I visited Oberammergau on my first trip to Europe in 1991, and we've been there as a family four times in the years since. Oberammergau is best known for its once-every-ten-years Passion Play Last summer we went on a tour of the Passion Play theater and learned much more about this incredible production. In these modern days, half of the village residents are involved in the actual production. I'm sure the other half is involved in supporting the needs the 500,000 people who will come to Oberammergau to see the five-hour performance over six months in 2010.

After we toured the theater last summer, our family got very interested in going to see the Passion Play in 2010. I picked up information on ordering tickets, but we weren't able to place our order since we didn't know our plans for 2010. This week we finally mapped out our plans for summer 2010, and immediately started working on the Passion Play tickets. You can only order tickets by mail or fax, and Charley faxed off our order yesterday.

Unless you can go on a Saturday (which we can't), all tickets are sold as part of a package, where you get accommodations, meals and tickets. We have two Tuesdays and one Thursday in late June/early July that we can go, and this requires a two day package. Depending on the type of accommodation you want, the packages come with varying prices. The most expensive packages also get the best seats in the theater. (We will not be sitting in the best seats.)

Now we will wait the three weeks to see if there is availability on one of our days and in one of our selected accommodation classes. It is amazing that we are doing all this more than a year in advance! I have read that many dates are already sold out, as many of the tickets/packages seem to have been purchased by big tour operators or church groups. If we can't get our own package for one of our dates, we may consider going through some reseller. Another ten years seems a very long time to wait!

If anyone else is interested, here is the official website with information. You can download the order forms there.

(Here is an earlier discussion about attending the Passion Play.)

Kathy

We already have bookings from guests for September 2010, they are coming to our part of Bavaria after seeing a performance at Oberammergau! I saw a leaflet recently and it certainly is expensive - I think the maximum time you can stay in the village while the play is on is 2 days? It must be an amazing experience.

We have finally confirmed our tickets for the Passion Play in Oberammergau at the end of next June!

We have been away from home since early May, and hadn't received any follow-up about our tickets through e-mail or regular mail. Yesterday we were in Oberammergau and stopped by the Passion Play ticket office to see if we had been confirmed. Apparently they had sent an e-mail at the end of April and never heard from us... must have ended up in Charley's Yahoo spam. They didn't have any vacancies in our requested accommodation categories for any of the three dates we had indicated on our request.

A very nice young woman worked with us to identify alternate accommodations (a little more expensive) on our second-choice date of June 29. We have a two-night package and will stay in Ettal, just above the Kloster.

The Passion Play starts in mid-May 2010. The woman told us that they are 90% sold out, and many dates are already sold out except for the most expensive accommodations. They are also now processing requests for tickets-only (I think this is just Saturday night). So if you are interested in attending, make your plans ASAP. The next opportunity will be in 2020.

I first visited Oberammergau in 1991 and I think I've now been there eight times. We are really looking forward to coming back next summer for the Passion Play!

Kathy

Congratulations. Your perseverance paid off. It is an opportunity to take advantage of now. 10 years is definitely a long time to wait especially for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.