cheapest f1 weekend ?

[matt3001]

Abu Dhabi ticks your boxes and not that far outside of Europe

[paulyv]

I have found Spa to be cheapest (it really is not so far to drive from the UK). There's plenty of places to watch with a General Admission ticket even if you arrive a little late as the track is so large. You can also park in random fields near the circuit for about ten euros.

Unless, that is, you choose to combine it with a holiday abroad in which case things open up dramatically. The Japanese Grand Prix has 3 day seated tickets on 130r for about £72 for example. Although I accept that might not tick all your stated requirements - simply food for thought.

Edited by paulyv on Monday 7th July 10:57

[chevronb37]

paulyv said:

Unless, that is, you choose to combine it with a holiday abroad in which case things open up dramatically. The Japanese Grand Prix has 3 day seated tickets on 130r for about £72 for example. Although I accept that might not tick all your stated requirements - simply food for thought.

Have you been to Suzuka? It's probably 2016's big trip for us.

[hairyben]

redwedge said:

I've been to most of the European F1meetings and have to say they're all much of a muchness in terms of costs. If you book your flights well in advance, get a GA ticket and stay in a hostel or AirBnB rental, take packed lunches and use public transport, you'll get away with £300 regardless of venue. It therefore comes down to where you'd rather go.

Barcelona is a great city and an interesting circuit - the GA area is huge, mostly on hills and peppered with giant screens, so you can get some great views and some great head-on photos. It's about half an hour on a coach from the city to the track. Cheaper and gets you closer to the circuit than the train.

Monza has the atmosphere and heritage, but is flat and forested. You can get very close to the cars, but have no chance of watching from the chicanes on race day - you'll just be watching the cars scream past on a straight. Screens are few and far between but the podium is great. Milan itself is so-so.

Spa is a bit of a pain to get to. I've camped, which was a disaster as it was 2010 (4 days of non-stop rain) and my camera gear was nicked from the car boot on Elephant campsite. I've stayed in Verviers, which was expensive. I've stayed in Leuven, which was cheap, a reasonably nice place to stay, but about an hour train ride to Francorchamps IIRC. The track is great obviously and the GA area is huge.

Monaco is an effort to do on the cheap but I concur with what's been written already. The Rocher ticket is cheap but take a camping chair!

I miss Turkey as a circuit but won't miss the 2 hour bus rides to and from Istanbul and the circuit...

I wouldn't bother with Budapest, Austria or Germany if you've not yet been to one of the above. They don't have the same wow factor IMO.

Oh and by the way, return fuel to Italy was about £700 in my 355, but the mountain passes and genuflecting Tifosi as we approached Monza were worth it!

Informative post thank you, although while GA costs "about the same" most places if it gets you a better view at one circuit and you really need grandstand to get a decent view at another thats a key facet in which circuits are best value...

Looking at the logistics of a road trip to spa, perhaps with a few days in bruges to round it off (probably so overdone), but it's during the school hols isn't it?

[paulyv]

chevronb37 said:

paulyv said:

Unless, that is, you choose to combine it with a holiday abroad in which case things open up dramatically. The Japanese Grand Prix has 3 day seated tickets on 130r for about £72 for example. Although I accept that might not tick all your stated requirements - simply food for thought.

Have you been to Suzuka? It's probably 2016's big trip for us.

Yes, I went in September last year. I don't want to hijack or divert this thread but I cannot recommend it enough - drop me a PM if you want to know anything as I feel I have a pretty good grasp of it all now. It was a thrill. There is a review I wrote on BookF1 for the G1 tickets which will give you plenty of details.

[matt3001]

paulyv said:

chevronb37 said:

paulyv said:

Unless, that is, you choose to combine it with a holiday abroad in which case things open up dramatically. The Japanese Grand Prix has 3 day seated tickets on 130r for about £72 for example. Although I accept that might not tick all your stated requirements - simply food for thought.

Have you been to Suzuka? It's probably 2016's big trip for us.

Yes, I went in September last year. I don't want to hijack or divert this thread but I cannot recommend it enough - drop me a PM if you want to know anything as I feel I have a pretty good grasp of it all now. It was a thrill. There is a review I wrote on BookF1 for the G1 tickets which will give you plenty of details.

How easy is it to get to the circuit from Nagoya? Were you able to find a hotel easy enough?

[Trophybloo]

hairyben said:

Looking at the logistics of a road trip to spa, perhaps with a few days in bruges to round it off (probably so overdone), but it's during the school hols isn't it?

Can I suggest you look at the late night Dover - Dunkirk ferry prices, about £65 return. I've used it twice during Belgium GP period in the past to go to Rally Deutschland, so can vouch for how easy it is to get through Belgium while the rest of the traffic is sleeping! Downside about going to Spa is you don't get to travel through Luxebourg to take advantage of the cheap petrol.

[paulyv]

matt3001 said:

paulyv said:

chevronb37 said:

paulyv said:

Unless, that is, you choose to combine it with a holiday abroad in which case things open up dramatically. The Japanese Grand Prix has 3 day seated tickets on 130r for about £72 for example. Although I accept that might not tick all your stated requirements - simply food for thought.

Have you been to Suzuka? It's probably 2016's big trip for us.

Yes, I went in September last year. I don't want to hijack or divert this thread but I cannot recommend it enough - drop me a PM if you want to know anything as I feel I have a pretty good grasp of it all now. It was a thrill. There is a review I wrote on BookF1 for the G1 tickets which will give you plenty of details.

How easy is it to get to the circuit from Nagoya? Were you able to find a hotel easy enough?

PM sent.

[hairyben]

Trophybloo said:

hairyben said:

Looking at the logistics of a road trip to spa, perhaps with a few days in bruges to round it off (probably so overdone), but it's during the school hols isn't it?

Can I suggest you look at the late night Dover - Dunkirk ferry prices, about £65 return. I've used it twice during Belgium GP period in the past to go to Rally Deutschland, so can vouch for how easy it is to get through Belgium while the rest of the traffic is sleeping! Downside about going to Spa is you don't get to travel through Luxebourg to take advantage of the cheap petrol.

thanks for the tip- would probably do it as a more sedately road trip with the mrs (also big f1 fan) and break it up at least one way too though

[chevronb37]

paulyv said:

chevronb37 said:

paulyv said:

Unless, that is, you choose to combine it with a holiday abroad in which case things open up dramatically. The Japanese Grand Prix has 3 day seated tickets on 130r for about £72 for example. Although I accept that might not tick all your stated requirements - simply food for thought.

Have you been to Suzuka? It's probably 2016's big trip for us.

Yes, I went in September last year. I don't want to hijack or divert this thread but I cannot recommend it enough - drop me a PM if you want to know anything as I feel I have a pretty good grasp of it all now. It was a thrill. There is a review I wrote on BookF1 for the G1 tickets which will give you plenty of details.

Thanks, Paul. I'll take you up on that in due course. Mrs Chev spent three weeks in Japan during her travels and adored the place. We're both desperate to get to Suzuka before it is banned for being too dangerous - which it inevitably will be.

We're trying Austin this year which should be a giggle anyway.

[Dan_1981]

Right then, currently I can get flights for Monza for £100, plus a £95 general entry ticket.

Flights are into Bergamo which I understand is about an hours bus ride into Milan?

Happy with a hostel / budget hotel if anyone can suggest something?

Anyone else heading out and staying in Milan / doing things on a budget?


Any other tips for Monza? / Milan?

[redwedge]

matt3001 said:

How easy is it to get to the circuit from Nagoya? Were you able to find a hotel easy enough?

I went to Japan in 2011 when Button won, it's a great circuit and the fans are crazy, particularly the Japanese tifosi. It's only one train from Nagoya on race day; two trains on other days. Nagoya itself is reasonably interesting if you haven't been to Japan before, granted it's no Tokyo/Kyoto, but there's enough stuff happening there to keep you amused. I stayed in the Hamilton Black hotel, it was cheap but absolutely tiny. I'd go back there solo or with mates, but probably wouldn't take the mrs there.

If you do end up going to Japan, get a Japan Rail Pass in the UK before you head out, it allows you to travel all over on the bullet trains, which are brilliant. Having a rail pass means you can just hop on and off without worrying about working out the cheapest fares and routes.

[paulyv]

Dan_1981 said:

Right then, currently I can get flights for Monza for £100, plus a £95 general entry ticket.

Flights are into Bergamo which I understand is about an hours bus ride into Milan?

Happy with a hostel / budget hotel if anyone can suggest something?

Anyone else heading out and staying in Milan / doing things on a budget?


Any other tips for Monza? / Milan?

Do it! Judging by attendance numbers at the races this year you could well find yourself with some great visibility with the cheaper GA ticket. I have previously stayed at the Hotel Terminal, near the station, and found it to be fine.

[redwedge]

Dan_1981 said:

Flights are into Bergamo which I understand is about an hours bus ride into Milan?

Happy with a hostel / budget hotel if anyone can suggest something?

Any other tips for Monza? / Milan?

Yes it's a bus ride from Bergamo, as it is from the other Milan airports (Linate being much closer than Malpensa). There are tons of hostels in Milan; if you regularly use hostels, you know how variable the quality can be, even if you go back to the same hostel a year later, so I'm reluctant to recommend one. The usual review sites will be able to point you in the right direction. If you book early enough, there's an Ibis for about £40 a night, 10 mins walk from the central train station.

Other tips

- head back towards the start/finish straight a couple of laps from the end of the race, find the gates with a crowd gathering - they'll open and allow you to run onto the track and (hopefully) underneath the podium. Be quick!

- make sure that you get on the inside of the track and walk all the way around it at some point, it's the closest you can get to the cars (although you won't have the noise this year)

- get yourself onto the banking at the end of the main straight, it's quite insane how steep it is.

- nobody will stop you taking your own food and drinks, as long as there's no glass bottles.

- it's actually quite a nice walk back from the track to Monza station at the end of the Friday or Saturday, through the park and the old town. No need to join the queue for the bus if it's a bit of a scrum. On Sunday, you'll want to head up to the second Lesmo to get a direct train back to Milan (only runs on race day).

- there's a great restaurant in Milan called Maruzzella, near the park. It's cheap and loud but the food is good. You'll probably have to book on race weekend, unless you get a takeaway pizza.

[mistakenplane]

Dan_1981 said:

Right then, currently I can get flights for Monza for £100, plus a £95 general entry ticket.

Flights are into Bergamo which I understand is about an hours bus ride into Milan?

Happy with a hostel / budget hotel if anyone can suggest something?

Anyone else heading out and staying in Milan / doing things on a budget?


Any other tips for Monza? / Milan?

I found Milan a rather boring city to be honest, most of the touristy things can be done in mins. However there are two or three stations which serve Monza so try to get a hotel on a metro line that serves one of those.

If you have the time (and budget) Bologna is beautiful and worth a visit, plus Maranello is a train ride away from there!

[Dan_1981]

Won't have a great deal of time for touristy stuff so no great shame there!

Plan is to arrive Friday evening, spend Saturday at quali, eat in Milan Saturday evening and have a few drinks / wander around, Sunday race day - does anything happen after the race like at Silverstone?

Monday flight isn't until late afternoon, so would have Monday to spend doing a little touristy stuff.

[redwedge]

Agree, once you've seen the Duomo and La Scala (tbh the cemetary is quite interesting too if you've never seen an Italian one), you're pretty much done.

If you're on a really strict budget, you might find it cheaper to hire the cheapest car you can find at Bergamo airport and stay somewhere between there and Monza, maybe in Stezzano. Driving to the circuit is a doddle and the park and ride is easy.

I stayed in the Mercure Bergamo Aeropuerto last year, having driven from London. There will be cheaper options, although obviously you don't have the option of strolling into Milan in the evening - but you might not want it.

[Dan_1981]

Thanks for the advice gents.

Now all booked.

Flights: £87
GA Ticket: 84 + postage etc = £101
Accommodation - Hostel but what looks like a very nice one: http://www.ostellobello.com/ £84 for 3 nights.

Total: £272

[mistakenplane]

Dan_1981 said:

Thanks for the advice gents.

Now all booked.

Flights: £87
GA Ticket: 84 + postage etc = £101
Accommodation - Hostel but what looks like a very nice one: http://www.ostellobello.com/ £84 for 3 nights.

Total: £272

Thumbs up on that!

Programme is... 15Euros I think. Enjoy!

[andycaca]

you can go on a rooftop tour of Doumo for not many euros. at least, you could when i was there in 2010.