When you hear the word, Oktoberfest, what comes to your mind? You may picture strong German women carrying 6-9 Liters of beer at a time and German men wearing lederhosen. You may think of Chevy Chase’s scene from European Vacation when he was dancing with Germans up on stage. NO matter what you think it is, it isn’t. And, It is so much better!
Today, we are going to talk about the planning stages of Oktoberfest, so you know what to expect and so there are no surprises that come your way. Although any perfect plan can be deterred.
I am not sure why I decided that Oktoberfest would be a bucket list item, but I did. I think that maybe it is because I am German (50%) but I also never really got to experience any of my German Culture growing up. My dad was born and raised in Germany, but he died when I was very young, so I never really learned about my German family and I wanted to explore that part of my life. And I thought, What better way than Oktoberfest?
So, I made the decision, we were going to go! Ok, what do we do next?
But First, some background on the origin of Oktoberfest?
Oktoberfest is the World’s Largest Volksfest and originated in Munich, Germany. There are many other cities throughout the world that host Oktoberfest, but nothing is quite like the original. Honestly, after experiencing Munich, I am not sure I can go to anything else! But anyways, I digress….
This celebration began back in 1810 when King Ludwig married Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. The people of Munich were invited to celebrate this wedding and thus, Oktoberfest was born. The grounds where the annual festival take place were named after the Princess and are called Theresienwise, and still today, the grounds still use this name. It is about a 20-25 minute walk from the Munich city center or you can easily get there by the U-Bahn.
When is Oktoberfest?
To your surprise , to my surprise, it isn’t really in October. Names can be deceiving, I know. Although the original event in 1810 took place in October, it now begins the last two weeks of September and goes into the first week of October. It is a three week-long festival that is filled with music, singing, dancing, food and of course BEER! Lots and lots of Bier! PROST!
How much beer you ask? I knew you would ask…
All the major breweries offer a special Oktoberfest ale to drink specifically during this time and is in limited quantities. So it is best to drink up while you can. Once they run out, they are out and you have to wait until next year. Luckily in Munich, that doesn’t happen. I am proud to say that I drank at least 5 Liters of the 7.7 million liters of beer in the few days we were there.
So let’s start the planning process
Oktoberfest is a highly popular event that people travel to from all over the world. Approximately 6 million people enjoy the festivities during the 3-week festival. Because the amount of people that come into Munich, I highly recommend you start planning at least ONE year in advance.
Here are some VERY IMPORTANT things that you should know when planning your trip:
Getting to the City Center
Getting to the city center is quite easy from the airport. You can take a bus, U-Bahn, a taxi, or a private car. According to Trip Advisor, Uber is considered to be illegal and pulled its services throughout all of Germany except for two cities Berlin and Munich. However, Uber is is not like it is in the United States. They actually use existing taxi operators for its service, instead of privately owned vehicles and their owners.
There is a train that connects from the Munich Airport directly to the city center. Unfortunately, when we arrived, construction was taking place on the U-Bahn station and the U-Bahn was not accessible. We instead had to corral into a bus with 100 other people to get to the city center. The Bus then stopped at an existing train station where we all got off and hurdled onto the train like we did on the bus. It was a good time!
Lodging
Hotels sell out fast, even 9 months out from the event, most of the hotels close to the city center/fair grounds are sold out, OR you can spend $600-$800 a night. Airbnb’s are scarce. We were lucky enough to find a Holiday Inn Express (for $230/night) that was very close to the U-Bahn and only 15-20 minutes from the city center. Another option I found, were hundreds of tents in a field. They offered restroom facilities and locker facilities for the storage of your personal items, but I don’t think I could stay there, but some are totally fine with accommodations like this. And if you are, then go for it! The price was awesome though at $79/night. Planning ahead will save you a lot of time and frustration. This is not a trip you can spontaneously go on.
We really enjoyed our stay at the Holiday Inn Express. The staff were incredibly friendly and the room was exactly what we needed for our stay. We were given a handwritten note, an official Paulaner Oktoberfest Bier and Pretzel upon our arrival, which was a nice touch. The location was pretty perfect and was within 5 minutes walking distance of the U-Bahn and very close to a super market.
Official Oktoberfest Experience:
If you would like to experience an Official Oktoberfest Tent, then you must make a reservation. These reservations also sell out quickly. You can try to chance it without a reservation to get in, but it is not guaranteed, and man you will be missing out.
Generally, you email the Breweries 9-12 months in advance and request your date and time. You will also be required to leave a credit card to hold your place for the event and it will be automatically charged IF your reservation is accepted. Most things are also in German, so please take your time to read the fine print. ALSO, a full table reservation can cost at least $1000. Because I was so nervous about this and the thought of not getting in would make me cry, I went on Viator and found an Oktoberfest excursion for the day!
Save time and money! Find and book tours and activities ahead and have more time for fun.With this excursion, it included a tour of Munich, our subway tickets to get to the fair grounds, entrance fee into the Tent, 2 Liters of Beer Each, ½ chicken and then anything else you may want to eat and drink. To me, it was so totally worth it because it gave me piece of mind that we would be guaranteed seats in the tent. Would I book them again? Absolutely, YES! I will be doing another post all about the Oktoberfest day! Stay tuned for that!
There are 6 main brewers in Germany that sponsor the Oktoberfest event and provide the tents. You have Paulaner, Hofbrau, Lowenbrau, just to name a few. Each tent has 3 sessions for the day, starting 12 pm. Every 4 hours a new session starts, and the fun begins all over again. Our excursion was the first session of the day and I am happy about that! We were able to explore the grounds in the evening and really enjoy the people watching after they have been drinking all day! Ha!
FYI: The Perfect Day to celebrate Oktoberfest is on a Sunday! Most shops and markets, etc are closed on Sunday’s, so there is nothing to see or do, so it is the perfect time to experience Oktoberfest! PROST!
The Attire
Women’s Attire
I wasn’t exactly sure what to think about when I was researching the attire. I don’t know why, but I didn’t know if I should wear a dirndl or not. I didn’t know if it would be appropriate for me to wear one simply because I don’t feel German enough. Although, I really want to change that!
Not sure what a dirndl is? It is this……
But the more research I did, the more I saw that if I didn’t wear a dirndl, I would stand out even more. The dirndl’s can be expensive and the cost kind of made me unsure. I mean, I would wear it once, should I buy one? So, I said sure, OK, YES and opted for the dirndl. I was able to find an affordable one on Amazon that fit comfortably. It wasn’t nearly as pretty as other dirndls I saw but it was something at least. I was inspired by all the different dirndls and it made me feel German. Probably the most German than I have ever felt. I don’t think I can get much closer to my German culture than that. In fact, I want to go to Oktoberfest again and purchase a real Dirndl from Germany. Complete your dirndl with a small heart shaped purse to keep only the essentials for your day.
Are you taken or are you single and ready to mingle?
Oktoberfest is a time to let men know your relationship status, ladies. They do this by where the bow is tied on your dirndl.
| Bow on the left | You are single |
| Bow on the right | You are in a relationship |
| Bow in the middle | You will never know |
| Bow in the back | A widow or a child |
Men’s Attire
Lederhosen is a must for the men. It can be costly because it is made of real leather, but you can also rent them at several stores in Munich. Our excursion coordinated the rentals if you wanted to rent them. They strongly encouraged the wearing of lederhosen and dirndls. I strongly encourage you too. It is so worth it.
FYI, please make sure you wear comfortable shoes. There is a lot of walking and dancing to do while at Oktoberfest.
Bottomline:
Don’t be shy or second guess it. If you really want to experience the Oktoberfest culture, then dress the part. It really made the difference and made it so much more fun.
Even though Oktoberfest for 2020 has been cancelled, I can at least give you a head start for Oktoberfest 2021 planning.
Stay Tuned to my next post that will be all about our Oktoberfest Day! PROST
I hope this has helped you in the planning of your Oktoberfest Adventure. IF you have comments or questions, don’t hesitate to let me know! I am happy to help in anyway I can!
