We’ve visited the Italian Grand Prix several times now and it never fails to disappoint. Italy is the home to Ferrari and the whole country comes together when its the Italian F1 weekend. The atmosphere, the people, the track and the facilities are all fantastic and we’ve put together a guide here to help get you to the Grand Prix and give you an idea on what to expect.
This time we travelled down from home in our Camper van Bob and the journey, as before, would take us across the channel on the ferry, down through France, Switzerland and then into Italy. We left home around 5pm on the Wednesday night and arrived at the campsite in Monza just after lunchtime on the Thursday.
We travelled from the UK via the Dover Calais ferry and caught a ferry around 1.30am on the Thursday morning. We shared the driving so that it wasn’t too gruelling but the aim is to get to the campsite as quickly as possible.
If attending the Italian Grand Prix then people tend to get there in many different ways. We spoke to people that have flown into either Milan or Turin and hired a car/camper-van for the weekend and others that have been on holiday in other parts of Italy and taken the train up to Monza for the weekend. The trains in Italy are pretty excellent.
Any time we’ve attended the Italian F1 we’ve stayed at the Monza camping campsite which is next to the track. Believe me you literally wake up in the morning and can see the track and stands and hear the cars long before the track is open. Yes, its that close. There are other campsites around that offer similar facilities but we’ve always liked this one because of its location. Monza also has loads of hotel options for those folks not into camping.
We try and get there as early as possible on the Thursday as Thursday tends to be the pit walk day and unlike other tracks if you buy a three day ticket for Monza then the pit walk is included. Be prepared for crowds as its incredibly popular but its worth the throng of people to get to see behind the scenes.
Buying tickets for an event that is months away and parting with a significant amount of cash can be daunting. There are various sites which sell F1 tickets and here are a couple that we’ve used and found to be really good. I’m not saying these are the only places to buy tickets from but these are the ones we’ve used and had no issues with things like extra charges, tickets not arriving, communication etc.
We tend to opt for a 3 day ticket which by all accounts is more reasonable than buying a day ticket. A General Admission ticket used to do us fine however these days we prefer a stand ticket as with General Admission you need to be up pretty early on race day to grab a good spot. The one good thing about Monza is that if you do choose a General Admission ticket there is plenty spots to get a fantasticview from. You’re spoiled for choice.
Like most F1 tracks food and drink can be pretty expensive so take plenty of cash with you. There are loads of food and drink stands dotted around the track. Italians love their pannini with all sorts of fillings – sausage, ham, cheese, vegetarian. They are all grilled in front of you and incredibly fresh. If you don’t fancy a sandwich then there are chips, pastries and other fast food type fare.
If you’re lucky there’s a self service restaurant just up from the main F1 village that serves pasta, pizza, salads and is pretty good. However get in the queue early to make sure you get in as its pretty popular.
Drinks are pretty much soft drinks and beer. Johnny Walker has been a sponsor of F1 for a while now and they always have some stalls dotted about the track where they make some good cocktails.
The food and drink stalls work on a token basis, which is similar to other F1 tracks, where you have to queue to pay and get a token and then move over to the vendor area where your token is exchanged for your food. Crazy when its busy and you can be queuing for quite a while on qually and race day.
There are plenty of toilet facilities around the track but the majority of these are portable (single toilets) and can get pretty stinky. Handy to have some wipes in your bag as there isn’t any hand washing in the cabin. There is one set of regular toiletson the way to the F1 Village but you can imagine the queues there.
As with all F1 tracks the teams stalls are abundant selling all the team merchandise you could ask for. My tip would be to check out a few if you’re after a particular item as some has massively inflated prices for the same shirt/hat etc. Also if you’re buying anything, get it on a Friday as by Saturday/Sunday on race day the prices are hiked up
Close to the track and the campsite you can find an abundance of restaurants, bars and shops. The closest bar to the campsite, which we frequented often, is Neffa Cafe . This cafe is great for after race drinks and you can get some snacks here too. Another great bar is one that we call, the Bar with the Car as there is an F1 car on the wall. However its name really is The Pit Stop Cafe and is absolutely jammed packed over the F1 weekend but with a fantastic atmosphere. These are just a couple that we like but you’ll be spoiled for choice.
For the campers there’s a Lidl not far from the campsite. Probably a 10 min walk where you can stock up on all those gorgeous Italian delicacies.
You can compare cheap flights on the Expedia platform or here on the Aviasales website. Both will give you a good idea of how much its going to cost you to get to your chosen destination.
We have always tended to use Booking.com having said that if your on a tight budget another good site to try as a comparison is Hostelworld, If your looking to compare different sites you can do that on Hotellook, we tend to look on here first to make sure we are getting the best deal.
You can book your visits as you go at the entrance to your chosen attraction or site. Or you could use the following links to book in advance or just to find out what your choices are in the area. GetYourGuide and Tiqets are our go to choices you could try Viator to see how they compare.
For a full list check out our resources page. Don’t forget always shop around to find the best deal for you. What works for us should be good for you but it’s always reassuring to check.
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So you have always had a notion to visit the Italian Grand Prix. Perhaps you’ve seen it on the telly or may be you’ve attended other Grand Prix and you fancy trying somewhere new. We have now been three times and over the years have gained some experience that will hopefully make your visit more memorable.
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