F1 Fanatic

Hi, I am looking at going to my first F1 race overseas. Managed to go to Silverstone in 2010, and now prices are just on the up.
I have an opportunity to see a race abroad and so we are looking at Spain. We want to take our 2 children (6yrs & 7yrs). And so we think the best value for money would be a 3 day ticket for General admission only, otherwise it looks like it may cost a fortune. Would you recommend getting a package deal through a Company for it all, or purchase tickets, flights & hotel seperately. I did consider driving, but not too sure this would actually be any cheaper as it is about an 1800 mile round trip from the UK. Never driven abroad so I have no idea how much the crossing would be let alone tolls.
Other fanatics experiences extremely welcomed !!

Hey Steve,

We went last year and will likely go again this year. We flew with Monarch from Manchester (quite cheap) and camped there. Many others we knew stayed in Barca, you can get the train out to Montmelo and its about half hour from the station to walk. Would recommend camping if possible, cheap and right next to the track. General admin is good you can get some great views.

With regard to doing it yourself or a package tour. We did a package tour the first time we went abroad, we found it quite restrictive, missed track action and was expensive. A bit of research on the net made it easy for us to get a shuttle bus from the airport to our hotel and get trains from Barca to Montmelo. We can’t speak Spanish, but we did take a phrase book and managed to get along.

@burgo
G’day Steve. Purely from the perspective of self booking versus a package, I’ve travelled from Australia to Singapore for the last four races as well as the USGP a few weeks ago. Both times booked flights, accommodation, race tickets, etc, directly rather than any third party. As alluded to by others, this offers me the most flexibility and options for airfares and race ticket prices and doing anything else on your visit.

Have fun! Kids will love it.

Steve,

Firstly I would always book everything myself. Get the tickets straight from the race track and book hotels flights etc from the internet. Its really easy and cheaper. Add to that last year there were issues with at least one but I think two ticketing companies where they were in financial difficulties and people were not geting their tickets. If you get them directly from the race track I feel safer and its generally cheaper.

As far as flying versus driving is concened, driving would probaby be cheaper unless you’ve got a gas guzzler. I’m driving to Spain in May for the GP and have costed it all out including tolls etc and it is dearer for two to drive, but for 4 of you driving would probably be cheaper, including an overnight stay half way there and back. We’re driving as we want to stop off somewhere on the way. Driving on the continent is no problem as there are fewer cars on the roads. Touch wood I have never had any issues. Have not driven to Spain before but have done the south of France and its a really nice drive.

As far as accomodation is concerned I would stay in Barcelona. There are plenty of reasonably priced hotels / hostels. I did speak to camping F1 as i did consider camping but they told be there wasn’t much there. Certainly no entertainment so may be a bit dull for the kids. It seems it’s just a basic site and all the food, drink etc is in the track.

Getting from Barca to the track seems fairly easy. There is a train, but it seems this does leave you with a bit of a walk to the track. Alternatively Sagales has a bus service running for all three days which drops you off within a few hundred yards of the entrance. You can pre book tickets on line for 9 euros return. Thats what we’ve done.

Someone else suggested Italy as an alternative. We have been there for the last two years and absolutley loved it. Great track and great atmosphere. As far as a comparative cost os concerned dont think its much if any cheaper. I know what it cost us for the last couple of years and I doubt if overall there will be more than a hundred or two pounds between them. Italy will definatly leave you with a good walk each day as the bus to the track drops you in Monza park and you have to walk through it to the track 20-30 minutes. and on the way back it can be a long hot wait for the bus. The other thing with Italy is the cost for food. It is quite pricey to eat out (hope Spain is cheaper) so unless you’re going to eat pizza every night expect to be spending a good amount of cash.

Whatever you do, good luck. I’m sure you’ll have a great time.

Hi everyone.
Many thanks for all the detailed replies. I have been looking at various options and prices.
Ian, my first choice would have been the Belgium GP but unfortunately we are already on holiday and unable to change.
I then looked at Monza, but if we do take our children, I have heard the GA tickets don’t have as many good choices of viewing and so Granstand seats for all just bumps the price up even further.
I think Spain is our best bet.
As previously stated, we can get the flights for around £340. The hotel and GA for 2 adults and 4 children is around 700EUR.
I have also thought about saving a bit more and go in 2014 instead but there seems to be even more venue changes. Belgium & France alternating, so i expect France will be 2014, and Barcelona and Valencia alternating so Valencia in 2014 (not one of my favourite circuits).
More searching and bank balance checking before I decide i think.
Thanks again everyone

Hi guys,
Planning my second GP trip and Spain suits best. I went to Germany this year with my uncle and we want to do another trip next year. He is a Vettel fan so he enjoyed going to Germany, but as an Alonso fan, the result went my way much to his annoyance! Now I want to check out Alonso territory. Can anyone recommend any specific hotels in Barcelona itself? Affordable and basic, as we won’t be spending much time there, but nice. 3 star preferably.
Race tickets themselves seem to be quite good value (much cheaper than Germany were) and they have discounts up until 1st March. I think we will go for Grandstand K. Does anyone know how good the seats are there?
Also does anyone know how the whole Thursday pitlane walks work? We are planning to fly in on the Wednesday to take part in them. I think that if you have a weekend ticket you can go on the pitlane walk, but could anyone possibly share their own experiences?
Thanks a million!

Easyjet currently have a sale on, managed to get return flights from Gatwick for just over £50. Combine them with a cheap hotel for £100 for the week (me and the two kids) on the Costa Brava and I’ve got another fantastic week of sun & F1