camping in Menton?

I tend to do it as part of a larger holiday so cheap Easyjet flights out the week before, hotel prices in Nice don't tend to fluctuate much over the weekend so no problems finding somewhere cheap like Kyriad which I think is like a French Travel Lodge. Hire a car and spend the week bumming around the Cote d' Azur with a GP in the middle. Easyjet flight back on Tuesday or Wednesday.

It used to be my favourite GP to go to - but that was 10 years plus ago.
You used to have so much more access to everything and it was a hell of alot cheaper !

Check the various restaurants and bars for their "packages" and you MUST bring good quality ear plugs. The noise is unbelievable.

Make sure you are in Monaco on Saturday night. It's a pretty special atmosphere. Casino Square and walking around the course and having a drink on a bit a tarmac that will have 22 F1 cars hurtling around it only 10 hours later is pretty surreal.

And always worth trying to blag yr way in to various events and just flag down any sponsor car and tell them you're with whatever sponsor it is

I did it with a mate in 2011, decided race tickets were too expensive so just went to practice and qualifying. We drove, although we did stop each way at a cheap hotel to break the journey. We arrived on the Wednesday afternoon and did a couple of laps around Monaco and parked up and walked around which was good seeing things being set up. Thursday we had tickets overlooking Casino Square which was excellent for a good view. Friday was a day off so took the train to Cannes and had some time on the beach and watched the people there for the film festival. For qualifying we had seats near the swimming pool, across the track so we got to walk along some of the jetty to look at the boats.

As for hotels, we did it cheaply, there is a Formulae 1 hotel between Nice and Monaco, it had a car park and we shared a room. It was not the best hotel, but easy 5 min walk to the train each day into Monaco. The F1 hotels have shared showers in the hallways, this was ideal as even though we had checked out we had a quick shower to refresh before the long drive home which you would not be able to do with a more expensive hotel.

Our aim was to watch Qualifying in Monaco and drive back to the UK to sit and watch the race in my living room, we did this with an hour to spare. We stopped at a cheap hotel in Riems on the way home to go to the old circuit there on Sunday morning. It was a trip to remember!

It was a great trip, we went for the adventure of it all really, total costs were £700 each including all food, tolls, tunnel, hotels etc.

Fair that may be slightly louder. I've only ever been to big open ones like silverstone

All,

Firstly, apologies for being off the radar for a few days since posting this - been busy dealing with my late mum's estate.

Thank you for all the great feedback.

Sounds like driving won't be cheap but it may be worth the expense by adding to the whole experience - this may be out of my hands as I'll be tagging along with some mates and it's their intention (at the minute) to drive. At least we can take more provisions with us if we do, save paying for baggage etc. on the plane. Camping is an option, if we drive, as well I suppose
Appreciate the feedback regarding GA tickets - I've never bought them for Silverstone but didn't know if they held high appeal at Monaco - seems not

I'll check the hotels mentioned, and a few others - it's nice to know the prices don't get hiked up like they do here.
I like the idea of incorporating it into a holiday - well my wife does (she thinks it's sunny all the time down there!). I'd have to break from the trip down with my mates and fly down with my family but that wouldn't be too much of an issue. Brings me on to the question 'What's Nice and the surrounding area like for a break with a 10 year old?'

Thank you fo the feedback thus far. I'll go through the posts again and comment/ask questions on anything I've missed.

Thanks,
Scott

I like the sound of that, too. Care to share your secret to blagging your way in to events?

Bit late I know. I went for several years about 25 years ago! We used to drive down, 4 of us in my Fiesta! Stayed in Nice or Cannes in various locations ranging from a friends villa, through a Haven Holidays mobile Home to a cheap and very nasty hotel near Nice station.

We used to go on the GA hill beneath the Palace, and as we got there early we were near the bottom. At the time we could see the cars as they exited the tunnel, round the harbour and around the last corner onto the main straight and with binoculars could see the big screens on the harbour. Yes it did get packed, yes it was uncomfortable, yes it was difficult to move to use toilet facilities or get provision but the best value view of any grand prix I have been too!

Enjoy - hope the weather holds out

Easy to do on the cheap.

Cheap flight out to nice or montpellier, cheap ibis, f1 or ibis budget hotel somewhere in nice or between nice and monaco, and get some sector roche tickets for the race.

Wont be much fun imo but better than staying at home!