If you’re heading to Autodromo Nazionale Monza for the Italian Grand Prix, then you’ll want to plan your travel carefully.
Monza is one of the most iconic races on the calendar, but it’s also one of the busiest. Hundreds of thousands of Tifosi decend on the circuit during the GP weekend maming travel slightly challenging.
There are a few main ways to reach the track, and each comes with its own pros and cons. The key thing to understand from the start is that the circuit isn’t directly next to a major transport hub, so almost every journey involves at least one connection — usually a train followed by a bus or a walk.
Monza circuit location
The Monza circuit itself is located around 20km North of Milan, just outside the city of Monza, inside a huge public park.
If you’re visiting Italy specifically for the race weekend, then Milan is a great place to stay. Lots to see and do, thousands of places to eat and drink and it’s well located for getting yourself to the circuit.
And on paper it looks fairly close, but in reality getting from the city to your seat at the circuit can easily take a couple of hours once you factor in queues, walking distances and crowds at the entrance gates. So allow plenty of time for your journey.
Closest airports to Monza
The closest major airports to Monza are:
- Milan Linate (LIN)
- Milan Malpensa (MXP)
- Milan Bergamo (BGY)
Note that BGY isn’t actually in Milan, it’s in the neighbouring city of Bergamo. If you fly there and are planning on using public transport once you’ve landed, just be aware that there are no direct trains from Milan Bergamo to Monza – they go via the city of Milan anyway.
MXP is also West of Milan. LIN is the airport that is most central to the city of Milan, as the map below shows:
Trains from Milan to Monza
Using the trains is one of the best ways to get to the Monza circuit for the Italian Grand Prix. And most people tend to go from Milan as that has the most frequent trains, but it’s also the busiest.
There are three major train stations within Milan:
- Milano Centrale
- Milano Porta Garibaldi
- Milano Lambrate
These stations are spread out around the city. Bear in mind that at the end of the day when you return to Milan the officials will try and chuck you on any train. Be aware that these three stations are actually quite far apart and you might need to get a metro if you end up on a train to the wrong one:
Milano Centrale has no direct route to Monza. From Centrale you first need to transfer to Porta Garibaldi using the Metro system.
Milano Garibaldi has numerous train lines – S7, S8, S9, S11 – that run to Monza.
Milano Lambrate only has one train line, S9, that runs to Monza.
However, aiming for the Monza train station isn’t the only option, as the sections below will show.
Train tickets
The trains around Milan are run by Trenord. You can buy tickets at the station and they’re cheap – a single day return is never normally more than 6 – 8 Euros.
You can also purchase them in advance online. Check out the Trenord Monza GP ticket options for combined weekend tickets.
Best train stations near Monza
There are in fact a number of different stations you can aim for close to the Monza circuit, depending on where at the track you are going to be spectating from. The different stations are:
- Monza station
- Biassono-Lesmo station
- Arcore station
- Sesto Maggio FS – metro station
Below is more information on each of these options:
Monza train station
Monza train station is the main stop most of the F1 fans use. It can be reached on direct trains using lines S7, S8, S9 and S11 from the Milano Porta Garibaldi station in Milan, or just the S9 line from the Milano Lambrate station. It’s around a 15 – 20 minute direct train journey from either of those stations.
Bear in mind that this is the most common train station for the Italian GP, so it gets absolutely packed. It can be a bit overwhelming being crammed on the trains and station platforms with so many other fans. So try and avoid travelling at peak times to minimise that.
However, Monza train station is in the town of Monza itself, and is over 5km away from the track. If you were to walk it which you could, it will be an hour walk to entrance gates A or G.
The other option is to take a shuttle bus from the station to the track. More info on that lower down the page.
Biassono-Lesmo train station
The Biassono-Lesmo Parco train station is much closer to the track. It’s only 200 metres from entrance gate D, up by the Lesmo 1 corner.
This is at the far end of the circuit, and would be best for people sat in the following grandstands:
To get to this station you need to use line S7. Trains to here are slightly less frequent, usually every hour, and go through the Monza station where most people will get off. But stay on for a few more stops and this is a much more convenient way to get to the track.
Getting out at the end of the day, however, will always see a large crowd of people at the train station trying to get back to Milan. Expect a delay of up to an hour to get on to a train.
Arcore train station
The Arcore station is closer to the track than the Monza station:
- 3km / 40 minute walk from entrance gate D
- 4 km / 55 minute walk from entrance gate G
Arcore station is only accessibly via line S8 from Milan. Trains to this station go via Monza, but again if you stay on most people will have left and it will end up being a shorter walk to the track than if you got off at the Monza stop.
And at the end of the day, very few people take this option to get back to Milan. So if you walk the 40 minutes back to Arcore station, the platform will be fairly empty and you’ll get a seat on the train no problem. You’ll avoid the masses of people, which is always nice.
Sesto Maggio FS metro station
The other option is to take the Milan Metro system, using line M1, to the Sesto Maggio FS metro station. From there, you can take bus Z221 to get to the circuit. It goes via Monza train station where most people get on, so getting on earlier at the Sestio Maggio metro station is always a quieter option and means you are more likely to get a seat.
The bus journey is around 45 minutes, depending on traffic near the circuit.
Monza shuttles and buses
To save on some of the walking from the train station, there are some shuttle and bus options.
Monza black shuttle bus
The Monza black shuttle bus goes from outside the Monza station and takes you to the track.
Shuttle buses run from the station at 7:00am and the last one leaves the circuit at 8:30pm. Return tickets are 6 Euros when purchased on the spot, or 5 Euros when bought online in advance.
Or you can buy a combined train and shuttle bus ticket for 10 Euros.
There are signs all around the station that will guide you to the pickup location for the shuttle.
The downside of the shuttle is you can find yourself waiting a long time to get on a bus, in the morning and even more so at the end of the day. Buses do come regularly, but people can wait over an hour to get on one. In that time you could have walked.
For getting to the track, the key is to get on the earliest train possible to get on a shuttle quickly. If you wait until mid-morning the queues will be much bigger.
The black shuttle bus drops off outside entrance gate G, which is best for the following ticket holders:
Monza bus Z221
Another option is the local bus service Z221. This also picks up from outside the Monza train station, on Corso Milano.
Here’s the location of the bus stop outside the Monza station.
Bus Z221 also stops outside the Sesto Maggio FS metro station, then continues to Monza station, then to the track.
This is an alternative option to the black shuttle bus if you exit the train at Monza station. It still gets busy, but the main difference is where it drops you off at the circuit.
Bus tickets can be purchased when boarding and are usually around 3 Euros for an hour’s journey.
The Z221 bus drops off close to entrance gate A, then entrance gate B. These are best for the following:
- Grandstand 1 – Centrale
- Grandstands 2, 3, 27, 28, 29, 30 – Gradinate Traguardo
- Grandstand 4 – Laterale Sinistra
- Grandstand 5 – Piscina
- Grandstand 6 – Alta Velocita
- Grandstand 7 – Biassono
- Grandstand 8 – Prima Variante
- Grandstand 24 – Vedano
- Grandstand 25 – Uscita Parabolica
- Grandstand 26 – Laterale Destra
- Grandstand 32 – Junior Internale
Taxis / Ubers to Monza
You can get a taxi to the Italian Grand Prix, but if you use Uber I’d definitely recommend pre-booking to lock in your pricing and ensure you get a ride. Exactly where they drop you off on the day will depend on the traffic and road closures. But when you pre-book, enter your destination as the best entrance gate for your seating area and hope for the best.
Getting an Uber back at the end of the day is a different story. You won’t be able to get one from anywhere near the entrance gates. Your best option is to pre-book a collection from a nearby town. Plan to walk for around 30 – 45 minutes away from the track and set a pickup point somewhere there.
Driving and parking
You can drive and park near the circuit. As it’s quite complex, I’ve written a seperate Monza F1 parking guide to help out.
