travel and tips

With a resounding “O Zapft is!”, the 188th Oktoberfest was kicked off on Sept 17th. Everyone knows the Oktoberfest as the world’s largest beer festival, and Oktoberfest 2022 was definitely that. Don’t get me wrong, the Oktoberfest is truly celebration of beer, but it is also a celebration of Bavarian culture, family, and gemütlichkeit. It takes more than just a beer party to attract attendees from around the world to descend on Munich and embrace their German roots. Be they real or situational.

History

The first Oktoberfest was first held to commemorate the marriage of King Ludwig I of Bavaria and Theresa of Saxe-Hildburghausen on 12 Oct 1810.  Along with free food and beer, the festival ended with a horse race.  There were a few fits and starts at the beginning, with the first couple of years being more of an agricultural fair and annual horse race, at which there were beer and food stands.  With the course of time, I think they forgot about the horse race and focused on the beer and food.

The present-day Oktoberfest, known locally as “The Wiesen” takes place on the Theresienwiese in the western part of the city center…about a half mile from the Altstadt.  There are 17 large and 21 smaller tents with capacities ranging from almost 10,000 at the Hofbrau tent to around 500 in the smaller tents. 

The Beer

The type of beer served at the Oktoberfest is referred to as a märzen.  Each tent serves beer from one of the 6 breweries in the city of Munich.  This may sound limiting in the selection, you can’t argue with the quality from Paulaner, Löwenbräu, Hofbräu, Hacker-Pschorr, Spaten, and Augustiner (my personal fave).  The beer served in the tents must be brewed in adherence with the German Reinheitsgebot (purity law) established in the year 1857.  The law specifies that beer must be pure and contain only water, barley, hops, wheat malt, and/or can sugar, and yeast.  The city of Munich recognizes how important the Reinheitsgebot is and commemorates its establishment on the maypole in the Viktualienmarkt.

Oktoberfest 2022

After the two-year hiatus driven by the global Covid pandemic, the 188th Oktoberfest was held without restrictions and ran from September 17^th to October 3^rd 2022.   

The official Oktoberfest website www.oktoberfest.de indicates that visitors were served 5.6 million liters of beer.  This is a substantial number, but it is down about 23% from the Wiesen held in 2019, when 7.3 million liters were served.  The website attributed the weather was a contributing issue for the lower attendance during the fest.  There was a lot of rain during the two-week period which drove down the attendance at the outdoor beer gardens.

The chef at the hotel in which we stayed indicated that they were operating at 85% capacity when they normally see closer to 97% during the Oktoberfest weeks. 

We were in Munich September 20 – 23. As you can see by the pictures I’m sharing, we really lucked out and were blessed with beautiful blue Bavarian skies for our Oktoberfest 2022 trip.

The tents

As I listed above, there are 38 tents in total on the Wiesen.  While referred to as “tents”, these are actually very robust wooden structures that they begin construction of in May/June time frame. 

The big tents are truly impressive and align the “main road” of the Wiesen grounds.  This is truly where everyone wants to be.  Lines to get into the Hofbräu we forming before the tent opened at 9AM. Beer service in the tents starts at 10AM.  In general, the tents are usually open until 11:30 PM with last call around 10:30. Tents can start serving beer at 9AM on the weekends.  When at in full swing with the bands playing and the beer flowing, the big tents are an awesome party!

The smaller tents are scattered all around the Wiesn. Many of the smaller tents align the main road. Others can be found on the side streets and periphery.  The big tents are truly grand and glorious and get all the publicity, smaller tents have their benefits as well.  The smaller tents provide a slightly more subdued environment (slightly). I personally believe that the smaller tents offer better cuisine and satisfies the foodie in us all.  Some examples are the Käfer Festzelt and the Wildstuben. The images below are from the Wildstuben, and a shot of their tasty venison based Wildgulasch.

Many of the smaller tents have a quick service storefront where you walk up and take-away.  The entrance to some of the smaller tents are actually on the side of the building. Look beyond the food counter.

The rides

The Oktoberfest is a family festival with real amusement park rides and attractions. Depending on the attraction, tickets for the rides range from 4 Euro to about 15. There wasn’t an all you can ride type ticket available that I saw. These attractions are high in quality and safety.

Reservations

I addressed the topic of reservations and tickets in another post. You can find it here:

Old Man’s Tips

1. Leverage the internet. www.Oktoberfest.de offers a complete overview of the fest, the tents, calendar of events, etc.  Facebook has communities dedicated to the Oktoberfest.
2. Don’t pregame You’re going to a beer fest.  There’s not benefit in drinking ahead of time if you want to maximize your experience at the fest.
3. Pace yourself and eat. The Oktoberfest is a blast, but the beer will hit you hard if you don’t approach it with common sense.
4. Bring cash! They don’t accept American Express, or any other credit card.
5. “Don’t forget to tip your waitress!” They work hard.  Average beer was 13.50 Euro, we rounded up to 15 per beer and had decent service.
6. Plan ahead. Start looking at hotels 6-8 months out to ensure you can get your preferred location.
7. Prepare yourself for high hotel rates. For example: the Courtyard by Marriot has a nightly rate of134 Euro/night in January. While I was planning my trip, the same hotel had rates over 440 Euro/night during the Fest period. I didn’t stay at this hotel, so can’t answer any questions about it.
8. Consider hotels that are further away. Be willing to take the subway. There are better hotel rates that you can find the further away you are from the Fest.
9. Get a Munich card. Getting the Munich card for the time you are there will cover the cost of the S-Bahn. The card also gives you discounts on museums and experiences in Munich that you can enjoy beyond the fest.
10. Don’t be shy! If you are looking for a place to sit, ask to take an open seat at a table.  If you are already at a table, and have empty seats, be willing to have strangers sit with you.  The Oktoberfest is a great place to just connect from people from all over the world.
11. Check out the Oide Wiesen.
12. Don’t try to take Mass glasses! They do track them at the exits and they apparently confiscated over 112,000 from folks wanting the souvenir this year. 

Oktoberfest 2022 is over. The most important thought I can close with that the 189^th Oktoberfest runs September 16 – October 3, 2023.

Travel Well. Pursue experiences

O.M.I.A.H.