IOM TT 2024 Points of Interest & Recommendations?

[Crconnor18]

Taking my better half to IOM for the TT this spring and looking for some recommendations or interesting things to see outside of the TT attractions. We are there from the Friday afternoon the 31st of May until Monday the 3rd of June. That gives us time to see the superstock, side car and the superbike races. There will be a few days spent in the UK on either end before flying back home.

Her father said we have to go to Creg-ny-Baa for a pint but that’s all I know. Benefits of finding a girl with motorcycles in her blood I guess

Anyone have the pleasure of going there? Any must do’s? We won’t be riding unfortunately but maybe that’s something we can do another time.

[boosten lebaron]

where in the uk will you be when your not on the isle? I might be able to give you some suggestions depending on where you are. Ive got nothing for the isle itself other than leverage yourself to a good area full of action. It is hard to move around once the races have started so know where you want to be before hand.

[Crconnor18]

We fly to Manchester Thursday but our ferry is from Heysham on Friday late morning.

On the return we also go through Heysham Monday evening. We don’t fly out again until Wednesday afternoon from Manchester

[nick5446]

The wife and I try to go every year, but we usually either do practice week (last week of May) or for the Manx GP (August) because it's much less crowded and a lot cheaper. This year we're doing the Manx, which we chose primarily because of more favorable weather. A few comments and questions...

- Where are you staying? If you haven't already booked you might be in a bind. Let me know if you need help here. We have stayed at a few places but prefer to "glamp".
- Any flexibility to extend your trip? That's a short time and you're going to be wishing you were there longer (might also be a good excuse to go back every year).
- How are you getting there? The ferries are almost definitely already full, but I prefer flying.
- Are you renting a bike? I'd 10000% recommend it. There's a lot of the island you can't really see without your own ride. I cheaped out and didn't rent a bike the first few times and didn't realize how much of the island I was missing. Public transportation is easy and cabs are available and pretty cheap. No Uber (at least not as of last year). You can also likely hire a car to take you for a lap. I always rent from this guy: http://www.motorcycleadventures.im/bikes-for-hire/

Stuff to do:
- Downtown Douglas is fun. It's got like 6 bars that'll be packed with bikers. Everyone is in a great mood and excited to talk bikes.
- All the pits are open to the public and that never gets old. You can talk to racers, but tee shirts, drink beers, etc.
- The food sucks (in all of the UK in my opinion, but anyway). We usually eat a lot of Asian food or pizza. There's a Costa and Starbucks in Douglas. The food trucks at the grandstand are also decent. There are a ton of seafood options.
- Nothing is crazy-over priced.
- There will likely be bands at the grandstand every night. That'll be free and fun, but probably ends around 10pm, then everyone will migrate downtown.
- Bushy's used to be a ton of fun, but last year it was pretty fucked. Worth waiting in line and paying the cover charge (I think 3 pounds) at least once. They always have good bands, food trucks, and other cool shit going on.
- Murray's Motorcycle Museum is a mandatory stop. I think it's 5 pounds and worth every penny. When Murray was alive you'd be greeted with whiskey or tea (or both). They have a ton of memorabilia without being at all snobby. You can touch stuff. https://www.murraysmotorcyclemuseum.com/
- The Manx Motor Museum is amazing. About a million cool bikes, cars, trucks, and other neat stuff. This is out in Jurby and I'm not sure how you'd get there without your own ride (or a taxi, but it's a bit out of the way). https://www.isleofmanmotormuseum.com/
- Also in Jurby is a smaller race track. It's not that impressive, but if there's an event going on (Jurby days), it's worth a visit. https://www.iomtt.com/classic-tt/festival-of-jurby
- The ride to/from Jurby is excellent.
- The town of Peel is also out of the way, but a beautiful beach town. Couple cool bars.
- As your FIL said, the Creg is worth the stop for the history, but not my favorite.
- The Victory Cafe and the Joey Dunlop memorial are near the top of the mountain and worth checking out. They also have a cool museum/gift shop/coffee shop.
- There are trike tours that I thought would be stupid but it was amazing. The guy was like "how fast do you guys wanna go?" and thinking it was a joke I told him to give it all he had. We were passing sport bikes on two wheels at 120. It was terrifying. All the drivers/guides are locals and/or former racers.
- The electric tram to Ramsey and Snaefell is awesome. Couple bucks and you ride a rickety old electric train up a mountain; can't lose.
- There's no open container law, so grab some beers and walk around. We usually get a bit of a picnic going when we post up to watch.
- Buy an earpiece radio or otherwise find a way to stay up to date on what's happening. The schedule is always changing due to crashes, weather, oil spills, etc. It can be really frustrating, so be prepared to go with the flow.
- The sun sets super late, so during the week they'll close the roads at like 5pm and race from like 6:30-9. The weekends I think the close the roads closer to noon. Get where you want to go before the roads close or you'll be stuck. You can technically get around while the roads are closed, but it's a pain.

Where to watch from:
- About 100 yards down the road from the Creg you can sit on a hedge and bikes will be literally inches from you. It's pretty fucking scary to be honest.
- Bottom of Bray Hill is great and close to town.
- Parliament Square is fun. There's a bar we love (next door to the gas station) that closed during the pandemic. It was still closed and for sale last year. If it's re-opened, that's a great spot to watch from.
- Ballaugh Bridge is one of the spots they catch air. If you get there early you'll see the wannabe racers hitting it at gnarly speed and getting air.
- Victory Cafe is cool cause it's a bit of a party. Maybe not the most technical place to watch from.
- You can pay (I think) 5-20 pounds to have a reserved seat in one of the grandstands (I think there are 3). This might be worth doing once.

If you're on IG, throw me a follow (murphquake17) and I'll send you some pics and videos. Also happy to meet up for a beer and talk your ear off about the greatest place on earth. Congrats on booking the trip that everyone talks about and few actually do!