The Oktoberfest beer festival in Germany is, in our opinion, the noisiest and most humming festival in the world. Our team has been following this holiday for a long time, but it does not have the opportunity to personally see all the riot of celebration. Oktoberfest takes place in the capital of Bavaria, namely in Munich on the Teresa meadow.
Last year, the holiday took place on the 20th of September, in 2014 very soon this holiday will take place from September 20 to October 5, oh, and we envy those people who will go to this holiday this year, but in general, it is worth noting that all Russians why they go to Europe in the fall. It is during this time of the year that autumn holidays are best spent in Europe.
Beer festival Oktoberfest in Germany
The entire celebration takes place on a huge territory, in the Teresa meadow, the area of the holiday is almost 27 hectares, most of the area is covered with huge tents or tents with different names, the sizes of such tents are various, but the largest tents reach the size of two football fields.
Large tents can accommodate several thousand people, about 4-6 thousand people, small tents are designed for 100-700 people. There are various attractions and carousels for families and children, one of the favorite carousels here is the "Ferris wheel" from which you can see the entire Oktoberfest.
On the opening day of the festival, it is almost impossible to get into the tents, the queue is already at 5 o'clock in the morning, it is also very difficult to get into the tents on Friday or Saturday, the queue is also very huge. The only way out is to order a seat by phone, contacts can be found on the official website of the festival.
The funniest part of Oktoberfest starts after 6 p.m., lights come on, the area starts to glow, music starts playing louder and people start singing songs. It is in the evening that the festival begins to live and truly celebrate.
History of the holiday
The Oktoberfest has been held every year in Berlin since 1810. All that we know from the history of this beer holiday, we decided to tell from the words of a group of German tourists who came to Russia to rest on Olkhon and told it to us.
Around 1810, the wedding of Ludwig I and Princess Teresa was supposed to take place, on this occasion a wedding celebration was held in the meadow, a huge amount of alcohol was purchased and entertaining groups of those times were invited. The wedding took place in October and the meadow is now called Teresa's meadow.
For all the years passed by the festival for centuries, this holiday has changed beyond recognition, earlier this holiday was popular only surrounded by the king and officers, in those days horse races were arranged. Now the holiday is a sea of beer and snacks, accompanied by fun and laughter.
Recently, this festival has begun to cook chicken wings right on the street and serve beer in glass containers. In 1880, beer tents began to be erected, each tent had its own entertainment program, in the same years the Oktoberfest completely abandoned torch lighting, and a light was held.
It should be noted that the festival in Bavaria called Oktoberfest became the progenitor of the tradition of drinking to the end on a dare, but what other traditions this festival has, we will tell you further.
By the way, it will be useful for you to find out and find good accommodation options in Berlin, we have made a selection, without intermediaries and extra charges according to tourists' reviews, where you can stay for your vacation.
Oktoberfest traditions
During its two centuries of existence, it has acquired traditions and signs. Due to this, every autumn in Bavaria tourists from different parts of the world come to taste beer and enjoy Bavarian hospitality.
The first tradition that has survived to our time is the outfits of the Oktoberfest festival. Everyone has probably already seen short Bavarian sundresses in which girls serve beer, such sundresses have an age-old tradition and are called “Drindl”. There are also men in the famous Bavarian leather pants.
Another tradition of the Oktoberfest since 1950 is the festive performance and the announcement of the beginning of the holiday by the Munich mayor. Now every year the mayor announces the festival open, knocking out the cork from the beer barrel, only after that they begin to distribute beer to everyone.
The festive procession of the Oktoberfest festival is another tradition; the mayor of Munich himself and the owners of beer tents take part in this procession. This procession took place for the first time in 1886, all accompanied by real Bavarian live music.
What beer is at Oktoberfest? Top brands
The most important attribute of the Bavarian Oktoberfest is beer. On these days, the annual rate of beer is drunk, beer for this festival is brewed a day before the festival, so it is always fresh and of excellent quality.
Some beer lovers estimate that about 7 million liters of beer and several tons of beer snacks are drunk during one Oktoberfest holiday, most of the snacks are “Bavarian sausage” and pork knuckles.
On the holidays of the Oktoberfest festival, beer can be tasted from the very morning, on weekends the bottling of beer starts at 9 am and on weekdays from 10 am, it all lasts until 11 pm, the cost of one glass of beer at the festival fluctuates on average 10 -12 euros for a glass of beer. It is worth noting that in the last years of the celebration, beer prices have risen sharply.
The brands of beer at the Oktoberfest are not varied, there are only 6 beer brands, but they will suit everyone, there are weak drinks and intoxicating ones, light beer and dark beer for your taste.
Beer "Spaten-Franziskaner", this beer brand can be tasted at Oktoberfest in tents called Hippodrom, Ochsenbraterei / Spatenbräu-Festhalle.
Beer “Augistiner” can be bought at the festival in the Augistiner - Festhalle and in the Fischer - Vroni tent.
Beer "Paulaner" - this beer is popular throughout Germany, by the way, this brand of beer is transported in huge quantities to Russia. You can buy beer at the Oktoberfest in tents Armbrustschützenzelt, Käfer’s Wies’n Schänke.
The world famous beer called “Löwenbräu” will be sold in two festival tents - the Löwenbräu-Festhalle and the Schützen-Festzelt.
Beer "Hacker - Pschorr" will be served in the Hacker - Festzelt tent.
But beer of the Hofbräu brand can be tasted in the largest tent of the entire Oktoberfest festival called Hofbräu Festzelt.
Beer currency for paying for beer at the Oktoberfest festival introduced beer brands (here they are called Biermarken), you pay with beer brands in any tent, at the end of the festival beer brands are accepted in any beer restaurant in Munich.
Oktoberfest rules
Anyone who is going to visit the festival for the first time should learn a little about the rules of the Bavarian holiday. One of the rules of the Oktoberfest festival is to allocate the time of stay, sometimes the tents are closed due to the overcrowding of the festival participants. This time usually starts at 11 am and lasts until 3 pm.
We advise you to take places in tents in advance, about 1 hour in advance. Also, some of the festival tents have rules for going outside. If you left the tent, you will no longer be able to enter without a specific agreement with the guard of this tent.
You can book places in the tents of the festival by phone, you can find out all the contacts of the tents on the official website “www.oktoberfest.de/de”.
And of course, where can we go without stealing beer mugs? There is no such tourist who has visited the Oktoberfest and has not taken a beer mug with him as a souvenir. It is worth noting that there are no small fines for stealing a mug, and this phenomenon is monitored by police officers who are on duty here every 10 meters.
Also, do not forget about video surveillance cameras, in general, we advise you to abandon this bad idea.But all this is intended not only for stealing mugs, but also for pickpockets. Yes, there are a lot of pickpockets here and very often things disappear from those who decided to drink well. We advise you to leave all your valuables in the storage room at metro stations.
Let's not forget about the children at the Oktoberfest. A child from 7 to 16 years old can be at the festival only until 20 pm. If your child is 16 years old, then he can independently be not only at the festival with beer, but also in any other beer place in Germany.
Special medical teams of the Bavarian Red Cross will provide immediate assistance to all festival participants who suddenly feel unwell.
How to get to Oktoberfest?
The Oktoberfest in Bavaria from late September to early October can be reached in several ways. One way is the underground, you will need to take the Theresienwiese station or Schwanthalerhöhe underground station on the U4 and U5 lines.
But it is worth noting that the U4 line is always crowded, so you should not rush to it. And the U5 line is far from the festival, you have to walk for a long time.
You can also get there by city train. Lines S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7 go to the desired place. You will need to get off at the Hackerbrücke station, and then take the metro to the already known metro stations on the U4 and U5 lines.
The bus also goes to the Schwanthalerhöhe stop at number 53. At number 58, the bus goes to the Haltestelle Georg-Hirth-Platz station. Another city bus route number 131 and 132 will take you to the Hans-Fischer-Strabe or Poccistrabe stops.
Layout of tents
Location of Oktoberfest in Bavaria
Book a hotel and find cheap flights to Oktoberfest?
If you want to visit this holiday and save on a transfer with accommodation services, then we recommend using the search engines on the pages:
- Finding and buying cheap flights
- Hotel room reservations at low prices
By the way, be sure to find out about how inexpensive and most importantly, where to find accommodation options in Munich.
The Oktoberfest beer festival in Germany must not pass you by, be sure to visit it! Well, all the most interesting and necessary for a tourist is told and shown.
If you are going to visit the Oktoberfest on your own, we advise you to book a hotel in our hotel search form and book the cheapest tickets without leaving your home, also through our search form. Don't forget to subscribe and travel with travel-picture.ru.
