In my wife (then girlfriend) and I went to the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps. We relied only on public transportation (trains and busses) to get to and from the event.
Because we could not find all the information we'd like to have had on the Internet, I wanted to write down our experiences and what we've learned.
All the information on this site is valid as of , so please check the details in advance of your journey.
On Saturday we came from Aachen and on Sunday we came from Maastricht, where our hotel was located.
The RE29 rides between Aachen and Verviers once per hour. There may not be announcements onboard the train, or they may be in French. Important: Verviers has two stations. Do not alight at Palais station, only at Central station.
From Liège-Guillemins station the S41 local train and an IC service go to Verviers once an hour each. If you're coming from Brussels, you'll be using this IC service.
You can use the app or website of SNCB/NMBS to check connections and timetables of Belgian trains.
The station in Verviers is not very large, and all paths are clearly signed in English on that weekend, so it is easy to find your way around the station.
During the day you can use the main entrance. In the evening the main entrance is closed and you need to use the side entrance along the main road.
The station itself has the basic amenities: toilets, ATM/cash machine, snack and drinks vending machines, a ticket booth and a small café.
All city busses in the French-speaking part of Belgium are operated by TEC. Lines 294 and 395 go from Verviers station in the direction of Francorchamps and back. Each line has a two-hourly service, so together they form an hourly service to the racetrack.
When you exit the station, the regular bus stop is in front of you on the right side of the road. Queueing there was pointless, however: the bus stopped in front of the station building.
If you're worried about missing your connection between the train and the bus: the timetable is obsolete on the race weekend anyway, by mid-day everything is heavily delayed. A bus will eventually come.
Board either the 294 bus to Trois-Ponts oder the 395 bus to Reuland.
Do not board the bus at a later station, it will be full. Two other visitors who were on the same train as us alighted at Verviers-Palais station, probably with the intent of having a larger transfer time (because the busses also stop there). They almost didn't get in and were squeezed against the doors the entire ride. Further along the journey two women wanted to get on, and they were unable to because the bus was so full. Don't do that: board at Verviers-Central only.
There are no annoucements onboard the bus. That's not really important on that weekend: everyone board at the station and alights in Francorchamps. It's impossible to miss either of those.
The timetable is also irrelevant on that weekend. The ride goes along smoothly until just past exit 10 on the A27/E42 motorway, then you will be stuck in traffic. The journey planner assumes a trip duration of about , but expect about .
The bus will drop you off somewhere in Francorchamps where there's space, not necessarily at the announced stop “Maison Godefroid”. Then just follow the thousands of fans around you, and you'll find the way to the racetrack.
The ride back was very chaotic due to a lack of good information.
The last regular bus departs quite early, just before . Because we were standing near Rivage, we took the Combes exit and walked to the nearest bus stop visible on Google Maps. There we found a posted notice in French which informed us that some stops would be moved or skipped during the F1 weekend. The online passenger information said that there wouldn't be any changes on Friday and Saturday. I still think it's a questionable decision to post such information only in French during such an international event.
Anyway, we quickly walked to the nearest bus stop („Route de Bernister“) because we were under the assumption that our time was running out. We did not want to miss that bus (the last one of the day!) But no bus came. More people arrived at the stop, some asked if the bus had already been there. Some people left again after some time.
Then, more than an hour after the posted time, the bus finally arrived.
Again, it was a very slow drive through Francorchamps. And regarding the skipped/moved stops: the driver still stopped at each stop where people were standing. A few times people got on while the bus was stuck in traffic. It was all very chaotic. And of course the bus became quite full over time.
Normally the bus should have arrived at at Verviers station — we arrived at , so delayed. Luckily the trains still ride late in the evening.
Keep this in mind if you need to be somewhere at a certain time, e.g. in your hotel.
Tickets for the shuttle bus are sold in the yellow van in front of the station building. Walk in, say how many tickets you want, pay. When we were there only cash was accepted. If you don't have cash on you, you can withdraw some at the machine inside the station.
The pickup point for the shuttle busses is right in front of the station. On Sunday morning the entire bus station is converted into a pickup zone for the shuttles. You queue and wait, then everyone will go into the bus until it is full (have your ticket ready, it will be inspected before you can board), and then the bus departs. This also means that the bus won't depart if it's nearly empty. Then you'll have to wait until the next train full of people has arrived, which happens twice an hour.
Just as with the city bus: a lucky few will get a seat, the rest has to stand up for the entire ride.
The bus rides non-stop to Francorchamps, outside the city it roughly follows the route of the regular busses. Again, you'll have a smooth ride up until the motorway exit. Expect even larger traffic jams on Sunday. Our bus ride took about in total.
The ride back after the race was chaotic. All shuttle busses (both those going to Verviers as well as those going to the yellow parking zones (“yellow bis”)) depart roughly, where they arrived. We tried to find the end of the queue — there wasn't one. The queue for all shuttles went once around the entire block.
We waited for ages until finally some busses came. People were really cheering when empty busses towards Verviers arrived.
As soon as the doors open, everyone rushes in. And just like when going to the racetrack: a few lucky will get a seat, the rest has to stand.
On the drive back the bus crawls through Francorchamps at a snail's pace, until it gets better after passing the motorway junction. The rest of the trip to Verviers is speedy in comparison. In the city itself every bus driver will try to find the fastest route to the station. In our case they all arrived at roughly the same time though.
At the station everyone rushes out in an attempt to catch their train. Spoiler alert: not gonna happen.
Inside there are gates with which SNCB staff apparently want to perform some crowd control and let everyone pass by a ticket inspection. But when five full shuttle busses arrive at once… It was very busy, and it was not pretty. After the ticket inspection the situation relaxes a bit, but since there is still only an hourly service towards Liège and Brussels, the trains are going to be quite full.
Finally, some general advice about going to the Belgian Grand Prix would've liked to have beforehand.