The world's largest folk festival attracts visitors – over 7 million in 2023 – from all over the world, but if you want to enjoy the carnival-like atmosphere like the many locals who head to the free-to-enter festival, you'll need to call it by its local name, for starters.
In Munich, Oktoberfest is known as the Wiesn. This syllable-squashing form of Wiesen (meadow) was shortened from the festival's original name Theresienwiese – named for the celebrations following the wedding of crown prince Ludwig and Therese of Sachsen-Hildburghausen in 1810.
History lesson over, let's dive in.
Saturday might not be the best day to go
If you're not after the whole rammed-in-so-tight-you-can't-breathe experience, to be honest, you might be better off avoiding the Saturday. You can see from the graphic below when things tend to be less busy. Or you might want to bring some trainers if you want first dibs on a seat as soon as the gates open like the keen beans in this video.
It's not just about the party, though, and locals who aren't up for that tend to go during the day or on non-weekend days and make the most of the music, rides and the many stalls.
Tents are, obviously, at their most rammed on Friday and Saturday nights and regularly get closed due to overcrowding. Family days and weekdays before 6pm tend to be less busy. The festival website has a handy guide on how to snag seats.and see how busy things are.
That being said, although it does get very (very) busy, generally, once you're settled at a table, you'll be fine. And you don't need to reserve, the vast majority of tents keep spaces for walk-ins.
It is a behemoth of a festival though, so you might prefer – as some Germans also do – the smaller folk festivals dotted all over the state, like August's Gäubodenvolksfest, or the biannual Plärrer in Augsburg.Â
Work out how much you want to spend
We're not saying you need to create a spreadsheet (although we do know at least one person who does this), but inevitably, you'll end up spending far more than you expected. Technically, you could go the whole day without spending a euro, but where's the fun in that? Pay for a beer or three, a few rides and some food, the euros soon mount up.Â
Case in point: this year, you'll get a litre of beer for between €13.60 and €15.30, an average of 3.67 percent up on 2023 prices, so it's not going to be a cheap day out. Each tent sets its own price but the city of Munich monitors them against city-wide costs to make sure they're not too extortionate, although you'll still end up paying far more than you would in a beer hall at any other time.
On that note, make sure you bring cash. Yes, the acceptance of cards is slowly increasing, but generally cash is king everywhere at Oktoberfest and locals know that you have to pay for each beer and dish as you order. Whilst many people in English-speaking countries rarely have cash on them, that's not the case in Germany.
READ ALSO:Â Is card payment finally gaining ground in Germany?
Bring lots (but not more than you're willing to lose) and you'll make your life infinitely easier if you have a pocketload of euros. Tap into your inner organised German and squirrel them away safely on your person and save yourself the pain of getting stung by rip-off cashpoint fees and epic queues.Â
You'll also want money for tipping. The waiting staff carry massive Steins and plates around for about 12 hours a day and make their money from the tips, so it's the right thing to do, but regulars know that tipping a couple of euros a beer will also avoid you the dubious pleasure of snarky comments and crappy – or even non-existent – service.
Be prepared
Speaking of organisation, it's autumn, so there's no guarantee the weather will be nice. Germans will generally be fully prepped for this with clothing and accessories to cover all eventualities. Think raincoats, suncream, a hat, the works.
Learn some of the Oktoberfest songs
The vast majority of the locals will know all the words to the traditional songs that will be playing all over the meadows, all day and all night. And, fuelled by a couple of Steins, they'll be dancing and belting them out with joyful abandon and zero care for tunefulness.
Even before the beer has sent any vestiges of British reserve flying, it's well worth joining in. Get ahead of the game by learning the chorus to a few of them beforehand. You'll hear Ein Prosit at least 20 times a day after someone shouts out die KrĂĽge hoch (raise your tankards) and there are several other staples that come back year after year, too.Â
READ ALSO: Everything you need to know about Germany's Oktoberfest
Avoid the tourist tents
Locals steer clear of the more touristy tents like Hofbrau and Löwenbrau and make a beeline for the Augustiner, Schottenhammel (Oktoberfest's oldest tent) and Hacker-Pschorr tents.
You'll have a good time and make new friends whichever tent you go to, but unless you want to hang out with a mostly international crowd, the first two are best avoided.
And if you want to find the good after-parties, you'll need to get chatting to the locals.
Know your limits
Yes, Germans love their beer – they're one of Europe's heaviest beer drinkers, downing 84 litres in 2021. But, and it's a big but, they don't have quite the same reputation as English-speaking nations like the UK, the US and Australia for skulling pints, and very quickly getting messy and lairy.
It's also worth noting that if you're used to drinking beer in these countries, the Festbier at Oktoberbest might well be a lot stronger – and larger – than what you normally drink with a six percent ABV on average.Â
Savvy locals switch up the beer-drinking with plenty of water and a Radler (a half beer, half lemonade shandy) and make sure they line their stomachs and graze on food while drinking.Â
You probably don't want to be one of the people adding to the Kotzwiese (vomit meadow) on the festival edges.
Locals are also well aware that chugging a beer will get you kicked out, as will standing on the table (although we've heard that you can come straight back in again afterwards!). One leg on the table and one on the bench is deemed perfectly acceptable, but comes with a high toppling-over risk after those beers.Â
And if you are going to give it a go, be warned that you'll probably be booed if you fail to down it in one...
A whopping 6.5 million litres of beer were drunk at Oktoberfest in 2023, i.e. almost a litre per person. Put like that, it doesn't sound quite so bad, does it.
Look people in the eye
While we're on the topic of drinking, this one's important.
If you go to the pub or a festival in the UK or the States, people will often clink their glasses, but you won't often see them looking one another in the eyes when they cheers as time is of the essence to get the amber nectar down their throats.
Not so in Germany. Failure to maintain eye contact in Germany when cheers-ing will bag you seven years of bad sex, so the legend goes.
You'll inevitably be drinking (a lot of) beer at Oktoberfest, so probably best to avoid that.
Don't miss the traditions
It's easy to think there's nothing else beyond hard drinking and hard partying going on at Oktoberfest. But you'll be missing out if all you see is the bottom of a beer glass.Â
Traditions are a big deal and a huge part of the fun and experience for locals and visitors alike.
The Saturday landlords' parade marks the official start of the festival before the famous noon 'O'zapft is!' where the mayor of Munich taps a beer barrel to officially open the fair. You can go in the tents before then, but you won't get a single drop of beer until after the barrel is open.
READ ALSO: German word of the day - O'zapft is
Locals also turn out en masse to watch or take part in Sunday's 9,000-strong procession of bands and people wearing traditional costumes from their home towns, as well as the gunfire salute that marks the end of the festivities.
And there are plenty of traditional games to have a go at too, from complicated card game Schafkopf (sheep's head) to crossbow shooting, endurance Stein holding (you have to hold a Stein in one hand with your arm completely outstretched for as long as possible) and dance-offs.
And don't forget the rides, either. The simple Teufelsrad (Devil's Wheel) is a festival must, although best to go pre-Stein to avoid a visit to the aforementioned Kotzwiese. It's essentially a rotating platform that you have to try and stay on as it spins faster and faster and the host tries to get you off.
Don't buy 'costumes'
While you'll find a lot of people wearing Bavarian clothing at Oktoberfest, it's by no means compulsory, many people just come in 'normal' clothes.
That being said, it's a lot of fun to get dressed up, just be aware that locals are a stickler for the 'real thing'.Â
If you do want to go down the traditional route, buying cheap, plastic-y Trachten from the likes of Amazon won't go down well. It's not a costume party, after all.
You'll generally find charity shops are full of second-hand Dirndl and Trachten at this time of year. You can also rent the real deal, or, if you fancy splashing out, head to the department stores or Moser Trachtenwelt. There are some tips on how to wear them here.
This year's Oktoberfest kicks off on Saturday 21st September and ends on Sunday 6th October.
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