In 2023, Oktoberfest will run from September 16th to October 3rd. Hotels in Munich
We have been wanting to visit Oktoberfest for a long time. Especially Vladimir, after the stories of his friends who have been attending this event for more than a year, wanted to personally experience all the charm of the beer "paradise". But we were lucky enough to get to the event only now. A general overview article about Oktoberfest, opening hours, tents, attractions and its history can be read here.
The festival takes place in Munich, on Theresienwiese Meadow.
Since the prices for hotels in Munich soar several times during the festival, we lived in Memmingen and traveled to Munich by train. About how to get cheaply from Memmingen to Munich, and what is the subtlety, we tell here.
Oktoberfest is undoubtedly a sea of emotions, positive emotions and, of course, enjoying delicious beer, unforgettably tender grilled chickens and pretzels.
There are tents and smaller tents with a variety of Bavarian beers (Augustiner, Paulaner, Spaten, Franziskaner, Löwenbräu, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbräu, etc.) on Teresa's Meadow (the site of the festival). Beer is poured and carried in beer mugs with a volume of 1 liter. Smaller volume can be found in rare street stalls.
The organizers of the holiday have introduced beer mugs under special control, as thousands of tourists are trying to quietly take them out as a souvenir trophy.
We hung out in the tent of our favorite Pauliner beer. It’s a pity that there are no unfiltered (live) beer in the tents, they sell only filtered beer. Later, at the rollercoaster ride, in a small street kiosk, we stumbled upon unfiltered beer.
On weekdays, beer is poured in tents from 10 am to 10:30 pm. On weekends, you can taste Munich beer at Oktoberfest as early as 9 am.
In the tents you can also taste grilled chicken, pretzels, potatoes and Bavarian snacks. Each large tent has a capacity of up to 10,000 people.
Large wooden tables are placed in the tents, each of which can easily fit 10-12 people. The best thing is to visit the company)).
In the center of the tent there is a stage where musicians in national costumes play traditional Bavarian music. During breaks (rest), they, like everyone else, absorb beer in liter mugs.
In addition to large beer tents, there are also small beer tents at the festival.
It should be noted that almost all local visitors to the festival and its special fans come in national Bavarian costumes, and after a few mugs of foam, national songs and dances are sung and danced right in the aisles. Thanks to this, some special atmosphere of general celebration and fun is additionally formed. An exciting spectacle.
Fair rides are everywhere on the street. We, having stood in line, the line moves very quickly, swept on a roller coaster with a dead loop 1300 meters long and a 60-meter free fall tower.
Also at every step you can see small street latches with souvenirs, snacks, sausages, shank, Bavarian cotton candy, gingerbread, roasted almonds and long hot dogs. Note, the most delicious that we have ever tried.
Although there were incredibly many people at the festival, we must pay tribute to the organizers, there are no queues for patches at all. Perhaps because there are so many of them.
In preparation for the train, we studied almost the entire Internet about the intricacies of the holiday and its visit. Literally on all sites the same, we note that the information is not true - we copy verbatim "At the Oktoberfest, there are several rules that may surprise the“ newcomers ”of the holiday. For example, there are times when the gates of beer tents are closed in order to avoid unnecessary overcrowding. And this is despite the fact that there are always some places in tents that cannot be reserved. So you should always come in advance, namely, on weekdays until about 14-30, and on weekends - until 11 in the morning. There is also an unspoken rule that once leaving the tent is unlikely to get back into it on the same day. Unless by persuading the guards or by presenting evidence of the reserve. But no one can guarantee that".
Now in order:
1. There are no such hours. All tents are open to the public. Until 17:00 you can easily find a free place in the tents. So there is no need to rush to come to the festival in the morning, as we did. At any time from the very opening of the tents until 17:00, you can safely go to any tent you like and take any free place. Each table had a sticker that the table was reserved from 17:00 or 17:30. It is after this time that the entrance to the tents is carried out by tickets. Tickets, of course, can be bought early, but is there such a need ... You can buy tickets in advance on the official Oktoberfest website. There you can choose a tent, a row and a table. There are many sites on the Internet offering tickets, but you should not buy them - it will be more expensive. Yes, and they are needed, as we concluded when visiting the holiday with a company; 2-4 people can do without them. In addition, after an hour and a half, such tickets would be offered on the street, at a price of 5-10 euros per ticket. At least we were offered five times.
2. The rule described above about leaving the tent once is also incorrect. We went out and went into the same tent ten times and not a single guard moved his eyes. Still... imagine remembering all the thousands of people leaving and entering back to one guard - it's simply unrealistic. In addition, smoking in tents is prohibited, everyone goes outside to smoke.
So, before 17:00 you go to any tent you like, take a free place. There is a menu on each table, you choose, the beer is over)). Waitresses walk between the rows, you place an order with them, and literally in 2-5 minutes, your order is already on your table. By the way, you need to pay as soon as the order was brought, and so for each order, for each mug of beer.
Beer in tents costs 9.80 euros. If you give 10 euros or 20 for two mugs, then change of 20-40 cents will most likely not be handed over to you. If necessary, it is better to worry about this in advance and have small money for exchange.
After 17:00 in the tents begins a real holiday! And here is the entrance only by tickets and strictly for their reserved tables. And this is only for the first 2 hours, after that everyone already enters the tent and the aisles between the tables are forgotten to the eyeballs.
We took a place on the street near the entrance to the tent. There are also menus and waiters walking around. By the way, you did the right thing! Since, when there are no more places at the tables on the street, the guards at the tent hang a red ribbon, after which it will not be possible to approach the tables at the tents. How many people stood behind the red ribbon...
After a couple of hours, everyone was allowed into the tents. We went into the tent with our liter mugs of beer, like hundreds of other visitors, stood at one of the tables. Cheerful national music was playing in the tent (there was also the song "Moskau" by the Dschinghis Khan group), they were dancing right on the benches at the table, standing on the benches and dancing. A company of German guys was sitting at the table. We quickly got to know each other and already had fun together. It was fun and drunk - the Germans taught us to sniff tobacco, and Vladimir taught them to dance)).
