Can you post some guidance for Oktoberfest ahead of the event this year for those of us who want to attend? (At least I no longer think it’s in Oktober 🙂 )
OK, so my last post containing Oktoberfest tips was not particularly comprehensive. This time I will do better.
To start with the very basics, Oktoberfest is a giant festival consisting of beer tents, rides, and vendors selling carnival food and souvenirs. It takes place at Munich’s Theresienwiese (often referred to as the Wiesen or Wies’n) and runs for around 16 days starting in the second half of September (this year it’s September 19th – October 4th). Entrance is free, and everything else is pretty expensive. Tents open at 10:00AM (9:00 on weekends) and close at 11:30PM. There are 14 large tents and a handful of smaller ones.
You have to be in a tent (or on a tent’s patio) and sitting down at a table to get beer. (OK, so there’s also the beery-go-round, but that’s not what you came to Oktoberfest for.) This sitting-at-a-table-waiting-for-beer is sometimes not as easy as it sounds. Pretty much all of the tents get full to capacity every day of the festival, at which time the doors are closed and guarded by big, angry (and sometimes bribable) bouncers. This happens by the early evening on weekdays and by about 9:05AM on weekends.
If you’ve been fortunate enough to get inside a tent, it’s now time to get down to the business of finding yourself a seat. Many tables will have reserved signs on them, usually with a starting time for the reservation. If you are there well in advance of the reservation time, you may usually sit at the table and be served beer, and the waitress will kick you out at the appropriate time. All tents have a section of tables that are never reserved, usually near the center of the tent.
Unless you’ve arrived at 10:00AM on a Monday, don’t expect to find an entire empty table all for you. Choose a table with some available space, ask the people there if the seats are free (Ist hier noch frei?) and sit down. The waitress will be by more quickly than you expect. You’ll find a crumpled, soggy menu somewhere on the table. It will list a variety of heavy foods, a couple of non-alcoholic drinks, and beer, which only comes by the liter and in one variety. Be glad you don’t have to spend too much time thinking about what to drink.
If you want to be able to easily find a seat, the best time to go to Oktoberfest is on a weekday in the morning or early afternoon. As long as you keep consuming food and drinks (and you sit at an unreserved table), you can stay as long as you like.
At times when the tents are full, it’s still often possible to find a spot on a tent’s patio. There you can eat and drink, but you’ll miss out on the music and atmosphere going on in the tent. Although tents are usually full by the early evening each day, sometimes they open up again later on, after the early shift of drinkers starts crawling their way home.
If you insist on attending Oktoberfest on a weekend without a reservation, do this to get into a tent: arrive at the Wiesen by 8 AM, choose a tent, and stand in the large mass of people outside the door. When they start letting people in a little before 9, make a run for the tables and start looking for one without a reservation sign (or one that is reserved just for the evening – you’ll be ready to leave by then). Cell phones are useful in this scenario, as the people in your party can split up and whoever finds a table first can call the others. Enjoy that 9 AM beer.
All of the large tents have live music for most of the day (starting around 11). The daytime band is usually oompa-like and somewhat traditional. At some point during the afternoon they will be switched out for a younger, hipper band which will assault your ears with Walking on Sunshine and Cowboys und Indianer. This is usually the time when the dancing on the benches commences. Be prepared to jump up and join in or find your head surrounded by gyrating leather-clad asses.
And on that note, I think I’ll wrap this post up. I’ll post a couple of follow-ups in the coming weeks as Oktoberfest draws nearer. If you have any specific questions, ask away!
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Ask the Expat is a semi-regular feature here at This non-American Life. If you have a question for me, go to this post to find out how to submit it.
Thank you for this. It will be our first Oktoberfest. Fortunately, our friends reserved a table. I'm glad to hear there will be music in the tents!
My advice would be: avoid the Brits! If you're in a tent full of Brits, change tents immediately! This particularly applies to tents that begin with "Löwen" and end with "bräu".
There was a big discussion this year about switching back the opening hours to 10 am because too many people were waiting outside at 8 am on weekends; they left it at 9 am but are reconsidering for next year. Front entrances will be closed on weekends, so be sure you wait at a side entrance.
And please: Wiesn, not Wies'n or Wiesen. 😉
Expats Again – good that you have a reservation. Don't be too glad about the music until you hear it. 🙂
PapaScott – I've heard warnings about all kinds of people you don't want to be around at Oktoberfest – Brits, Italians, Aussies… My question is, who are the BEST folks to get stuck next to at Oktoberfest? I want to know who to look out for when choosing a table.
Corregio – good to know about the front doors! Not that I'll be doing the Saturday-morning thing again. Once was quite enough.
Thank you for the great overview. My brother, who is fluent in German, went a few years ago and said it was something to experience. Thanks for the insight.
— Dan
Outer Banks Revealed
My girlfriend and I were able to snag a seat at a reserved table on a weekend evening by shamelessly asking people until we happened to hit on a table of Brits who were drunk enough to get excited that one of us spoke English. I wouldn't make this your Plan A, as it requires being ready to handle a lot of rejection and being ready to accept a seat at a table with people who you may find end up being total boors (though our Brits were super nice and really funny). But it made a good Plan B when we decided to go to Oktoberfest at the very last minute.
Good gracious! Look at the huge fall filled with Oktoberfest revelers! Definitely makes me want to take part. 🙂
Dan – no fluency required!
Katze – good point… sometimes people at reserved tables don't have enough people with them to actually fill the table. Can't hurt to ask (and flirt a little…).
Zandria – yes, if you're looking to drink with huge crowds, Ofest is for you! The tents are more like giant 2-story banquet halls than tents. They've already started building them for this year.
One thing that seems to have worked in the past if you don't have reservations…
Most tents actually open their doors at 10 pm, as the all-day drinkers seem to disappear. So you can get drinks at an outdoor patio, and then at 10 pm go directly through the doors to the band. It's only an hour, but a great hour at that.
Troy – we experienced that, too – on opening day even. The all-day drinkers have to start heading home sooner or later…
Jul, I was traveling in August and returned to find you had answered my question: thank you so much for the information!
I'm working on putting the trip together: 'got the hotel reservation and am scoping out the venue at the Oktoberfest web site. The hotel concierge was not helpful about reservations: "10 people and a year in advance!", he laughed.
So, I'll be hoofing around the grounds: he suggested that there are usually spots open in the big tents mid-day when people would rather be outside drinking beer?
Anyway, 'looking forward to it; thanks for all the guidance! — Dave
Dave – don't worry about it. During the weekdays you'll be able to find a spot, and even on the weekends it's not impossible.
We'll be kind of busy with visitors during most of the fest, but if you want to try to meet up send me an email.
Hi, Jul: thanks for the invite, I'll do it the next time through. This is going to be a one-day blitz, scouting the venue for future. I hope to spend more time in the city shortly and will get in touch. Many thanks, keep writing, Dave
ah – am handing the link to the oktoberfest posts to my hair dresser who will be heading to germany for the first time right smack dab in the middle of it all.
hope it scares him….
sure scares me….
i'll just have you drink my share and take photos to post.
Dave – catch you next time, then.
Deborah – it scares me, too! Yet somehow I manage to have fun. Must be the beer.
Thanks for the great tips! I am definitely dirndl-ing it, thanks to your advice, for our first trip! We are taking my parents to Oktoberfest. Any advice for which tent caters best to 40 somethings with 60 somethings in tow?
@Kimberly – I’d suggest going early (noon or so) on a weekday and poking your heads into several tents to see which one tempts you to sit down and order a beer. My parents visited last year and they had fun in pretty much any and every tent. The Hofbräu and Löwenbräu tents are known for catering to younger, rowdier crowds, so maybe don’t make those your first choices. I like the Weinzelt for its slightly more sophisticated vibe (and benches with backs), but they don’t serve big beers so don’t make it your only stop. You want the whole experience, of course, big steins of beer and all. Hope you have a great time!
I’ve been 7 times to the oktoberfest and have never had a reservation but we always manage to get a table. as the post says, get there for 8am on the opneing day and you should be ok. if we cant find a table for ourselves, we will ask if we can sit at one of the tables reserved for the evening session. Its not ideal because you do get moved off but its infinitely better than being outside looking in !