Achterbahn in Oktoberfest 2012 by Jan Czeczotka, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Oktoberfest
Munich's folk festival follows a fixed calendar rule, which makes it the rare festival here you can plan years ahead.
A sixteen-day Munich folk festival held mostly in September, and the origin of a great many events elsewhere that borrow the name.
The Essentials
The original is in Munich, in Germany, and despite the name it is mostly a September festival. It opens on the Saturday after 15 September and runs sixteen days to the first Sunday in October, extended to 3 October when that Sunday falls on the 1st or the 2nd. That rule does not change, which makes it one of the few festivals here you can plan around years ahead.
It is a folk festival rather than only a beer hall: large tents run by the city's breweries, a funfair alongside, traditional dress worn by most attendees, and a strong daytime and family character that the reputation abroad tends to omit.
Almost every other "Oktoberfest" is a separate event that borrows the name, from Kitchener-Waterloo in Canada to Blumenau in Brazil to a great many one-night bar events. Some are substantial festivals in their own right; none is the Munich original, and it is worth knowing which you have booked.
Where to experience Oktoberfest
The places this happens, and what each one is actually like.
The Theresienwiese tents, the brewery parade and the funfair. Tables inside the tents are reserved far ahead; the grounds themselves are free to enter.
Germany's other large autumn folk festival, overlapping Munich's dates and considerably less pressured for accommodation.
A substantial festival in its own right, grown out of a German-descended community in Santa Catarina, and one of the largest outside Germany.
A long-running North American festival with its own traditions — related in name and spirit rather than a reproduction of Munich.
A separately ticketed enclosure inside the festival with historic rides, brass rather than pop, and a calmer crowd. The answer for anyone who wants the tradition without the volume of the main tents.
One of the largest outside Germany, grown from a long-established German-American community. Related by descent rather than by branding, and a street festival rather than a tented one.
How to plan your Oktoberfest trip
The dates follow a rule you can plan around. Opening on the Saturday after 15 September and closing on the first Sunday in October, the festival is one of the few here that can be fixed years ahead — useful, because Munich accommodation is taken very early.
The room is the hard part. Munich hotels book out and reprice sharply for the period. Staying a short train ride outside the city is the standard answer, and the regional rail service runs late throughout.
Check which Oktoberfest you have booked. Events worldwide share the name without being the Munich original. That is not a criticism of them — several are excellent — but they are different festivals, and a booking made on the assumption is a disappointment waiting.
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