Package Deals & Last-Minute Tickets

Tour packages (available through CoSport and other ticket agents) may provide cost savings, but you'll have to be very careful to match the package with the events you're intent on seeing -- curling, for instance, might be a bummer if you're more the figure skating type. If you don't find the sort of package you're looking for, consider booking your event tickets and your other travel arrangements separately. But if that's your plan, work fast: Many hotels have already reserved huge blocks of rooms for package guests, and the remainder of their stock is booking up fast. See Vancouver accommodations and Whistler accommodations for more information on where to stay.

Getting Tickets at the Last Minute

Although tickets for the most popular sports are hot commodities, it's likely that some tickets to less high-profile events and preliminary rounds will still be available as the games begin through www.vancouver2010.com, at the individual venue box offices, and at the Main Ticket Centre in downtown Vancouver.

Past history is no real guide as to last-minute availability. At the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy, organizers reported selling almost 80% of available tickets before the Games began, but that still left a couple hundred thousand outstanding. The catch? The bulk of the affordable tickets and the vast majority of those for the most popular sports were long gone. At the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, which were reportedly the first Olympic games ever to sell out, empty seats were still common on competition days -- possibly due to tickets being purchased but not used.

Many tickets sold in advance to sponsors and national Olympic committees (often as part of package deals) find their way into the hands of ticket brokers and scalpers, who sell them for whatever price they'll bring on the day of the Games. Try your best to avoid having to deal with them.

Note: For the first time in an Olympic Games, ticket holders will have the opportunity to post tickets they can no longer use for resale. Buyers will have the confidence of knowing that they are buying legitimate tickets thanks to an active bar code embedded within each ticket.