Sadgoth's Guide to Wave gotik treffen / leipzig 

So you have arranged your hotel and flight, time to think about getting a ticket. There are a few options, you can get a ticket when you arrive in Leipzig (recommended), or you can order it via the official website either with an international money order. If you live in Germany you have the option of picking up your ticket directly from various locations (as publicised on the official website)  or if you are in Leipzig early you can pick it up from one of the shops in town 

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​FROM THE OFFICIAL WGT WEBSITE

The one thing people dislike about WGT is the ticket buying process, in todays world where everything is so easy to buy you are going to have to suffer a bit and do a bit of extra work to buy your WGT ticket in advance (this is probably to avoid the 2.5% credit card costs that Visa sticks on any transaction).

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If you choose to buy your ticket in advance then you have one option, by International Bank Transfer / Money order. Tickets generally go on sale in the New Year before WGT, simply go the official WGT website and enter your details (name, home address, email, and how many tickets you want and of what type), you will then get an automated email with the details of what you need to do...in 2023 tickets were €170, you will also need to pay the bank transfer fee (and this is where it gets complicated, as each bank has its own protocols and costs the price varies, you will also need to pay the receiving banks fees too...this can be approx €20-€50 but could be more (or less) depending on your country and bank...

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What is the best way to buy tickets?

The age old question, how much should I pay for theirs and my bank fees and either failing to pay enough or pay too much, its a problem that everybody who wants to purchase a ticket in advance suffers, from the Sadgoth facebook group we have found that Transferwise is the best way to purchase tickets, its certainly the cheapest with fees being a couple of pounds, simply sign up and send the money...

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If you want to camp you will need to add an 'Obsorge' ticket, if you need to park on site at the Agra then you will also need to add this to the cost of your ticket. Postage will go on top.
 

If you dont include enough money to cover the International Bank Transfer fee then your ticket will not be posted, you will have to go down to the Agra Box Offfice with ID to collect you ticket and pay any remaining fees.

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BUYING YOUR TICKET IN LEIPZIG (RECOMMENDED)
I have never known the event to sell out; everybody seems to be able to get a ticket even people that arrive late, I recommend that you get your ticket in Leipzig and avoid the farce of paying bank transfer fees. However, the downside is that you may have to queue to get your ticket and then your wristband (but there are a couple of solutions that can help). Tickets will go on sale outside the Hautbahnhof (just in front of the Seaside Park Hotel) on Thursday at approx 4/5pm although the queue will start about 3pm (or sooner), the queue will get very long and can take you a couple of hours to reach the little hut where you will be sold a ticket which you will exchange a small part of for a wristband.

 

Hints and Tips 

• If you are in Leipzig before Thursday get your ticket from one of the shops in town (check out the facebook group for the latest details)

• Get your ticket from the Agra Messepark, yes its a tram trip, but the queue is always shorter (most people will get there and back before people waiting in the queue outside the Hauptbahnhof)

• Go later, they will be selling tickets till approx 11pm+

• Buy them Friday morning

• Check to see if the Moritzbastei has tickets, if so there will probably be no queue

AGRA MESSEPARK
Tickets go on sale Thursday afternoon when the camp site opens at the ticket office (that is situated directly opposite the tram stop, you cant miss it). The queue will be quite large, however by late afternoon early evening it will be almost non existent (most of our German friends will turn up Friday morning)

 

IN FRONT OF THE MAIN HAUPTBAHNHOF
In front of the Hauptbahnhof and just in front of the Seaside Park Hotel there will two small metal huts, at one of these tickets will be on sale (there will be a queue from late afternoon)

 

MORITZBASTEI
In recent years there has been an unpublished ticket office at the Mortizbastei, you wont miss it, there will be a queue of people (and generally its going to be shorter than the one opposite the Hauptbahnhof) you can also get your wristband here too.

 

ONCE YOU HAVE YOUR TICKET
If you ordered your ticket online or purchased it when you got to Leipzig then you will now need to exchange part of that ticket for a wristband. At the same time and location that the tickets go on sale in Leipzig there will be somebody exchanging tickets parts for wristbands, you hand your ticket over they tear a bit off and you get a wristband (you also get your ticket back, and most of us will want to keep them as they are works of art). The wristbands are made from a course nylon that may annoy you (I have seen some nasty rashes from the wristbands), the wristband will be connected to your arm by means of a lump of aluminium (that again is quite annoying) that is crushed together in some sort of medieval vice, they will also want to trim the remaining material off (as its been know for people to slip their hands out of the wristband and hand it somebody else), and on entry to the Agra security may test the bond of the aluminium to ensure you have not swapped wristbands with somebody that has not paid.

 

Once you have your wristband you can relax and enjoy the best Gothic Festival in the World, you now also have free public transport around Leipzig. You can also get your wristband from inside the campsite (if you are camping). At about 5pm on Thursday, the queues seem to be smaller at the campsite and there are more ticket exchanging outlets on the campsite.  Be sure to queue up at the white tents in the middle of the camping areas.

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MY TICKET DIDN'T ARRIVE, HELP

My ticket didn't arrive, what do I do?, the first thing is not to panic, this is quite common, you either ordered too late or did not include enough bank fees to cover the charges, either way your tickets are safe. When you get to Leipzig you will need to get yourself down to the Agra, the ticket office there will have  your tickets, you will need some form of identification and the email they sent you.

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