Oberammergau in May

I'm not on your program but I just looked at the itinerary. Are you arriving a day ahead or are you arriving the day the program starts? I like to get to a program a day ahead to get a jump on recovery from jet lag.

I'm not sure you'd have time to get out to Dachau where they list free time in the afternoon of Day 3 after the early afternoon activities. The website for Dachau indicates they close at 5PM daily. ( www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/hours.html ) The train from the Munich central station is about 25 minutes, then either a cab or bus to the Dachau site which is not too far away. You'd have to figure in time to get to the Munich station and train departure times. I'm sure they are fairly frequent as Dachau is kind of a suburb to Munich. Plus you'd want a couple of hours at the camp itself. There is a lot to see and a lot to think about.

I have been to the Dachau Memorial and it IS definitely worth seeing. I did it on a tour with another company so have not done it on my own although it is very straightforward. German trains are pretty easy and if you get confused there is always someone at the station who speaks English. If I need help I usually look for a 20-something person because they generally speak excellent English.

You can, of course, skip any of the planned RS activities to do something that is meaningful to you. If you are uneasy about doing this on your own there are a number of providers from who provide tours out to the Concentration Camp Memorial from Munich. Here is a link to the official page with some tour providers listed.

www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/partners.html

This looks like a wonderful tour! I was blown away by the Salzburg Cathedral - 4 small organs mounted at the crossing of the cathedral. And Mozart played one of them. Wow.

~Pam

I've not looked at your schedule so don't know specifics. In October 2010, I made the Oberammergau trip, beginning in Salzburg, ending in Munich. I was determined to visit Dachau, shared my intent with the group the first day. By time we arrived in Munich, we were weary; no one wanted to join me. I skipped the events planned for the day by RS (I'd seen enough castles and churches and people!), hotel concierge helped me tap into a Dachau tour beginning at the Munich train station as described below. Bus to another location to meet more of the Dachau tour group then to the village of Dachau about 25 minutes outside of Munich. Somehow (9 years have erased some details from memory) we were delivered to the street leading to the entrance of the camp. There, I joined an on-site tour with a young woman speaking terrific English. The experience was as important to me as the Oberammergau day, but quiet and not too crowded, a nice break from too much hustle-bustle. I have no regret about missing some of Munich (during Oktoberfest so more crowds). That day was a pilgrimage for me. Do it solo if you cannot find someone to join you! You'll likely find other English-speaking tourists on that Dachau tour.

Thank you. Just got back to this. Your thoughts on this were most helpful.

Thank you. The information and your thought process on this was most helpful. I agree that there are only so many churches, etc to appreciate when something like Dachau is so close.

I am also on the trip from May 17-25 going to Passion Play unless the trip is cancelled because of the Coronavirus.
I have scheduled a Viator trip to Dachau on May 16 starting from our hotel at 1pm. Guide will pick my niece and I up
at the hotel and take us to train station to Dachau and give us a tour.

Viator is a 3rd party booking service (owned by Trip Advisor) and does not actually run the tours themselves. Although you've already booked I'd check to see what the cancellation policy is on your tour. Better to know up front in case things fall through.

~Pam

I see that the Passion Play has been postponed for 2020 and will be presented in 2022.

www.passionsspiele-oberammergau.de/.../startseite

~Pam