Oktoberfest, Done Properly
Six million people come to Munich for Oktoberfest. Most of them stand. The ones who sit have a reservation, and the reservations in the big tents are spoken for months ahead, in blocks, through relationships.
That is the whole difference between a good Oktoberfest and a long afternoon in a crowd. Here is how we build the week, and the sample itinerary we start from.
The tent is the trip
Every tent runs two sessions a day: a lunch slot from late morning to mid afternoon, and an evening slot from around five until ten. A reserved table comes with food and drink included, and a host who meets you in your hotel lobby, walks you onto the grounds and gets you to your seats. For groups of six or more we hold a whole table of ten. For a couple, you share a table with other reserved guests, which is half the fun.
We book two sessions in two different tents on two different days. A lunch session on your second day, when you are fresh and the band is warming up, and an evening session later in the week, when you know the songs.
Dress the part
Trachten are not a costume in Munich. On the Wiesn, most locals are in a dirndl or lederhosen, and the tents feel different when you are too. The afternoon before your first session we book a private fitting at a traditional outfitter, a welcome drink and someone who knows the cuts, so you walk out with something you will wear again.
The days around the Wiesn
Munich rewards the days you spend away from the fairground. A walk through the Viktualienmarkt with a guide and a few plates. A brewery in Aying, half an hour out, where the brewing is still done under the Purity Law and the beer garden fills with locals at the long tables. A pretzel workshop, which sounds small and is not. Lake Chiemsee, where King Ludwig built his Versailles on an island.
And on the last full day, Neuschwanstein. We take the first tour of the morning, when the castle of the Swan King is nearly empty.
Dachau, if you choose
A short drive from Munich is the memorial at Dachau, the first of the camps. We include it as an optional day with a private guide, and we recommend it for adults. It is not a tourist stop and the memorial does not treat it as one. If you go, go with time.
When to book
Oktoberfest runs from the second half of September into the first weekend of October. Tent reservations for the following year open in spring and go fast. Hotels in the old city are the same. If this is the year, the time to talk is January.
Good questions
When is Oktoberfest?
It opens on a Saturday in the second half of September and runs for 16 to 18 days, closing on the first Sunday of October, or October 3 if that falls later. Dates shift each year.
Can you get a reserved table in a big tent?
Yes, for either the lunch or the evening session, with a host, food and drink included and a standby transfer. Reservations are allocated months ahead, so we plan Oktoberfest weeks from the start of the year.
Do I need to wear a dirndl or lederhosen?
No, but most people in the tents do, and you will enjoy it more if you do too. We arrange a private fitting the day before your first session.
A sample week: Bavarian Tales
- Day 01Private transfer to a hotel in the old city, steps from the Viktualienmarkt. Afternoon in Aying: behind the scenes at the brewery, a tasting, dinner in the beer garden.
- Day 02Sights and bites: the Frauenkirche, Marienplatz and the market with a guide. The Beer and Oktoberfest Museum with a tasting of four local beers. A private Trachten fitting.
- Day 03Oktoberfest, lunch session. Your host collects you from the lobby; reserved seats, food and drink included, a driver on standby.
- Day 04Optional: the Dachau memorial with a private guide, or a free day in Munich.
- Day 05Lake Chiemsee by private car, the boat to Herreninsel and a guided tour of Herrenchiemsee, Ludwig’s Versailles.
- Day 06Pretzel workshop in the morning. Oktoberfest, evening session, a different tent.
- Day 07Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau with the first tour of the day.
- Day 08Private transfer to the airport.
A starting point. Every trip is bespoke, designed for you.
