around your dates.

A simple event-day routine

Here is the rhythm that experienced visitors settle into:

Arrive the afternoon before, or early on event day, and check in.
Park the car at the hotel — free, undercover, gated — and forget about it.
Eat locally or use the in-room kitchenette rather than paying event prices for every meal.
Walk five minutes to Summer Hill station with a comfortable buffer before gates open.
Ride via Lidcombe into Olympic Park and stroll to the venue.
Afterwards, let the extra services do their job — the queues move faster than they look.
Be back in Summer Hill and in bed while the precinct car parks are still emptying.

However you build the trip, the single biggest upgrade is basing yourself somewhere the logistics become easy: free secure parking, a five-minute walk to the train and a 24-hour front desk waiting for late finishes. Rooms at Marco Polo Motor Inn Sydney start from $145 a night Monday to Thursday and the best rate is always direct — book direct with Marco Polo Motor Inn Sydney and make transport the easiest part of your event day.