Published 8 August 2013, by Jess
http://www.oktoberfest.de/en/navitem/About+the+Oktoberfest/
Oktoberfest is a 16 day festival held annually in Munich, Germany. The festival celebrates BEER! Yes, you heard correct!
The event is held middle to late September until the first week in October and is the world’s largest fair.
The festivities began in 1810 and is an important part of Bavarian culture. The origin dates back to the wedding of King Ludwig I to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen on the 12 October 1810.
There are strict guidelines and criteria before a beer can be designated an Oktoberfest Beer.The beer served must be at a minimum 6% alcohol and must be brewed within the city limits of Munich.
Current Oktoberfest beers include;
Each of the Beers have their own Tent where you are served by women in traditional Bavarian outfits.
Augustiner Tent
Considered the friendliest tent at Oktoberfest and my personal favourite of the tents I visited. Augustiner is a great tasting beer, very wheaty which is typical of most German beers. The tent was decorated extremely well, and the beer hall tables were set up to make the most of the space. The Augustiner also felt more traditional than others, with majority of attendance being German people. Unfortunately only locals can book the tables however, we arrived at 11:00am and managed to get a table reserved at 5:00pm, so we were able to sit there until the party arrived.
It may seem strange that I’m about to mention the bathrooms to you, however I felt it was extremely odd, but very hygienic. The Augustiner Tent bathrooms had attendants who would regularly change the toilet bowls in the bathrooms. Yes, the entire bowl was remove and replaced with a new toilet bowl, ensuring very clean toilets.
Hofbrau Tent
Hofbrau Tent is a very popular tent amongst Australians, New Zealanders and Americans. This tent is the counterpart to the very popular Hofbraeuhaus located in the centre of Munich.
As with most of the tents, Hofbrau is extremely hard to get a seat. After 8pm the main doors close and you’re only option are the outdoor beer hall tables. We had a friend bribe the bouncer with 50 Euro to allow us to skip the line…it worked, and trust me the line was huge!
Around the Grounds
Opening hours vary depending on whether it’s a stall or a beer tent. Check the above link for details.
Walking around the Oktoberfest grounds, it’s really great to see people get into the spirit of Oktoberfest and dress up in the traditional outfits, such as these guys below;
With 14 different beer tents around the grounds, various food stalls, rides and an abundance of atmosphere… Oktoberfest is a must see!
I would plan my holiday to Munich, Germany purely to go to Oktoberfest, it is that good!
Passport 2 the World 