Oppo Wisdom - 2014 Italian GP

"f86sabre" (f86sabre) 01/04/2014 at 10:33 • Filed to: Travel, F-1, Wisdom

0

5

This coming September my wife and I are planning on taking my mother and father in-law to visit Monaco. My father in-law wants to gamble at the casino there. Hey, it's his bucket list. As part of this trip my wife and I want to take a couple of days and nip over to the GP at Monza. I'm looking for some Oppo guidance for this expedition.

What seems like a good idea is to find a place to stay between Monza and Monaco that allows relatively easy train (preferred) or car access to both. Looking at Google Maps, it shows the area between Savona and Genoa as being about half way between the two. The route is not as the crow flies by any stretch, but this is northern Italy and that is just the way it goes. The coast road between Genoa and Monaco looks awesome and sure to elicit my father-in-laws favorite curse of "Jesus Christ!"

So, Oppo, what I'm asking you is has anyone visited the area and would you have tips on places to stay? Towns that are good? Hotels or B and Bs you would recommend? AirBnB favorites? Any tips would be appreciated. We've done Rome and the area from Monaco and west of Nice, but this piece of Italy is new to us. Another option would be to find a place in Milan and just make a long day and visit Monaco that way. So, if anyone has tips for Milan I would be interested in those as well.

Yes, I know we need to find our way to Maranello, Sant'Agata Bolognese and Bologna if we can, no need to mention that. Yes, we could go the weekend of the Monaco GP, which would be amazing, but we wouldn't get within 100 ft of the casino, let alone inside to gamble.

Photo credits: carthrottle.com, panoramio.com, phombo.com, puma.com and Google Earth

Roberto G. > f86sabre 01/04/2014 at 11:27

0

You have a lot of time till September, so it shouldn't be a problem to plan your trip. I'd suggest you stay in Milano, since it's our most advanced and international town, with lot of museums, facilities and shops. A double room in a 4 stars hotel would cost about €100-150 per day taxes included, and of course you can rely on the hotels of best international chains, like Sheraton and Best Western. Milano-Montecarlo by train should take about 4 hours, from Milan Central Station, and I wouldn't sleep there because it's one of Europe's most expensive towns. What will make your wallet much lighter, are the prices for a covered stand at the Monza F1 GP: on the Sunday of the race, a seat in the Central Stand (in front of the starting line) will cost €630 per person, while it'll be only €330 for the stand at the Parabolica Curve. This is why when I was a teen I was passing through the fencing, and now I see it on the TV. Eventually, for both for the Hotel and the GP I suggest you book at least 3 months in advance.

f86sabre > Roberto G. 01/04/2014 at 11:41

0

Thanks for the info. I'm leaning toward staying in Milan myself as we haven't visited there. Farthest north in Italy we've been is Perugia. The reason I am starting on this early is my in-laws will have to book tickets and do some extra scheduling work. My mother-in-law is an executive at a fairly large clothing store chain and needs time to plan days off. That and they keep asking about it. My wife and I travel a great deal, mostly on the fly, but the in-laws like more structure.

I've looked a little bit at hotels and renting a place through airbnb.com. With four of us traveling I think that may be a good value.

I'm not too picky on where we sit. I would like to get to the podium after the race, but I would be ok at Parabolica. Do they have any spectator hills?

Roberto G. > f86sabre 01/04/2014 at 13:20

0

There's the opportunity of buying a "prato" (meadow) ticket that's only (sic!) €80 per person, and you can go everywhere, except the areas of the covered stands. Problem is that the Monza track is totally flat, and to see the cars you need to make your way with difficulty among the hordes of sweaty, rowdy fans from all over Europe, who often have no intention to break away from the fence and can also treat you badly, should you insist... mainly because they're drunk since the previous Friday. Just imagine that some fans enter the circuit one week before the race with their camping tents, and "picket" the area where they will be staying during the race, even if it's strongly forbidden. Since you're with ladies and not so young people and supposedly it's a once in a lifetime event, I strongly suggest that you buy some places in a closed, covered stand. And do not forget your earplugs, otherwise your ears will be humming for three days...

f86sabre > Roberto G. 01/04/2014 at 16:33

0

Thanks again. It would just be my wife and I for the race. The rest of the family will be sight seeing. We braved Le Mans last year so, my wife is pretty tough. Sad to hear the folks in the prato are that rough. I would like to walk around a bit.

Roberto G. > f86sabre 01/04/2014 at 16:45

0

Not everyone is rough of course, there are lotta familes with kids as well... the problem may arise when you try to open a little space at the fence, to see the cars on the track. With 200,000 spectators, you may imagine that some trouble could arise... and not to be chauvinistic, but the worst drunkard fans come from center, north and east Europe.