Monaco F1 - planning 1st time trip...

At today's exchange rate, I would budget 4-5K to properly do the Monaco thing, Vegas it ain't! You'll best do through Grand Prix tours, but try to be a week erarly for the Historics, less people and you can do the tourist thing and get all over the place.
Stay out of town, used to be able to get a B&B but you need to go west along the coast and find a place overlooking the Med.

 

I don't speak from experience, but I've always heard the the Hotel de Paris is about as good as it gets.

On the other hand, I do speak from experience about F1-GPT.com and the importance of avoiding them. They said our Montreal tickets would be shipped 2-3 weeks in advance, then they finally replied to my emails and told me they had been delayed. They ended up being delivered on the Monday of the race week, two days before we left. I don't know when Formula1.com starts selling, but I would imagine that's a pretty good place to buy tickets.

Have fun in Monaco,

John

 

If you go in 2010 - forget going to the F1 race and go to the Historics instead (they are held every two years) - much cheaper, lots of fun, fantastic RACING, awesome cars. We stayed in Nice and took the train to Monaco each day. Fly DFW - Paris Charles de Gaulle - Nice. Lots of nice hotels on the waterfront in Nice and reasonable prices. We found a fantastic place to eat on the promonade just off where the podium is. The seats we had for the historic were fantastic and after walking the track, we decided they provided the optimum view and also had the large screen tv to our left where they go up the hill from Ste Devote. Plan your self and save money for another trip!! We don't use any tour companies for the races we attend and find it suits our style much better. Just a suggestion.

Carol

 

I went in 2005, we went to France the week prior, then to Monaco. The hotels were extremely expensive in Monaco so we only stayed there Thursday, then we stayed in Nice and traveled by train back and forth. There is no activity on Friday there so we went to Cannes which was really cool, the festival was going on and it was pretty cool to see. The tickets can be bought from the Auto Club in Monaco, you can find it online, but buy them early, they sell out fast. Next time I think I'm gonna splurge and try to stay in Monaco but it's crazy expensive, and I may get some kind of hospitality but that is also crazy expensive. The hotel we were staying at in Nice was where the Grand Prix tours people were staying, and it just seemed like it was easier and cheaper to do it ourselves. My wife did most of the planning but if you need any help or information please PM me and I'll have her dig it up.... It's a great place to visit and a great race and plenty of other stuff to see if you have time. Highly recommended.

 

Answered above..

 

Rob - just a suggestion regarding flights from DFW - when we went in May to the historics we flew KLM (leaves at 3:10 pm) from DFW to Amsterdan (arrives AMS 7:20 am) connected to another KLM flight to Nice. The return flight left Nice at 6 am back to AMS and the AMS-DFW flight arrives DFW at 1:15 pm local time. KLM flies the Airbus which is superior to the Boeing (in seat video with a multitude of choices to things to keep you occupied) - seating is 2-4-2 (get the 2) - food is superior, no cost drinks, great snacks, good breakfast, sandwiches on flight to Nice with drinks of choice. We flew AA last weekend to LeMans - crappy food, not so good service, 767 but no in-seat video, not as much room (mind you we fly coach - get's there the same time as the front of the plane), a bag of pretzels was the snack vs Doritos, ice cream, etc. AA flight was two hours late leaving DFW due to fuel cell problem. From our experiences, get out of the US then make the connection in Europe.

Carol

 

go to La Raccasse on thursday for practice. the price is a third of what it is on race day. we're planning on the historics in '10. prices are low and much better access to the cars. ira swartz in the Md forum is the man to talk to. he goes every year.

 

I'm speaking from experience: Friday and Satuday night at Jimmy'z if you want the BEST time. However be prepared to spend 3,000 Euros each night for a bottle of vodka and a Magnum of Cristal.