Oktoberfest begins in September!!!

Oktoberfest is the world famous, annual 16-day beer drinking festival in Munich.  While it is arguably the most famous and largest (6.5million+)  festival in the world, there are several ‘petty little details’ that most foreign visitors are quite unaware of.

 

Petty little detail #1: Oktoberfest begins in mid-September and ends the first Sunday in October.  Started in 1810, Oktoberfest is a big fair. It has rides and activities and beer, beer and more beer (on avg. 7 million liters served).  The beer is served at tables in beer tents (17 large tents - featuring beer from the top breweries in Munich and 20 small tents - featuring other non-beer specialties). 

Petty little detail # 2: The beer tents are ONLY accessible by reserved ticket. Tickets to the most important tents are sold to large corporations, banks, consulting and law firms, … (you know the ‘A-list’ of German notables, celebrities, business executives and their associates)… early in the year. At about the same time, savvy Germans buy up all of the available individual tickets in every tent. In order to accommodate the hordes of visitors, the tickets each have an entrance time.

Petty little detail #3: The tents officially open at noon, but you must be in line about 2 hours ahead of your scheduled entrance time. Who on earth drinks beer at lunch time??? And, who would want to stand online for 2 hours in order to do so??? However, in order to accommodate families and older people who are attending the fair, only ‘quiet’ music is played in the tents until 6pm.

Petty little detail # 4:  The beer is more expensive and stronger than the normal German beer AND there are always lots of drunken young guys hanging around.  

Nonetheless, Oktoberfest is fun!! If you are not ‘set-on’ getting into the tents, Munich is definitely the place to be. It is truly a ‘must do’ happening (been there, done that!!).

However, if you just want to sample some good German beer, visit the smaller Oktoberfests which are now being held throughout Germany.  They usually have only one tent, are accessible without a ticket and serve a wide variety of beers from microbreweries located throughout the country.

Oh, by the way, if you haven’t booked a hotel room in Munich far in advance of Oktoberfest, you can forget it. There is nothing available within 100kms and certainly not at a reasonable rate!! BUT, in other places, all over Germany, there are plenty of nice accommodations available – at good prices - in small-family owned hotels.