The San Marino MotoGP Grand Prix, raced in Italy

The San Marino Grand Prix is one of those names that trips up anyone planning a trip. It carries the country’s name but is raced in Italy, on the Rimini coast. If you’re coming for the bikes, here’s when it is, how to get there from Titano and where I’d stay.

A Grand Prix with a Sammarinese name and an Italian track

Officially it’s the Grand Prix of San Marino and the Rimini Riviera, and the venue is the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, on Viale Daijiro Kato in Misano Adriatico. The circuit itself puts it about 10 km from Rimini. There’s no MotoGP circuit inside San Marino.

That has a practical consequence I think matters more than anything else on this page. San Marino isn’t the best base for the Grand Prix. There’s no direct link from Titano to the circuit that I’ve been able to document, and the route goes through Rimini anyway. So my advice is to stay on the coast and keep San Marino for another day. The country, and what’s worth a day there, is in my San Marino guide.

When is the Grand Prix?

The 2026 race has gone, 11 to 13 September. The 2027 edition is on the official MotoGP calendar for 10 to 12 September 2027, as round 15 of the season. MotoGP calendars can shift, so I’d check again before paying for a hotel or a ticket.

A note for anyone travelling in September with no interest in bikes. I don’t have occupancy figures, but with a Grand Prix a few kilometres away I’d assume coastal hotels are in higher demand that weekend. If you’re only coming to see San Marino, I’d avoid those dates. Other dates in the year, with sources, are in the San Marino events calendar.

Getting there from San Marino

The clearest route has two legs. First, the Rimini-San Marino shuttle bus to Rimini station, which takes 55 minutes and costs €7 each way; it’s explained step by step in Rimini to San Marino. From Rimini, the circuit points to Riccione station, and from there on by train or taxi to Misano Adriatico.

There’s a timetable problem worth keeping in mind. The current shuttle timetable ends on 7 November 2026 and the September 2027 one hasn’t been published. On the current timetable the first bus leaves San Marino at 08:10, while on race Sunday the gates open at 06:00. If you want an early start from Titano, the bus won’t do it.

By car it’s more direct. You drive down from San Marino towards Rimini and join the A14, where the circuit gives Cattolica as the exit. There are signed car parks around the circuit, but it warns that on the big weekends they fill quickly. For the Grand Prix it also mentions shuttles and dedicated bus lines, and organised trips with BusForFun, though it doesn’t publish times or fares on its access page.

For British readers, the circuit lists Rimini, Bologna and Milan airports. My sources don’t cover which UK airports fly to them in September 2027, so check that before anything else.

Gates, tickets and what to bring

Gates open at 07:00 on Friday and Saturday and 06:00 on Sunday, and you have to leave by 19:30 unless told otherwise. Tickets are sold online through the circuit’s official channels and, on the big weekends, at ticket offices on site subject to availability. I haven’t found 2027 prices in a source I can cite, so I won’t give you any.

One detail you’ll be glad of. Ear protection isn’t compulsory, but the circuit strongly recommends it, especially for children. And if you have a recognised disability of 74 %, there’s a wheelchair platform or a grass area, with limited places booked through a form on the event page.

The plan I’d follow

Friday and Saturday at the circuit staying in Rimini, race day on Sunday and Monday in San Marino, with the Grand Prix over. In San Marino, the two towers on the €11 pass and the old town fill a full day. If you still want more engines, Rallylegend and the rest of the calendar have something Misano doesn’t, which is that they happen inside the country.

And if you’re near the circuit on a day with no racing, the Misano Circuit Tour shows you the paddock, garages, pit lane, Race Control and podium. To me that beats watching the track from behind a fence, though you still have to leave San Marino to do it. More ideas for getting off Titano are in day trips from San Marino.