Coachella 2013 tickets, hotel packages go on sale Thursday

With Coachella 2012 barely in the books, get ready for an early shot at buying tickets and hotel packages for Coachella 2013.
Even though there’s no lineup announced yet, advance ticket sales start at 10 a.m. PDT Thursday (today) and continue through 10 p.m. PDT May 24 for what’s officially known as the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. Next year’s music fest again will take place over two weekends: April 12-14 and April 19-21.

[Updated, 8:30 a.m. May 18: General admission and VIP advance purchase tickets for both weekends sold out quickly Thursday. Camping packages with general admission or VIP tickets that cost $2,000 to $2,900 for two were still available as of Thursday, according to the Riverside Press-Enterprise.]

General admission three-day tickets start at $349 each and include entrance to the venue, parking lot and camping area; VIP tickets with more access cost $799 each. Note the tickets get you into events for one weekend only.

If you don’t want to worry about camping or finding your own digs, you might want to check out the hotel-ticket packages. For example, a three-night stay for two, which comes with two general admission tickets for the first weekend, costs $2,109 at Renaissance Palm Springs Hotel and $1,909 at Homewood Suites by Hilton Palm Desert.

Early ticket and package buyers may take advantage of the Coachella Purchase Plan, which requires a minimum down payment of 20% and seven additional payments.

How to buy tickets: Before you can purchase tickets online, you have to create a profile -- so do that before the box office opens. Then read up on the FAQs, which are considerable, and include ticket prices for all kinds of camping, tipee and shuttle options.

After this advance sale period, tickets will next go on sale early next year, according to the website. Last year, Coachella tickets for both weekends sold out Jan. 13.

Contact: Coachella 2013 (phone contact information is included in the FAQs).