Advice for Belgium GP in 2023 at Spa?

[pixelmix]

I fancy the idea of taking my sons to an F1 race soon, and I'm tempted to get to Spa since it might not be around for much longer.

I took a DFDS ferry to Amsterdam this summer for a holiday in Germany and it all worked pretty well, so I'm tempted to make a long weekend out of the Belgian GP and take an interesting car over, and possibly nip into Germany on the way back for a bit of autobahn blasting.

My boys will be 8 and 10 by then: both big F1 fans and know all of the teams and drivers and understand the sport. Any thoughts on appropriateness for young kids? I don't fancy Zandvoort since it looks a bit boisterous - from TV, it looks like quite an intimidating atmosphere.

Is it possible to do Spa on a sensible budget in a family appropriate way?

[visitinglondon]

Can’t imagine Spa will be a lot better. I’d avoid it like the plague.

[gshughes]

pixelmix said:

I fancy the idea of taking my sons to an F1 race soon, and I'm tempted to get to Spa since it might not be around for much longer.

I took a DFDS ferry to Amsterdam this summer for a holiday in Germany and it all worked pretty well, so I'm tempted to make a long weekend out of the Belgian GP and take an interesting car over, and possibly nip into Germany on the way back for a bit of autobahn blasting.

My boys will be 8 and 10 by then: both big F1 fans and know all of the teams and drivers and understand the sport. Any thoughts on appropriateness for young kids? I don't fancy Zandvoort since it looks a bit boisterous - from TV, it looks like quite an intimidating atmosphere.

Is it possible to do Spa on a sensible budget in a family appropriate way?

Yes! I did exactly what you are describing this year. Look for my thread on it. We took the DFDS ferry from North Shields to Amsterdam, Spent a week camping in the Netherlands and then drove down to Spa and camped there for 4 nights going to the qualifying and Grand Prix itself. I attended with my nine year old son, he absolutely loved it and described it as the best day of his life. My wife and 11 year old daughter stayed on the campsite both days which was a bit dull, but they coped. The Dutch fans were lively and provided atmosphere, but in no way intimidating.

Tickets were reasonably priced - much cheaper than the British Grand Prix. We camped in a nice family site called Camping Eau Rouge which is about a 3 mile walk or cycle to the circuit. It was taken over by Dutch Max fans who like to drink and party, but they were all well behaved and friendly to the Brits who were there. The campsite owners turned off the power about midnight, so we all got some sleep. This doesn't happen at the official campsites at the circuit apparently - loud music 24/7 so no-one gets any sleep! We had tickets for Les Combes which is the nearest point to this campsite, so all worked out very well. The nearest town is Stavelot which is only a few miles away and has some nice bars, supermarkets etc.

If you do go there with the family my recommendations would be go to Plopsa Coo which is a little nearby theme park - we went there on the Monday after the race - the kids loved it. On the way back to the Ferry we had a couple of city breaks in boutique hotels in Ghent and Bruges as a thank you to the girls which went down well.

Any questions ask in the thread and I will try to answer.

[SmudgerByName]

Following this as I'll thinking about going with the Mrs as it falls on our wedding anniversary (Big F1 fan as well) done a few races abroad (Canada and Hungary) so trying to work out if it is worthwhile making this more of a long weekend break with some F1 inbetween or head over purely for the F1, camp etc

[mat205125]

Dont underestimate the size and gradients of Spa with young kids.

I was going to advocate a general admission and having fun exploring, however only you know how that would fit with your kids and their personalities when tired

[pixelmix]

Thanks for the replies - all very helpful. Sounds like it could be a good option then. I’m off to dig out the other thread and have signed up for ticket alerts on the official website.

[pauljoecoe]

gshughes said:

Yes! I did exactly what you are describing this year. Look for my thread on it. We took the DFDS ferry from North Shields to Amsterdam, Spent a week camping in the Netherlands and then drove down to Spa and camped there for 4 nights going to the qualifying and Grand Prix itself. I attended with my nine year old son, he absolutely loved it and described it as the best day of his life. My wife and 11 year old daughter stayed on the campsite both days which was a bit dull, but they coped. The Dutch fans were lively and provided atmosphere, but in no way intimidating.

Tickets were reasonably priced - much cheaper than the British Grand Prix. We camped in a nice family site called Camping Eau Rouge which is about a 3 mile walk or cycle to the circuit. It was taken over by Dutch Max fans who like to drink and party, but they were all well behaved and friendly to the Brits who were there. The campsite owners turned off the power about midnight, so we all got some sleep. This doesn't happen at the official campsites at the circuit apparently - loud music 24/7 so no-one gets any sleep! We had tickets for Les Combes which is the nearest point to this campsite, so all worked out very well. The nearest town is Stavelot which is only a few miles away and has some nice bars, supermarkets etc.

If you do go there with the family my recommendations would be go to Plopsa Coo which is a little nearby theme park - we went there on the Monday after the race - the kids loved it. On the way back to the Ferry we had a couple of city breaks in boutique hotels in Ghent and Bruges as a thank you to the girls which went down well.

Any questions ask in the thread and I will try to answer.

Looking at Spa for this year. Interested in a non official campsite. How do you find them? Anything nearer than 3 miles away? We will be in a motorhome.

[gshughes]

pauljoecoe said:

Looking at Spa for this year. Interested in a non official campsite. How do you find them? Anything nearer than 3 miles away? We will be in a motorhome.

It depends which gate you need to enter by which campsite to go for as the circuit is so large. I was going to Les Combes and we stayed at Camping Eau Rouge which I can recommend and is about 2-3 miles away.

I found it by searching on google maps for a campsite that was near where I wanted to be and then checking online reviews.

[plynchy]

Considering doing this myself after attending Silverstone for the last 2 years, driven Spa a few times , would be good to see the GP there before it potentially falls off the calendar.

Re the Autobahns, about 20 mins down the E42 will get you into Germany, within a few miles you'll hit a unrestricted stretch, only dual carriageway though. Managed 176 in my 996t there a few years ago before my bottle went.

[markh1973]

pauljoecoe said:

Looking at Spa for this year. Interested in a non official campsite. How do you find them? Anything nearer than 3 miles away? We will be in a motorhome.

We stayed at Camping Les Ecuries which was about 1km walk

[P. ONeill]

Just got an email informing me that tickets are in sale for Spa 23, but the only tickets available are Gold 9, not where I want to be.

[siheb]

I’ve just received the email too. All tickets available when I logged on - super short queuing time too - I have bought 4 x Bronze (general admission) at €220 each. Total bargain compared to Silverstone and no 5 hour wait online either - absolute class compared to the Clowns at the BRDC.

Edited by siheb on Monday 3rd October 23:45

[plynchy]

siheb said:

I’ve just received the email too. All tickets available when I logged on - super short queuing time too - I have bought 4 x Bronze (general admission) at €220 each. Total bargain compared to Silverstone and no 5 hour wait online either - absolute class compared to the Clowns at the BRDC.

Edited by siheb on Monday 3rd October 23:45

Have you done this before? If so would you recommend it? Only ever done grandstand at Silverstone.

[P. ONeill]

siheb said:

I’ve just received the email too. All tickets available when I logged on - super short queuing time too - I have bought 4 x Bronze (general admission) at €220 each. Total bargain compared to Silverstone and no 5 hour wait online either - absolute class compared to the Clowns at the BRDC.

Edited by siheb on Monday 3rd October 23:45

Managed to get two bronze around midnight.

[siheb]

plynchy said:

Have you done this before? If so would you recommend it? Only ever done grandstand at Silverstone.

No but I have been to Spa many times for track days so know it well. V limited local accommodation so camping is the only real option for F1 weekend. Am taking my two teenage boys so it will be an experience 😬

[nessiemac]

siheb said:

I’ve just received the email too. All tickets available when I logged on - super short queuing time too - I have bought 4 x Bronze (general admission) at €220 each. Total bargain compared to Silverstone and no 5 hour wait online either - absolute class compared to the Clowns at the BRDC.

Edited by siheb on Monday 3rd October 23:45

Bit of a price hike for next year then.

This year I paid 325 Euros inc booking fee for 2 GA tickets.

But still worth every penny for the weekend at Spa

[partist]

pixelmix said:

I fancy the idea of taking my sons to an F1 race soon, and I'm tempted to get to Spa since it might not be around for much longer.

I took a DFDS ferry to Amsterdam this summer for a holiday in Germany and it all worked pretty well, so I'm tempted to make a long weekend out of the Belgian GP and take an interesting car over, and possibly nip into Germany on the way back for a bit of autobahn blasting.

My boys will be 8 and 10 by then: both big F1 fans and know all of the teams and drivers and understand the sport. Any thoughts on appropriateness for young kids? I don't fancy Zandvoort since it looks a bit boisterous - from TV, it looks like quite an intimidating atmosphere.

Is it possible to do Spa on a sensible budget in a family appropriate way?

I did Spa, Zandvoort and Nurburgring in 1960 at the age of about 11. It was one of the highlights of my young years! Go for it and make some special shared memories with your children. Buy programmes, give them pens and fill in the results...

[MustangGT]

Best advice I can think of is to hope it does not rain...

[partist]

When I signed on to buy my ticket for 2023 there was no noticeable queue. (27th Sept). For GA I paid 200 euros incl taxes.
Surprisingly as I hummed and hawed with my purchase still in the basket, a pop-up announced that the price had changed since it had been in the basket. Fearing a replay of my Silverstone experience which ratcheted up the price by £100 I had a look. Yes, it had changed DOWNWARDS! But before getting excited I noticed that it had gone down by a fraction of a eurocent

[plynchy]

Will be going for a couple of GA tickets later today, me and the boy (13).

Helpfully, they don't have any child tickets available, wonder why that is?

Just need to decide on a campsite now...