Oktoberfest info please

I've been twice, went for a couple days for my honeymoon then on to Italy and then returned for our 5 year anniversary with friends.

Love it. Love Munich too.

I would highly recommend unless you know a local you are going with to not go on the weekend or Friday. Go Monday through Thursday, otherwise it gets too packed by around 2pm. Like shoulder to shoulder people everywhere. Outside of that, food is great, beer is great, and as long as you don't act like an A-hole people are fantastic.

ETA: Don't wear sandals, imagine 1000s of glass liter's dropped on the ground.

Agree with the above. My first trip I planned too much on doing only Oktoberfest. There's a lot to enjoy in Munich while doing Oktoberfest the same day. My second trip we would do something in the morning like the Duetches museum or Nymphenberg palace, go to Oktoberfest for lunch around noon to 1, have a couple of beers, then go do something else, then return for a beer or 2 around 8. Very easy to do that. Its not like you have to go to Oktoberfest to just get hammered and not doing anything else. The fair that is there with it is pretty impressive, some really impressive roller coasters considering they are temporary. That kind of stuff.

They literally kick you out around 11. Weekdays they'll start sooner. But they will literally pick up the bench and lift you off your seat to boot you out. There are massive after parties apparently, but we never went to one. But I'm sure you have 100,000 people leaving a place at 11 there are bound to be after parties.

I'd rather go to Munich in the summer and hit up a bunch of biergartens. Do some reading on those.

I was stationed in Germany and my rec would be smaller towns, not that Munich wouldnt be fun but you actually get to know people in the smaller towns. We were young and would get "adopted" by German families and taken in for 3 or 4 days. Good memories, but I'm certain I dont remember half of it, nothing like a gallon a good beer in your stomach then getting into the Jager and Schnapps!!!!

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A couple of days is enough

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You'll want one day to walk around and see everything. And.... you'll want one day to go all out and get hammered. Most people tend to get hammered on the first day, and they are miserable on the second day.

You are in south Germany. So Prague and Vienna aren't far away. (Zurich, Venice, and Milan are also possibilities depending on what you want.)

If you are going for a 7-10 days, I would plan for 3 days in Munich/Oktoberfest, and spend the rest of the time in Prague and/or Vienna.

I'm in for the Saints at Wembley (again).

OP: I'd rent a car in Germany but you'd probably need two vehicles with six adults and get up to Nürnberg and down to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and catch a couple Mad King Ludwig castles. Fly into Munich or Stuttgart.

Prost!

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'd skip the one in Munich. Go to Rosenheim. It's a quick train ride from Munich.

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Goodness gracious there are so many cynics of all things original. Rosenheim is not even Oktoberfest, its Herbfest. That's like recommending someone go to the Dothan Peanut festival because the New Orleans Mardi Gras is too busy or something. Some people like to experience the original event and make a decision for them self. You didn't even list a reason why? Was it not you that went to Munich for their first time this winter? I'd say its hard to compare a city in the winter to the fall.

Yes, just like Mardi Gras in New Orleans the city is going to more expensive and busier than other times of year. If you don't like crowds, Oktoberfest is not your thing. If you like to have a good time with a bunch of people you don't know than Oktoberfest is a great time.

It's like spending Mardi Gras in Metairie... nothing "wrong" with it, but do the real deal first.