The Ultimate Oktoberfest Survival Guide

Did you know that Oktoberfest is the biggest beer festival of the world? This beer fest that was born in Munich almost 177 years back is said to bring around 6 million people together from all across the world.  It was begun to commemorate the wedding of the Crowned Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese. What began as a wedding commemoration has turned into an international level festival that celebrates people’s love for this alcoholic beverage – beer!

The wedding of the Prince and the Princess took place at Therese’s Meadow and that has remained, till date, the venue for this festival to take place.

The dates for Oktoberfest this year are from the 18th of September to the 3rd of October. Well, if you haven’t made your bookings already, we’d suggest you go next year. The bookings for tables in the beer tents begin almost a year in advance.

Assuming you’re going to be attending the Oktoberfest this year (or perhaps another year), you might want to read through our Oktoberfest Survival Guide and learn the dos and don’ts of this larger-than-life beer experience.

The Top 10 Survival Tips of Oktoberfest:

1.     On a weekend, you must arrive before 10 am if you intend finding a good table to sit at.  If you’re coming in on the weekdays, you can walk in before noon and still find it relatively comfortable when it comes to finding some seats. If you intend being there on the Opening Day, which is said to be quite a treat, then you might want to be there before 9 am at the Schottenhamel Tent.

2.    While doing beer tent reservations, ensure that you do it for a group of 5 or more people.  You HAVE TO be at the Schottenhamel tent on the Opening Day and don’t give Hofbrauhaus a miss either. Reservations are supposed to be made with each tent individually.  You’ll find their details on the Oktoberfest official website.

3.    Ensure that you arrange for the accommodation also way in advance (we’re talking about 6 months in advance). Stay at a walking distance from the Therese’s Meadow, which would mean finding any place near the central train station would be good enough.  The official Oktoberfest site will give you booking details about the same.

4.    Carry cash with you at all times. There are a number of ATMs scattered across the festival grounds, but truth be said, you can expect winding queues there.

5.    Beers are always 1 liter and will cost you around 8.00 to 9.00 Euros.

6.    Come dressed in clothes that you don’t mind giving away of thrashing later; because chances are that they’ll get dirty or might get drenched in beer.

7.    Broken glass is a common phenomenon. So wear shoes that keep your feet covered. You wouldn’t want cuts on your feet to ruin the beer experience, would you?

8.    Tip the Frauleins well. The Frauleins are the girls who serve you the beer. If you tip them well on in the beginning, they’ll pay attention to you throughout the day. A minimum of one Euro on each liter and about 5 Euros on the first liter should do the trick.

9.    You have to learn one song in order to survive the Oktoberfest – Ein Prosit. They break into this song time and again. When they do, everyone sings together and then raises their glasses and says “Oans, zwoa, drei, Gsuffa!” which translates to ‘one, two, three, drink!’.

10. Oktoberfest isn’t the place for wimps. So practice your beer drinking skills before you go there. The Bavarians are used to glugging down about 7to 8 liters in a day. You wouldn’t want to be left behind, would you?