In a trip that was booked on a whim, I did not know what to expect walking into the Oktoberfest grounds for the first time. The moment we stepped through the entrance, I understood why people have a hard time describing it. Carnival games and massive “tents” stretched out in every direction, the smell of pretzels, brats and roasted nuts hit you before you’ve even entered a building, and thousands of people in dirndls and lederhosen moved around us like they had all done this before. It was overwhelming, magical, and chaotic all at once, and somehow it was exactly what I had hoped for and nothing like I had imagined at a festival designed around drinking beer.
If you have ever been curious about Oktoberfest but were not sure if it was actually worth the trip, let me settle that for you: it is. But there are things I wish I had known before I went, and that is what this post is for.
What I Expected vs. What It Actually Was
If I’m being completely honest, I’m really not even sure what I expected! As an American traveling to Munich for the first time I had thoughts of Oktoberfest being SUPER chaotic and busy with a lot of judgement for my dirndl to be the most authentic, not ordering the right foods, and not finding any seats at any of the tables in the tent. This definitely was not my experiencing.
In actuality, it was busy. But it wasn’t unbearable. We went on a Sunday and a Monday and you can definitely tell the differences between weekend and weekday. If you’re traveling all the way to Europe, try to build your trip to Oktoberfest during weekdays. We were a group of 4 and we were always able to find a place to sit (or stand) even without a table reservation after 5pm. It helps if you have someone in your group who is an extrovert as the waitresses really will help find you a seat, especially if you tip. Most of the tents have a small area for those without reservations and that can be your best bet.
Unless you have 10 people in your group, you will be sharing tables with strangers. It’s best to just embrace it. And it can be fun! We met some people from USA and we also met some who didn’t speak any English. It was fine either way.
Inside the Tents: What Nobody Tells You
(Or maybe this should be titled “What Everybody Tells You”???)
Reservations: You don’t NEED them. But if you don’t have them, you need to be flexible. If you do have them, you have no flexibility but you have a seat guaranteed. We work with some tour operators that can book you table reservations also as part of a tour, but typically the reservation itself is FREE but you have minimum spend amount for your group. The minimum spend was too high for our group of 4 to make sense.
Culture inside the tents: Most groups are worried about themselves. Things get rowdy as the day goes on, but try to not get too messy. This is just good practice for all travel in foreign countries. Keep your wits about you and you shouldn’t have any issues. The tents are a big party, lots of music, cheers-ing, and just overall a good time. Keep in mind this is a beer drinking festival, while kids are allowed, it’s not exactly super family friendly in my opinion. A good thing to research ahead of time, each tent is unique in their own way. There’s a “party” tent, a wine tent, the tent that sells Ox and fish and so many more.
What to Wear, Eat, and Drink (The Practical Stuff): We had so much fun dressing in the traditional dirndl and lederhosen!!! Is it required, absolutely not. Do you need to spend $300+ on the most authentic leather lederhosen, also no. The most important rule when it comes to this is to not wear halloween costumes. IYKYK. It’s pretty obvious which ones would not be appropriate. In actuality, no one ever commented for or against my outfit or anyone in my parties outfit. What to drink, um the obvious answer here is beer. They have beer, NA beer, Radler (beer with lemonade combo) and other things mixed around. We found a small coffee stand where they had basically a full bar with coffee options which is good for chilly mornings.
For food, there’s so much good food!! I think it’s best to try some things that you know you’ll like (maybe a brat) and then also try some new things! Like the pork knuckle, the chicken, or something sweeter like dampfnudel. You can always split with your group if you’re unsure.
What Went Wrong (Or Was Harder Than I Expected): I’ll be super super honest when I say this. Oktoberfest is EXPENSIVE. And on day 2 we ran out of cash and needed to go to the dreaded ATM. Yes the fees are high. Yes the beer is expensive, so is the food, so are the souvenirs and so are the rides. Take a look at the menus before you go and add another 50 euro per person for your daily budget. I think every year they start accepting more and more credit cards for things, but for a long time it’s been largely a cash event.
This didn’t go “wrong” and I think we got a little lucky, but it can be challenging to find a place to sit in the tents when they are getting ready for the reservations at 5pm. We were able to find some non-res seating, but it does make it hard to bounce around between tents. Especially on the weekends. For us this didn’t matter too much because there’s so much to see and explore on the fairgrounds.
What I’d Do Differently: I would go in more of the tents! There’s SO MANY of them that it’s impossible to do it all, but even spending an hour or two would have given me enough time to just walk through them and see the different vibes. We did a good amount but still only went into half of them. I would also just not go on a weekend. It’s not worth it, we have so much flexibility in our travel typically that the weekend was not a good idea. The less people the better experience.
Why This Is the Kind of Trip You Should Not Plan Alone: It’s no secret that for American’s planning Oktoberfest can be confusing. There’s so much info out there that it’s hard to understand what’s legit and what to skip. The logistics are genuinely complicated and lucky for you, you don’t need to do it alone! Tent reservations book out months in advance, Munich accommodations spike in price (WAY more than you would expect), timing matters a lot. Understanding the logistics will help you trip flow best and not waste so much of your precious vacation time.
Because your next trip deserves to be remembered forever 🫶🏻
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