Oktoberfest: What You Need to Know

This last post on Oktoberfest in Munich will hopefully be useful for anybody who wants to attend in the future. Its based on my recent experiences and what I wished I knew before I attended.

What to Bring

It all depends on how long you’re going to be there but there a few things I’d bring along. For clothing, make sure you bring a good sweater or coat as Munich is actually pretty cold (by Vancouver, Canada standards) and you’ll get the occasional shower. Not a big deal if you’re inside the entire time but in truth you’ll spend a great deal of time outside the tents on the rides or even sitting in the outside beer gardens. As with any event that involves booze I’d also suggest bringing a goodly amount of aspirin/tylenor and antacids. We went through an entire bottle… Don’t bring a backpack to the festival itself as it will get searched or worse yet, you’ll get completely hammered and forget it somewhere. Of course do bring a camera because you’ll really want to capture all those special moments (oh my god, I can’t feel my legs!).

Money wise, you’ll need to plan on about 100eu a day. Each litre of beer costs between 8-10eu and a plate of food another 12eu. If you can drink 5 litres a day (which my mate Forrest and I did), plan on a plate of food for in-between each beer (yes, that’s like 4 full meals :)

Where to Stay

Yeah this is the real pricey part. We found a hotel about 6 blocks away but we had to pay over 300eu a night. This is pretty normal. If you book 9 months in advance, you might get a cheap hostel but they book up fast. Start looking for accommodation by Dec. Here are some useful links:

• Backpakers.com
• Discover Munich
• Vacation Rentals by Owner: Good site but book early
  

Where to Drink

Honestly, every tent we went to was great and everybody was really friendly. That said, there are few places (hells-bells there are over 14 big tents!) that were better than others, either because they had better beer/food or the atmosphere was unique. If you are a party of 6 or more you will need to make reservations at least 3 months prior to the festival. If there are only a couple of you, you can just show up, ask a server to find a seat for you and you’re off to the races.

Click the image to the left to see where these tents are on the ‘Weisen’.

1. Hippodrom: This is arguably one of the best big tents at the festival. Its located on the far northern side of the ‘Weisen’ grounds and always has the biggest line-up for a seat. Arrive before it opens at 10am to get a seat and stay at least for a couple hours. The band was great and the crowd was almost entirely Bavarian (we were looking for the genuine article). Eat the Hendel (chicken).
2. Hofbraeuhaus or HB: I’m X’ing this one out because its known as the ‘English’ tent and no self respecting Bavarian would be found there. As it states on the Oktoberfest site, “Americans and Australians feel especially happy here”. I like Americans and Australians as much as the next dude but I didn’t fly halfway across the world to Germany to drink with them :)
3. Hacker-Festzelt: We spent a lot of time at Hacker. Great beer and the design inside is brilliant. Young crowd but you’ll still see lots of families at the tables. Again, get there before 11am if you want to sit inside and be there by 10am if you want to sit near the bandstand. Excellent sausage, sauerkraut and pretzel.
4. Käfers Wies’n-Schänke: This is the high-end tent at the festival. It’s a smaller venue with excellent music and a menu you’ll not find anywhere else. Almost all the food is game based (pheasant, boar ect) and they also have an excellent wine list. We had our last dinner and drink at this tent and it was the best food we had on the trip. Forrest highly recommends the Duck and if you’re struggling with the menu, ask a server and they’ll walk you through it.

See all the beer tents here.

Getting Along

Oktoberfest is very safe and I never felt intimidated or unwelcome at the tables. Unlike Pamplona during San Fermin (the running of the bulls) where the locals wore shirts that promoted the hanging of tourists, the locals in Munich are very welcoming and patient. Try to speak some German, be polite and the festival-is-your-oyster. Its always hard to get a place to sit so go up to a server and ask them if they can help you out. We found this the easiest way to get seated.

Tips for Surviving

I’ve mentioned a few of these in earlier posts, and so I'll summarize and add to these:

1. Eat, eat and eat. Not only is the food great, but it will help you survive all those beer. Especially the Hendel (chicken). Very close to a religious experience.
2. Get to the tents early to get a seat. Yes, it might seem odd that you start drinking at 10am, but the upside is you’ll be on number 5 by 4pm and passed out on a park bench by 6pm.
3. Pace yourself. You’d be amazed how much you can drink over a 12 hour period if you eat and don’t guzzle the beer (re: the young Americans beside us who downed 3 litres in two hours and were in bed by 1pm…)
4. Ask to be seated by one of the servers. And then tip them appropriately when they bring you your first beer.
5. Ride the rides. This is a festival and there are some great amusement rides.
   
6. Prost! When you’re beer arrives Prost! (cheers) everybody at your table. To no do so is very bad form.
7. Good form. Hold the handle of the mug, not the mug itself and after a toast (Prost!) tap the glass on the table.

I hope this was useful. Add you comments or questions below.

~ chris

Oktoberfest Day Five: The Way Home

My closest friends (and family) will attest that even through at times, I can be sentimental, I am not one for epiphanies. So believe me when I say that every time you travel, you have an opportunity to learn something about yourself. For my trip to Munich, my singular attempt at 40ish self indulgence, I learned the following: my children must lean good kung-fu and I like to travel more with my family. Please don’t construe this as a slight on my traveling companion Forrest, as he is a great person to travel with. He is a patient as grandmother and game for any mischief (which we had a fair bit of). It’s just that every time I think some adventure would not be a good fit for my wife, I realize at the end of the trip, that she probably would have enjoyed it. My Friend Glen might see this as my married-drivel, but he knows better, since most of his traveling usually includes somebody more effeminate than me :)

As for the ‘good kung-fu’? Its more of combination of my own dreams imposed on my children and the fact that I watched “The Forbidden King” on the way home. No, really, the kids need to learn some kung-fu!

And speaking of the trip home, we missed our connection from London to Vancouver (flight delayed in Munich). The upside is that Forrest secured a decent exit row seat (to himself) and I got upgraded to First Class. A quick tip for you intrepid travelers out there: don’t ever underestimate the power of a kind word. It’s what got Forrest and I upgraded on the trip to London from Vancouver and me upgraded on the trip home. And this First Class, unlike some more regional Air Canada flights, was well and truly top notch. The tiny cabins with their own little beds…. that was a first for me. So I arrive home after watching some great movies (love Iron Man), great grub and a head full of Cab-Franc from Lake Erie. All in all, a great way to end my 40th year celebration. Every man should be so lucky. But in truth, luck had nothing to do with it… Thanks to everybody who helped make it a reality: Forrest for being a boon travel mate and friend, my family who helped out with child care and most of my wife, who worked many extra shifts to pay for my little excursion. Love you all dearly.

~chris

Oktoberfest Day Four: Neuschwanstein Castle

Day four is about the day tour. As suggested previously, Oktoberfest is best experienced by staggering the staggering with some pure tourist touring. Today we hit Neuschwanstein Castle, about two hours outside of Munich. This is one of the best castles to visit in Europe, even though its completely fake. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a brilliant Castle but it was built in the 19th (1886 methinks) century by ‘Mad’ King Ludwig in the style of the Gothic castles of the 12th century. It is called the ‘Fairy tale’ castle and the blueprint for pretty much every other castle in modern story telling (Disney, Shrek ect). Kind Ludwig II was a bit of a Wagner fan and this castle was built in his honor. Almost all the tapestries-like paintings cover Wagner’s operas and much of the internal appointments are set to those stories. In fact the castle itself was not designed by an architect, but instead by set designer from Munich who specialized in operas. It’s more of a palace or retreat than a strategic, defensive position. The whole structure is built out of regular brick with sandstone facia (could never take a catapult straight on ;). As long as you ignore these silly points and take the charm at face value you’ll find that the castle is really quite breath taking… and I mean this figuratively and literally (you have to walk for a bout 2k up a steep grade to get to it).

Side note: I loved the Americans on the tour “why don’t they have an elevator” and “if this was in the US they’d bloody well drive us to the top”. Thank the wee-nymphs-that-reside-in-the-lake-beside-the-castle that it’s not in the US (or Canada) because I’d never be able to pick up Pil or a Helles at the halfway point or in the gift shop at the top. Side-side note: apparently the swearing off of beer in my previous posts was somewhat premature.

For those of you who might to want to visit Neuschwanstein Castle: It’s a bit of a pain to get to (actually, it was a bloody dog-and-pony show to get there by train, bus, donkey ect) but when you finally get to the top of the mountain it sits on and see the amazing detailing and appointments inside, you’ll be quite amazed. Be patient with the Americans who’ll wheeze and fart their way to the top (no, seriously, the old dude and front of me crapped his pants the whole way up the closed-in, spiral staircase with me right behind him having to eat his wind). And forgive the Canadians who can’t get enough of German beer, even when slogging up a hill.

~ chris

Oktoberfest Day Three: Nightcap

As planned Forrest and I headed back to the Festival Grounds at about 7pm. This is after I worked on the blog and Forrest had a snooze (bugger). As the sun was going down, we noticed that there was just as many people on the `Wiesen` as there was earlier today. In other words it was bloody busy.

I haven`t mentioned this in the past posts but its important make future comers to Oktoberfest aware of the family orientation of the whole show. Surrounding the beer gardens is a massive playland with rides, games and everything you`d expect at a country fair. In all the beer tents you`ll see kids, babies, moms, dads and grandparents having a grand old time. Even late into the evening you`ll see families out and about and everybody gets dressed up in the traditional Bavarian garb. And since its still a beer garden you`ll still see people getting seriously smash-faced :)

Bottom line is if you`re coming to Oktoberfest, bring your family and be prepared to have a really great time. Seeing all the families around me just make me miss mine even more.

~ chris

Oktoberfest Day Three: Into the Beast Again

There is a point where the sheer volume of beer you consume has a cumulative affect. On day three we were still feeling the the `smarty-head`affect of Day One and yet, we were still game! After much morning lounging and tucking in to a nice breakfast we were off to the “Weisen” for the festival. It was cold, extremely foggy and still crowed at 9am.

We arrived at about 9:30am and cued up for the Hippodrom (read the most popular beer tent at the festival). We had to be number 200 in that line but at 10am the doors opened and we secured a brilliant seat inside. Note that you really need to arrive early in order to get a seat. There is much jockeying after the tent fills up.



By 10:10 we had our first beer in hand and were off to the races. It should be noted that both Forrest and I were approaching this like work: aka, pushing beer downrange at 10am is both a task and not without its difficulties (good God I swore off this stuff yesterday!). But the Bavarian folk around us were game and so we had to represent. By 10:30am we had our first ‘Hendel’ or roast chicken and we well and truly on our way. Those little chickens are bloody brilliant!

Tip One for Oktoberfest: Eat, eat and eat. The only way you can survive a 5 litre day is to eat constantly.
I might mentioned this quite a bit but I can`t emphasize it enough. You need to consume a great deal of food to offset the sheer volume of beer.

We stuck around for another litre at the Hippodrom and by now things were really picking up. We had the band going full on and by 12:00 noon there were people dancing on the benches.

Tip Two: if you want to secure a seat inside a beer tent, be there by opening (10am). Yeah, the Hippodrom filled up in about 15 minutes and there were at least a couple hundred people left looking for a seat.



Unlike our Day One, we had decided to pace ourselves on Day Three. Sure, some of you might call this in to question (or at least our manly drinking ability) and then ask what happened to going all guns? Well to be honest we really wanted to enjoy Day Three without feeling like we had to prove that we could drink our weight in beer. Our calculation was one litre of beer every 1.5 hrs. Modest and yet still somewhat of a challenge over a 5 litre day.

Tip Three: Pace yourself. No really, its not a fricking race!

For beer three we moved out into the sunshine at the Hacker tent. We found some room beside a family from outside of Munich. Again, we had food with our beer (see Tip One) and as with all food at Oktoberfest its genuine, delicious and simple fare.

After beer three we decided to take a break. The nice thing about having a hotel so near the festival (6 blocks away), we were able to go back at 3pm for some rest. Our plan is to go back to the festival tonight for another litre of beer and some dinner... Good lord what are we thinking!


Forrest Joy and Chris Hennebery enjoying a beer outside in the sun at Oktoberfest 2008

Oktoberfest Day Two: Recovering after Day One

Well what can I say? Five and half litres of beer and the next day is a bit of a write-off. Woke up with that lurching feeling in my gut and head full of broken china. To top it all off I think a cat snuck into our room last night and took a crap in my mouth...

But none of this was to be unexpected. We had planned to do some day tripping as a means to break up the monotony that is Oktoberfest (IE, binge drinking). Today we didn’t get out act together quite early enough to grab an excursion out to the Alps so instead we headed down to the old town to hook up with a city-tour. The great thing about these tours is that you get the coles-notes version of the city, complete with a history lesson and points of interest. You’ve all seen these before: the double-decker bus with no roof and tons of retired people chattering on in a different language and snapping pictures. That was us today and it fit the bill, especially the part where you didn’t need to walk, talk or interact whatsoever. I achieved a vegetative state by the first half hour and except for the occasional bout of the willies, I faired pretty good. Learned all sorts of interesting tidbits about Munich and Bavarian culture (“did you know that 80% of Munich was levelled in WW II and Hitler’s girlfriend stayed in that hotel across the street…”).

We closed off the day with a so-so dinner in the oldest café in Munich (1440). Need to be in bed early tonight because tomorrow its Day Three and we’re planning to get a brilliant seat at the Hippodrom (one of the best beer tents at Oktoberfest) tomorrow at 10 am. If this is my last post its probably because I went to the Hippodrom at 10 am.

~chris

Oktoberfest Day One: Into the Beast...

Well I’ve said it before but these are bloody big beer. Each mug is a litre or about the equivalent of 3 bottles of beer. We got to the fair grounds or ‘weisen’ at about 1pm after taking a walk through the old city of Munich. Note to future comers to Oktoberfest that you need to be in the beer tents by 11am if you want a seat and the easiest way to get a seat is to ask a server to find you one. If there are only a couple of you (as it was with Forrest and myself) its possible to find something but in the most popular pavilions, its almost impossible.

Beer one went down range pretty easily and we were off to the races. We decided to have a beer and move on to the next tent. For the most part we stayed outside where there were more seats but somewhat exposed to the elements. One of the first things you notice is that the majority of the patrons are Germans, local Bavarians actually. The ‘fest’ is really a family affair and its common to see babies and grand parents at the same table. We also noticed that the drinking age is somewhat less restrictive. Kids can legally drink beer at 16 and hard alcohol at 18. You’d think that this would lead to some out of control kids but every table we saw, the kids were polite, well behaved and certainly enjoying themselves. The only people we saw drinking to excess (besides ourselves) were American 20-somethings.

We managed to drink 5.5 litres of beer on day one, stumble (and I mean stumble) back to the hotel for some much needed sleep and recovery. And Forrest, thanks for bringing the Tums!

See the full image gallery here on my Flikr page.

~chris

Oktoberfest: First Beer in Munich

We got in to Munich at about 7PM and proceeded directly to the nearest pub for a beer. Please note (based on the picture) that the beers served here are bigger than my head (which is saying a lot…). And the food! There is something to be said about the lack of grace and conventions on plating food rustically and eating it with your bare hands. We decided to limit ourselves to only two liters (mugs) of beer so we start off the next morning with capital constitution :)

Oktoberfest: Just got in...

Getting familiar in Munich with our hotel mates. Here we are at the Hotel Carat. These guys are from UK and Ireland. Alan and David as it were...

Oktoberfest: At the airport and still working out

Yes, you heard me. WORKING OUT. You see in order to survive Oktoberfest you need to keep the enzymes active in your tummy and that means constantly consuming beeriester. Beer. Forrest and I got to the airport (thanks D), walked into the Maple Leaf lounge and started our vacation. Now.

I'm also a little stoked that I got upgraded to first class for the trip to London. I haven't told Forrest yet but they also upgraded him :)

~chris

Oktoberfest: Preparation

So I’m off to Oktoberfest in Munich tonight and I’m traveling light... really light. I’m talking a couple shirts, some shorts, one pair of cargos and some other essentials. Normally when I travel for business I only take what I need to stay comfortable but for 5 days in Munich, I plan to take only what I absolutely need. Hell, If I had to I could leave all my bags and go with a wallet, passport and Tylenol (it is a beer festival after all).


Note that since my neighbor Forrest is coming with and I have a tendency to snore like a bear after a few pints (or liters in this case) I’ve brought along some ear plugs. I wont tell him I have these till after the first night out on the town :).

~ chris