Anybody been to Jerez or Valencia?

James North · 26 Dec 2004, 09:11 (Ref:1187967)

I'm considering on making a short trip to either Jerez or Valencia in January to get in some F1 photography.

Trouble is... I can't find any websites for the tracks.

Flights look reasonable enough, but most of the hotel stuff looks holiday based, which is what I don't want. I need a max of 1 or 2 nights stay.

Anybody (preferebly from the uk) been to either of these tracks before? How did you go about travel and accomdation?

Thanks.

forzaf1 · 26 Dec 2004, 12:44 (Ref:1188019)

I am heading to Valencia at the end of January for a test session, should be a pretty major one for most of the teams.

If you PM me I can supply you with details of a contact which might be able to help you with transport, accomodation.

Alex

James North · 28 Dec 2004, 10:32 (Ref:1188740)

It could be good If I could link up to an extent with forzaF1 there.

If I can't do Jerez or Valencia however, I'd do Barcelona instead. Thier website is much more useful. The other two are completely dominated by MotoGP, and whilst MotoGp is fun... I'm looking for the F1 testing.

Mackmot · 28 Dec 2004, 20:43 (Ref:1189040)

Ive been to both testing and for business. At Valencia we just stayed in Valencia at one of the two Holiday Inn's very nice but a bit expensive. The city is gorgeous and there are a lot of decent restaurants.

At Jerez we were only there for the day and had stayed in Cadiz on our way from Malaga.

I think they do have websites, I'll do a search for them. Just remember that Jerez is pronounced Hereth and Valencia is Balenthia. Really you need to get a book and learn to pronounce things in Spanish in order to be able to comunicate. The local areas of those tracks are not tourist places so they dont speak any English and dont understand you if you dont pronounce Spanish properly.

Mackmot · 28 Dec 2004, 20:48 (Ref:1189042)

http://www.circuitvalencia.com/isum/Main?lang=en

http://www.circuitodejerez.com/en/home.htm

James North · 28 Dec 2004, 23:54 (Ref:1189146)

Oh ****, I can barley pronounce English properly

I'm looking for something for a low budget really. I can't afford to splash out on expensive hotels.

If I manage to go, it will be as a spectator. I think I need to make it clear that I am not going as a professional photographer, or indeed even as a accredited photographer mainly because I don't have accreditation or any means to achieve that at my present stage.

So although fancy hotels with uber fast internet connections would be very nice, I do have to consider that I'm sadly not armed with an overflowing wallet.

Has anyone tried using taxis as opposed to hiring cars?

Thanks for the tips guys and keep em coming

Sadly the sites for Jerez and Valencia are mostly based on MotoGp and don't mention much on F1 testing.

The Barcelona site is much more helpful.

James North · 29 Dec 2004, 00:28 (Ref:1189155)

At the moment, I have to say that Barcelona is looking like the favourite.

I've found a reasonable hotel, apparantly very close to the F1 track, and flights seem to be pretty cheap to.

If I can get this together, the next hurdle is getting the time off work

Well I did work the pm shift on Christmas day, so hopefully they'l take pity on me

Mackmot · 29 Dec 2004, 10:29 (Ref:1189292)

Its dead cheap to hire a car if you look around. You can get them for about £20-30 per day easy. It would cost you about £20 just for a one way taxi ride to the town centre from the track. Best way to do it is to get a couple of mates to go with you and it would be loads cheaper. Even with fancy hotels they often have rooms with two beds and a pull out. Sharing that would make it pretty cheap too and a lot nicer than some grotty motel run by Manuel. (Que?)

James North · 29 Dec 2004, 12:27 (Ref:1189333)

haha, I'd be a bit more worried if it were Basil Faulty.

Getting someone to come along would be great, and I'll probably ask around my friends to see if I can drum up some interest, it would certianly help with the hotel costs thats for sure.

I doubt anyone will be able to do it though. Actually I'm still not sure if I can. After all it all hinges on my being able to take a few days of work.

It doesn't bother me if the hotel room is basic, as I'm only after a room to offload my pictures from compact flash to laptop. And ofcourse to sleep. As long as it's clean and not one of those "holiday from hell" type things, then it is good enough for me.

Bazaboy · 29 Dec 2004, 13:50 (Ref:1189366)

James,

I have a small bed and breakfast accomadation, 20 mins fom Valencia track and 25mins from Manises airport [valencia] . Contact me on lacasatranquilo@yahoo.co.uk
for more details

Baza

Mackmot · 29 Dec 2004, 18:10 (Ref:1189460)

Id go for that, it looks pretty close, probably less than 20 mins once you know the roads.

How much space do you have Baza, I'll keep you in mind if we go testing there.

Bazaboy · 29 Dec 2004, 19:26 (Ref:1189482)

Mackmot

2 x Twins with on suite, 1 x double and one single with shared bathroom.

Baza

**Craig** · 29 Dec 2004, 19:57 (Ref:1189499)

Baza
That is actually quite interesting to me also. Can you tell me how close you are to this company:

http://www.mundopark.com/

I work for the British equivalent and we're supposedly going to be spending some time working out there. Also do you know how close this company is to the circuit...

Mackmot · 29 Dec 2004, 21:05 (Ref:1189533)

IF you look at Multimap.com its looks about the an equal distance from the track to the hotel and the mundopark in opposite directions. Ive been past there and I think you would have to go through a toll on the motorway to go anywhere.

**Craig** · 29 Dec 2004, 21:49 (Ref:1189550)

Cheers Wayne - didn't realise Multimap covered mainland Europe - top stuff.

Hopefully I'll be in touch soon then Bazaboy

James North · 29 Dec 2004, 22:17 (Ref:1189560)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bazaboy

James,

I have a small bed and breakfast accomadation, 20 mins fom Valencia track and 25mins from Manises airport [valencia] . Contact me on lacasatranquilo@yahoo.co.uk
for more details

Baza

Thankyou

I'm eering towards Barcelona more at the moment, because I'm getting much more details about the F1-tests from the Barcelona track website than I am mustering from Jerez or Valencia.

By happy co-incidence I seem to have some annual leave that coresponds with test dates at both Barcelona and Valencia. I also seem to have drummed up some interest amongst my friends. So I hope we can make a trip out of it.

I will definitely keep you in mind, I eventually favour Valencia over Barcelona, and will remember you in the future to.

Mackmot · 30 Dec 2004, 00:36 (Ref:1189613)

I think you should go to both if you can, they are both fantastic cities that are worth seeing and you would get more F1 as well.

James North · 30 Dec 2004, 09:15 (Ref:1189736)

Both would be stretching the wallet a bit to far I'm afraid.

The extra travel cost would make sure I would be skint for some time. It has to be one or the other.

Besides, after the winter Spanish tests, there isn't too long to wait for the Silverstone tests.

Bazaboy · 31 Dec 2004, 09:54 (Ref:1190381)

Craig

As Mackmot says about 40mins from us but the toll on the E15 motorway starts just further south than Torrent. Look forward to hearing from you

Steve Burns · 2 Jan 2005, 16:50 (Ref:1191675)

There are two Ibis Hotels in Valencia, one located at the airport (about 15 minutes from the circuit), the other is at Alfafar on the southern side of Valencia. I stayed in Alfafar for the Moto GP race in November. This is 15 minutes from the airport, 30 minutes from the circuit, 10 minutes from the city centre and 5 minutes from the beaches. It is also within easy walking distance of a brand new shopping centre, supermarket, restaraunt and nightclub complex. From memory it costs about 45 Euros per night and is up to the usual excellent Ibis, Travelinn, Holiday Inn type standard. I booked on line directly with Ibis.

As Mackmot says Valencia is fairly industrial and does not have much in the way of tourism, although the ancient city centre is well worth a visit.

James North · 7 Jan 2005, 22:10 (Ref:1195541)

My Barcelona plans have fallen through.

I am now re-considering Valencia before giving up on the idea completely.

Unfortuately most hotels in my price-range are either fully booked or they can't accept payment by my Switch/Maestro debit card. It is this that has put the brakes to my plans. I did have 3 people exetremely keen to join me, but understandably they are having major second thoughts with the difficulty we are having with accomdation.

I had a look at those Ibis hotels for Valencia. The one by the airport would have been perfect. Well placed for getting the train to the track etc... even at a reasonable rate. But alas... no Switch/Maestro.

I have found one hotel in Valencia, that seems have vancanies at a reasonable rate that does take Switch, it even takes Solo!

I am also considering Baza's Bed & Breakfast.

The only snag is I'm not overy keen on hiring a car.

Any extra thoughts, tips or suggestions would be warmly appreciated

(this is the first time I've had cause to be un-satisfied with First Direct... well not the bank.. but the dam Swith/Maestro, I miss my Visa... but boy did Barclays suck!)

Mackmot · 7 Jan 2005, 22:13 (Ref:1195542)

What about camping?

James North · 7 Jan 2005, 22:51 (Ref:1195561)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mackmot

What about camping?

Only possible if camping equipment is provided.

I'll have to invest in the like eventually.

MikeHoyer · 9 Jan 2005, 04:22 (Ref:1196282)

I would go if there were camping oppurtunities (possibly). I'm one of the people that was going to go with James by the way. But, having decided to go to some foreign races a bit later in the year, it wasn't really worth the expense just to go to a test. If camping could be arranged it would bring the price down a bit. What's Spain like in early February?

James North · 9 Jan 2005, 12:37 (Ref:1196459)

It would seem that most camping sites are seasonal. It's been hell trying to source one out.

However in yet another twist of the tale, Barcelona could be back on again.

My Dad is happy to reserve a hotel with his credit card for me, As this is something he and his colleagues regualry do in their line of work. We could then pay the hotel cash as they only need the credit card to guarentee their payment.

You are ofcourse welcome to join me. But it's no problem if you want to opt out and instead put your pennies towards Spa LMES. I would do myself. But it's unlikely I'll be able to justify booking the days off from work. Can't ask for to much.

I am a bit more optimistic about going to Barcelona after all now than i were last night. For me it would be easier than Valencia because I can fly cheaper from Luton to Barcelona than I can Gatwick to Valencia.

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