We are planning our first trip to Europe in May and this forum as well as the Rick Steves Europe app have been a wealth of information! We will fly into London for a few days, then go to Frankfurt and spend a week with a rental car driving around southern Germany. I happened to have already booked an airbnb in Garmish that a friend recommended, when I was listening to an interview on the RS app today talking about the Passion Play. I realized that it is this year and is just 12 mi. from our AirBnB. I am a childrens/youth pastor who will be on sabbatical, so this is an amazing opportunity! There are a couple of not too bad seats available, but can anyone tell me if it is even possible to drive in to town for the play and out of town without being in a tour group? It is evident that most tickets go to tour bus groups and hotel packages. If we cannot take our rental car to town to park it, will there be public transportation available in and out of town after the play? For the dinner break, will there by restaurants available for non-tour group people or should we pack a picnic. Any other tips from anyone who has attended? Thank you !
Posted by
Green Bay
21166 posts
Somebody on another thread just mentioned that driving will be impossible in Oberammergau when the Passion Play is going on. There is frequent bus and train service between Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Oberammergau. You can look at current schedule at www.bahn.com. Right now, I am seeing the last transport is a train departing at 11:29 pm on week nights, connecting in Murnau to G-P, arriving at 54 past midnight. Would not surprise me if they put on additional services during the Passion Play season.
PS. Go to the official website, https://www.passionsspiele-oberammergau.de/en/visit/info-service
They give a list of restaurants in Oberammergau with phone numbers. Reservations would be highly recommended.
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
5440 posts
I'm likely the person Sam was referring to. If you look at O'gau on Google Earth you can see that it is quite a small town with very limited parking. During the Play season the lots are filled with buses from all over. Street parking is very limited. There are regular buses between Garmisch and O'gau, and I think the last one is at 11:30 pm. But (at least during the last one), there were extra buses laid on. I think your best bet would be to email your Airbnb host to get details, and perhaps even see if they could get bus tickets for you in advance.
I would also recommend making dinner reservations WELL in advance, since everyone on tours OR with packages will have reservations too.