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There are three different Canada GP entrance gates dotted around Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
If you’re heading to the track for the Formula 1 weekend you need to know which entrance to head for depending on which ticket you have.
This article provides a complete guide to all the entrances and will help you aim for the right one!
Contents
Canada GP Entrance Gates
There are three entrances in to the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve:
- Cosmos Entrance
- Concord Entrance
- Casino Entrance
The map below shows where each of these are located around the circuit.
The Cosmos entrance puts you on the outside of the circuit near the Hairpin at Turn 10.
The Concorde Entrance puts you on the inside of the circuit close to Turn 8.
Canada GP Entrance Gate locations
For full details on what transport to take to get to the entrances see our Canada F1 Travel Guide.
And remember – you can’t drive to the circuit (unless you’re a VIP). The best bet is to use the Metro and get off at Jean-Drapeau station on the neighbouring St Helen’s Island.
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is located on Notre Dame Island in the middle of the St Lawrence River in Montreal.
To get to the entrances you have to cross one of two bridges, named the Cosmos Bridge and Concorde Bridge. Each of these bridges leads to its respective entrance.
Concorde Bridge is for VIP cars and pedestrians. Cosmos bridge is for pedestrians only.
The Casino entrance is actually within the circuit and is accessed from the Concorde Bridge. As the Concorde Bridge reaches the island you can chose to either go through the Concorde Entrance or continue until you reach the Casino entrance.
Which Canada GP entrance to use?
Anyone with a General Admission, Grandstand or VIP ticket can use any of the three entrances. But the entrance you should use depends on where around the track you’re planning on being.
Use the wrong entrance and it can mean you have to do a lot more walking.
Grandstand ticket holders
Getting the right entrance is most important for people with grandstand seats.
Below are the entrances recommended by the circuit itself.
Cosmos Entrance
- Grandstand 15
- Grandstand 21
- Grandstand 31
- Grandstand 34
- Grandstand 46
- Grandstand 47
- Lance Stroll Grandstand
Concorde Entrance
However, if you’re on the far side of the track in Grandstands 1, 11 or 12 then you might want to head for the Casino Entrance instead.
Walking to these grandstands via the Casino is a lot shorter. Plus it avoids some of the crowds at the Concorde entrance. Shuttle bus 777 usually runs from the Metro Station to the Casino entrance as well.
There is also little water taxi that runs across the lake inside the circuit. It picks up at the Casino and drops off at the dock behind Grandstand 1, just past the Wall of Champions.
This saves a lot of walking if you can get a space on it.
General Admission ticket holders
If you have a General Admission ticket you can use any of the entrances around Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
If you’re not sure where to head or where’s best to view from, check out our guide to General Admission viewing at the Canadian GP. It includes full details of all of the different viewing spots around the circuit.
VIP / Hospitality ticket holders
VIP ticket holders should head to the Casino Entrance at the Montreal Grand Prix. The Paddock Club and terraces are near the start / finish line, so this is the closest entrance to those.
Queues at the entrances
The Canadian Grand Prix has seen a huge increase in attendance over the last few years thanks to the Netflix documentary Drive to Survive ramping up the sport’s popularity.
The organisation and crowd management at the venue leaves a lot to be desired. Check out this Grand Prix Travel thread on Reddit to get an idea of how bad the crowd management was at the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix.
If you’re heading to the race you can expect the queues to be huge, mainly on the Saturday and Sunday of the F1 weekend.
If you’re arriving at peak times then expect long waits at the entrances. The Casino should have the smallest crowd as it’s the entrance least likely to be used.
The same can be said for leaving the track. If you try and get out after the last F1 session of the day with everyone else, you’ll be in for a long horrible wait in the crowds.
Plan to hang around after the racing and if the track’s open walk on the circuit instead of the pedestrian paths.
Bag Searches
Bag searching takes place each day of the Canadian GP weekend. The main thing they’ll be looking for is alcohol as you’re not allowed to bring it in.
Often the searching is most strict on the Sunday. Some security guards will even smell the liquid in your water bottle to make sure you haven’t tried to stash some booze in there instead.
Whether you get away with bringing alcohol in depends entirely on who searches you and how thorough they are. But don’t rely on being able to sneak it in.
Canada GP Entrance Gate Opening Times
The spectator entrance gates for the Canadian GP opened at the following times in 2023:
- Friday: 8:30am
- Saturday: 7:30am
- Sunday: 8:30am
If you’re a General Admission ticket holder and desperate for a good spot it’s worth trying to get there at least 45 minutes before the gates open.
Tickets
You can use digital e-tickets on your phone to get through the Canadian GP entrances. The security staff will scan these on the way in.
Make sure you’ve downloaded them to your phone well in advance. Don’t rely on being able to quickly access the internet when you’re in a crowd of thousands of people.
It’s never a bad idea to print the ticket off and have it to hand when you go through the entrance.
How would I get a ticket for the water taxi? Can I purchase it separately?
The one to the island or the one within the circuit on the lake?