Achtung! Oktoberfest 2012

My wife and I are trying to plan a trip to Oktoberfest in Munich this year. I'm wondering if anyone has been to it before and if they have any comments that could help.

My biggest questions are 1) do you need to go into the actual Oktoberfest tents to experience it, and 2) how does one actually get into them if reservations are so hard to come by?

I went to it in 2002 through our study abroad program

1) Yes you do need to go to the actual Oktoberfest, but its very easy to get into (if I remember right its free entry but you'll spend your money on beer)

2) Don't go on any of the rids in the park after drinking

Not much else to really add. Do a bit of sight seeing in Munich while you are there, go visit the big ass castle a few hours away from Munich. That was a real fun place to visit

Went to Munich in 1985. Loved the city. We went to a place called the (not sure how to spell it) Houfbrahous there and got so damn drunk. I was only 17. Very clean city and it was fun riding the subway back to our hotel ****faced!

ive been 3 times. once each year between 2007-2009. the best part of the fest is the tents tbh, other then that it's basically like a state fair. the food is legit outside of the tents, and i guess so are the games and rides. if you want to get into a tent, just show up around 9am, and you'll be one of the first to get in. in 2009 we left Aviano AB at 4 in the morning, and got to the HB tent (the same one pjfootballer went to, and the best party tent from what i hear) around 10am after checking into our hotel. After the wal-mart black friday like pushing and shoving, they let everyone in and my group was booed for being the first to be served that day. talking to random french, german, brits, italians, polish, russians etc about how much they loved obama was a little weird though.my first year one of the guys i went with passed out like 4 times in 10 minutes waiting in line and we missed our chance to get into the tent early. so we got him some food and a gatorade and just sat outside the tent. the experience is still pretty good that way as well. the attachment is a picture of me after like my 6 or 7th beer. definately not ready for it. (i'm the guy with the red and blue hoodie)

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after the 4 days (in 2009) we were there i wasn't the same for about 3 weeks.

Does anyone know what is the best way to go about getting lederhosen and drendles (sp?)? My wife seems to think that its best to go to a department store when you get to Munich.

is there no website to go to?

Does anyone know what is the best way to go about getting lederhosen and drendles (sp?)? My wife seems to think that its best to go to a department store when you get to Munich.

is there no website to go to?

You mean to tell me you're going to get your trockten on and were actually thinking about not going to the tents? IMHO going to the tents and experiencing the singing, drinking, the waitresses and even the bathrooms is what it's all about.

If you're going to go, understand that unless you have some kind of connections you're probably not going to get a seat. That's important because the waitresses aren't supposed to serve you if you're not seated. I don't know how often it happens but in our area there seemed to be an exception to this rule. See pre/post beer pics attached. We waited around a while and then pounced on a spot that opened up after maybe an hour and a half.

Just google Oktoberfest, durndle, lederhosen or just trachten and you'll find plenty of online sources. However in my experience the sizes varied a lot so I think it was best to be able to see and try it on in-person.

Ein Prosit!

You mean to tell me you're going to get your trockten on and were actually thinking about not going to the tents? IMHO going to the tents and experiencing the singing, drinking, the waitresses and even the bathrooms is what it's all about.

If you're going to go, understand that unless you have some kind of connections you're probably not going to get a seat. That's important because the waitresses aren't supposed to serve you if you're not seated. I don't know how often it happens but in our area there seemed to be an exception to this rule. See pre/post beer pics attached. We waited around a while and then pounced on a spot that opened up after maybe an hour and a half.

Just google Oktoberfest, durndle, lederhosen or just trachten and you'll find plenty of online sources. However in my experience the sizes varied a lot so I think it was best to be able to see and try it on in-person.

Ein Prosit!

Ha.... I was not sure if it was possible to get into the tents. At this point, I have a reservation for the Hofbrauhaus tent. Did you buy your lederhosen when you got there then? That's what my wife is hearing about the sizes so she doesn't want to buy them online.

Yes, exactly. We just walked around a bit - it was everywhere. There were whole storefronts that seemed to be temporarily rented to sell nothing but der trachten and of course it was available in department stores as well. I have to admit I was shocked that people still wore the stuff. I just kind of figured it was one of those quaint, old school things being kept alive out of a need to maintain cultural identity or whatever. However it turns out the lederhosen and such are still widely worn. Who knew?

Anywho, have a great time and down a few for me!

Yes, exactly. We just walked around a bit - it was everywhere. There were whole storefronts that seemed to be temporarily rented to sell nothing but der trachten and of course it was available in department stores as well. I have to admit I was shocked that people still wore the stuff. I just kind of figured it was one of those quaint, old school things being kept alive out of a need to maintain cultural identity or whatever. However it turns out the lederhosen and such are still widely worn. Who knew?

Anywho, have a great time and down a few for me!

Ok, perfect. I will wait till i get there and get something that fits! Its expensive as hell though.

However it turns out the lederhosen and such are still widely worn. Who knew?

That's perhaps a bit of an exaggeration, but it is true that people still wear that traditional garb.

According to our guide while we were touring Munich, the closest analogy is that Munich is in the German "South" and the lederhosen are worn by people that are the equivalent of Cowboys. It'd be like seeing someone in a cowboy hat, spurs, and chaps. Not exactly common, but not entirely rare either.

We were there in July, and we did see several people dressed like that. Usually older, and not a lot, but frequent enough to ask about it.

That's perhaps a bit of an exaggeration, but it is true that people still wear that traditional garb.

According to our guide while we were touring Munich, the closest analogy is that Munich is in the German "South" and the lederhosen are worn by people that are the equivalent of Cowboys. It'd be like seeing someone in a cowboy hat, spurs, and chaps. Not exactly common, but not entirely rare either.

We were there in July, and we did see several people dressed like that. Usually older, and not a lot, but frequent enough to ask about it.

I thought he meant its widely worn during Oktoberfest. no?

Got back from Oktoberfest and it was a great time. If you like beer and hanging out, you'll love Oktoberfest. I'm trying to post some pictures, but may fail:

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TSF, future wife and I may be considering Oktoberfest 2013 for our honeymoon. Neither of us have been to Europe and are dying to go. How long did you stay and did you book everything separately (flight, hotel, tickets) or did you book some sort of package deal? Trying to collect some info to see if this would be a good option because I truly have no idea what it would cost or where to really begin looking

TSF, future wife and I may be considering Oktoberfest 2013 for our honeymoon. Neither of us have been to Europe and are dying to go. How long did you stay and did you book everything separately (flight, hotel, tickets) or did you book some sort of package deal? Trying to collect some info to see if this would be a good option because I truly have no idea what it would cost or where to really begin looking

First off, congrats on the wedding.

We did not book a package deal, and my wife and I both got free airfare due to our mileage program. So, we ended up booking a pretty nice hotel because we saved a ton getting there. We just went to actual Oktoberfest one day. It was wild. I wouldn't say it was romantic, but I wouldn't call it a bad option either. Obviously, its all drinking, but I didn't see any fighting or aggressiveness during the tent. It was just a good time of beer drinking all day. Of course, you can go to the brew houses any other day of Oktoberfest and those are a good time as well.

We did stay in Munich for about three days. We did a trip to Neuschwanstein castle and some of the other Bavarian castles an cute towns one day. Did a trip to Dachau, which is not really fun but worth seeing. And we enjoyed Munich.

We also made our way to Vienna and Prague though. Of those three cities, I would order them as Prague, Vienna, and Munich in order of my personal favorites. Prague is first. I would not plan a whole week in Munich, and you don't have to do Vienna and Prague either. Could do Berlin, Bern, and other places all over central europe.

So, I would say Oktoberfest was awesome, and definitely something worth doing. I wouldn't say it fit exactly the idea of "romantic honeymoon," but I wouldn't say don't do it either. If you want to have unbelievable beer and just a good time, it makes a lot of sense. But also don't spend your whole trip in Munich because there's not a weeks worth of stuff to see there (unless you can go binge drinking for a week straight I guess).

One more thing, I would say try to go the first week of Oktoberfest and not the second, because the weather is much more likely to be good during September.

Hope that helps. If you have any questions you can ask me here or PM me.

thanks for all the good information. how long did it take you to get from Munich to Prague or vice versa? Did you take a train?

thanks for all the good information. how long did it take you to get from Munich to Prague or vice versa? Did you take a train?

So, we were a little nuts. We took the train from Munich to Vienna, which was maybe 3 hours or so (I can't remember exactly). And then we decided to drive from Vienna to Prague because we wanted to see this little Czech town called Cesky Krumlov, which is an old medieval castle town. That drive took all day with the stop.

I think the train from Munich to Prague would be only a couple hours.

Check out www.viator.com for packages and also for tours anywhere in Munich. We bought our reservations for Oktoberfest through that site. You want reservations to make sure you get in and have a seat. Especially on the weekends.

Thanks TSF! also, I noticed with the Euro rail passes there are multiple sites that you can book through and all have different prices. Does anyone have any experience booking Euro rail train passes and which site did you book through?

Also, how do you find out where the train station is in each country. So if we select "Germany" how do we know if its going to drop us off in Munich or Nuremberg?

Thanks TSF! also, I noticed with the Euro rail passes there are multiple sites that you can book through and all have different prices. Does anyone have any experience booking Euro rail train passes and which site did you book through?

Also, how do you find out where the train station is in each country. So if we select "Germany" how do we know if its going to drop us off in Munich or Nuremberg?

Not sure about the interface you're looking at, but yea there are train stations all over Germany. There should be one for Munich: Hauptbahnhoff, I think. I believe that is a basic term for "center train station," though. So, there may be other cities with the same thing.

The thing about Eurorail is that you can use it numerous times. You should be able to get a ticket from Munich to Vienna, or from Munich to Prague, or somewhere else, no problem.

Thanks TSF! also, I noticed with the Euro rail passes there are multiple sites that you can book through and all have different prices. Does anyone have any experience booking Euro rail train passes and which site did you book through?

We did rail passes for one of our trips many years ago, but it has been my experience that unless you're planning on doing a lot of train travel in a single day (and sometimes not even then), buying individual tickets point to point is actually cheaper, especially if you book online in advance. I just booked tickets from Rome to Naples for 9 euros each, for example, on the Trenitalia site by getting on near the 2 month availability window and booking a "super economy" fare.

The very best website to look at train travel anywhere in Europe is the German one (of course... ), even for trips outside of Germany (for schedule checks), and you can buy tickets directly through it for German itineraries (just did that too, and again there are discounts for booking early).

Railpasses' biggest selling point are the flexibility, in that you can jump on any train you like almost at a whim, as long as it's a valid day, but even that has been severely curtailed in recent years, due to the number of high speed trains that now require seat reservations and sometimes extra fees for railpass holders, and these usually need to be bought in advance, kind of killing the point to some extent.

If you want to read about railpasses (and when they make sense), I'd recommend Rick Steves' write-up on them. Amy and I love his guidebooks, which are an essential part of our travel planning for each trip. Along with site reviews, he's very solid on practical information like where to find a bathroom, how to skip lines, and what transportation options are best in which scenario, including railpasses.

If you do decide to buy one (as I said, we go to Europe once or twice a year and I haven't found it worthwhile in over 10 years), I'd probably suggest going with Rick Steves' travel agency, or maybe Eurail (I think that's who I used, but it's been forever)...

thanks TB that clears some things up for me. See, I don't think we are going to want to ride around on the train from place to place that much.

Here is an example of what we would like to do. Fly to Barcelona. Spend 3 days in Barcelona and take the train to Paris. Spend another 3 days in Paris. Take the train to Munich. Spend 3 days in Munich and then fly home.

Do you think point to point would be my best choice for something like this? Will we be able to get around without a car in these cities? What about hotels vs hostels? What should we be looking for as far as those go?

thanks TB that clears some things up for me. See, I don't think we are going to want to ride around on the train from place to place that much.

Here is an example of what we would like to do. Fly to Barcelona. Spend 3 days in Barcelona and take the train to Paris. Spend another 3 days in Paris. Take the train to Munich. Spend 3 days in Munich and then fly home.

Do you think point to point would be my best choice for something like this? Will we be able to get around without a car in these cities? What about hotels vs hostels? What should we be looking for as far as those go?

Those places are pretty far from each other by train. You might want to look into flying on that Rien Air. Or Rine Air. Not sure what its called, but its a budget euro airline that is very popular over there.

thanks TB that clears some things up for me. See, I don't think we are going to want to ride around on the train from place to place that much.

Here is an example of what we would like to do. Fly to Barcelona. Spend 3 days in Barcelona and take the train to Paris. Spend another 3 days in Paris. Take the train to Munich. Spend 3 days in Munich and then fly home.

Do you think point to point would be my best choice for something like this? Will we be able to get around without a car in these cities? What about hotels vs hostels? What should we be looking for as far as those go?

Well, first, cars are not only unnecessary in European cities, they are a useless and expensive headache. If you're going to big cities like Paris, Barcelona, Munich, then you definitely want to avoid the car.

Second, though, I wonder if you realize just how long those train rides are going to be. Barcelona to Paris, for example, is 9 hours. Paris to Munich is between 12 and 14 hours.

One option might be night trains. You can book a couchette (which is a sleeper car with six beds) or sleeper car (a bit more expensive). This can be an efficient way to travel, if you can sleep on a potentially cold, possibly noisy and rocking train. We've done it, and the nice thing is that you travel while you sleep, and save awake time for sight seeing. You also don't have to get a hotel. This might actually be a situation where a three country rail pass makes sense, because the long long trains are pretty expensive. Read the link I provided. part 3 includes a map with point to point costs for cities, which you can compare to railpass costs. I believe there are night trains from Barcelona to Paris and also from Paris to Munich. Seat 61 is another excellent resource devoted to train travel.

Another option these days is that many European low cost carriers offer cheap flights from place to place.

If this seems too ambitious, you might want to consider trimming it back, and seeing fewer cities longer.

As for hotels, you have a lot of options. If you're young, and like to party, hostels can be fun. They're not very private, but that's how you meet people.

Hotels can range from a few rooms run by a local (my favorite) to a 5 star posh luxury hotel. It's all about price and preference. I research hotels using a combo of Rick Steves' guidebooks and tripadvisor.

Whatever you decide, I highly recommend getting the Rick Steves book for each destination. It's invaluable info, like how to blow past the 45 minute line at the Colosseum in Rome, etc.

The other thing I'd suggest is that unless you are really set on Munich for a specific reason, like Oktoberfest, I'd probably recommend going somewhere more interesting like Rome, Berlin, London, Prague, or even more time in Paris. Munich is a nice city, and the nearby castles are cool and all, but it's not as exciting as many of the great cities of Europe. That's just my opinion, of course.

The other thing I'd suggest is that unless you are really set on Munich for a specific reason, like Oktoberfest, I'd probably recommend going somewhere more interesting like Rome, Berlin, London, Prague, or even more time in Paris. Munich is a nice city, and the nearby castles are cool and all, but it's not as exciting as many of the great cities of Europe. That's just my opinion, of course.

I agree with that as well. I loved Oktoberfest and would tell everyone who's interested that its a great experience and you should go. That being said, Munich is not as high on my list as a lot of other European cities. Like I said, Prague and Vienna were both much more beautiful and interesting to me. That says nothing of Rome, London and other greats.

Ich war in München im letzten Sommer. Ein lokaler Freund von mir erzählte mir, dass das Tragen von Lederhosen war ein guter Weg, um Eingang zu gewinnen, um schnell Oktoberfest. Viel Glück auf Ihrer Reise. Persönlich bin ich immer begünstigte die Hofbrau Bier oder Augustiner.

Also, if you don't already know some German you might want to pick up a little in the meantime. Taking classes in college and doing Pimsleur audio cds worked well with me.

See, I don't think we are going to want to ride around on the train from place to place that much.

Two more things:

1. For a honeymoon, and especially for people who have never been to Europe, I'd highly recommend considering just going to Paris. It's romantic, it's very nice in October (cool but not cold weather, "Shoulder season" so lower prices and fewer crowds), it's got world-class museums, activities, and food, and perhaps most importantly, it's easy for someone who's never been to Europe. We did our honeymoon in Paris, and we loved it. There's enough to keep you occupied for many days, and a lot of great side trip possibilites. London is also a quick train ride away via the Chunnel if you must branch out, and that's easy too.

2. My wife says if you still need a wedding photographer, to check out her link in my signature. She also votes for Paris, by the way.