Dress the Part
If you are going to Oktoberfest, you should to dress the part. Most everyone, especially locals, are dressed in lederhosen for the men and dirndls for the women. You do see some people in jeans, but they are usually tourists.
There are many stores in downtown Munich where you can purchase or rent authentic clothing. Ladies, let me tell you the outfits are the best part! There are so many options and accessories to choose from, like different colored ribbons and styled chains to lace up the dirndl, flower hair accessories and headbands, and so many different kinds of fabric patterns for the dirndl.
The best thing to do is find someone who works at the store and have her help you. They know what to do and can get you fitted properly, and there are a two important things to know about the dirndls – the length and the bow.
Traditional dirndls are mid-length and fall right above your knee. They are not the short skirts that you see from Halloween costumes. You will also have an apron that ties around your waist. The bow should be neat and not too large and where you tie it has different meanings for your relationship status – your left side if you are single, on your right if you are married, or in the middle if you are a widow. Waitresses will usually wear their bow in the middle to be neutral.
Get to the Festival
The S-Bahn subway system has a stop right at Oktoberfest, so it is effortless and inexpensive to get there. When you walk into the festival grounds, it looks like Epcot or an amusement park. There are lots of carnival rides, food vendors, and little shops. There is no entrance fee to get in, but you have to pay for food and drinks. Things aren’t as expensive as I thought they’d be. A beer stein (which is called a mast) is about 10€ ($13), which considering the mas holds a liter of beer, is a pretty good deal. I’m not a big beer drinker myself, so I got a radler or rußn (ru-ssen) – a shandy, beer with lemonade or sprite.
When to Go
The tents are open at 10 AM and close promptly at 11:30 PM with different vibes throughout the day – the latter getting more wild. There are few things to know that might influencer when you want to go.
In order to get beer and drinks, you have to be seated at a table. There’s not bar to walk up to and you can’t just stand around hang out like a typical bar scene. And, there are different “rules” in the morning versus the afternoon.
In the morning since the tents are just opening up, you can nearly always find a spot. Some tables are reservation-only and some for general entry so you have to look out for signs on the tables before sitting down (but it’s pretty obvious to tell). Once you’re at a table, waiters come around to serve you.
The later in the day the more busy, and locals usually start arriving around 2-3 p.m. towards the end of the work day. Again, you have to have a spot at a table to get served so afternoons and evenings can be harder to find a spot.
People like to sit on the ends of the tables close to the aisle, so look towards the middle of the tables. You may have to schmooze your way to get a seat.
Pick a Tent
I had a few friends who had been before, and they kept talking about the beer tents. I was envisioning sort of a large event tent like they have at festivals but these beer tents are no tents at all. They are massively large buildings that hold over 10,000 people each!
Essentially, each tent is a different brewery, so to get the whole experience be sure to go to different tents on different days. Each brewery has their own style of German lager and only serve their seasonal Oktoberfest brew. There may be one or two styles to choose from, but you can just ask for a beer.
Sing along
One thing that was crazy was if someone stood up onto the table, it meant they were going to chug their entire liter of beer. It’s all fun and games at the beginning since the whole tent will be cheering you on, but be careful because if you do not finish the entire beer, the crowd will boo and throw pieces of pretzel at you! (No, I did not try to chug the beer. Way too intimidating!) A tip from a Bavarian: practice with milk. Why? He says that you can chug a liter of anything if you can chug a liter of milk.
There are also so many fun songs to sing! And you’d be surprised by the American ones that make the list. “Take Me Home Country Roads” is a hit at Oktoberfest, and everyone knows the words— except me. I don’t think I have sung that song since Flag Day in elementary school! “Ein Prosit” is the number one song at Oktoberfest, where conversations will stop to sing along. The lyrics in English are “I Salute Our Friendship & Good Times.” During the song, you sway and swing your beer left and right with the entire tent. When the song is over, there is a countdown for everyone to cheer and have a sip of beer!
Optional: Get our of Munich
My friend Nicole, who I went with, also really wanted to go and see Neuschwanstein Castle, so we headed out of Munich for the day. There are options to take a tour group to the Castle if you prefer, but we took a scenic 2-hour train ride. From there, it was a 5-10 minute bus or cab ride to the base of the Castle. I usually don’t like to repeat places, but this is one place I did not mind visiting multiple times.
And speaking of repeating place, I go to Oktoberfest almost every year. It’s an exciting place to sing, drink, and be social with people from around the world.
