Dave and I got home last evening, ready to sleep Tuesday night. Hopefully my jet lag is mostly cured from that. All of our souvenirs made it home unscathed, including 3 glass mugs, a bottle of “salt mine” gin, and a 6-pack of 0.5L beer for our dog sitters. We purposefully left space in our luggage to bring back some glassware.
As promised, now that my mind is clear, here are some random tips/facts from our experience. This is a long one, but hopefully it answers some of the questions we’ve been getting from folks who are heading over in the coming couple of weeks. The first 5 points are most specific to our choice of using a travel agent, the rest are more generic.
1.) Oktoberfest is more than two weeks long. There are special events that happen throughout those 2+ weeks, but it’s definitely amazing no matter which day you choose to go. We specifically planned for opening weekend some time ago (Dave’s 50th birthday request); we knew at the onset that getting nearby hotels and tent reservations for that weekend would be tough. That is why we chose to use a travel agent, and we are very glad we did. Our hotel was just over 1000′ (as the crow flies) from the main entrance, probably more like a 1/3 mile walk due to some pedestrian traffic controls that were set up at the entrances and exits. There are very few (safe) hotels closer than the one we were at. Our hotel was also very close to both opening weekend parade routes, which also helped. If you can swing the nearby hotels, I highly recommend. There are multiple U-Bahn (subway) stations just outside the gates, too, but I envision those are PACKED.
2.) Tent reservations the first weekend go very quickly. This was another benefit of using a travel agent. Bucket List Events has a variety of packages of varying lengths that include 1 or more guaranteed tent reservations. You can chose 1 large + 1 small, or 2 large, or other permutations. We chose 2 large tent reservations, not knowing what we were doing, lol. But we are glad we did — the two tents we visited have very different “vibes” and it was cool to see that. It’s important to point out here that we didn’t know which tents we’d be in until about 3 weeks before the trip. The company makes this known pretty early: reservation, yes. But picking your tent, highly unlikely. Each one is great, from what we heard from other guests who got to visit other tents.
3.) We had two tours included in our package. There were about 8 things we could choose from. We chose the Dachau Tour and the Eagle’s Nest tour (Eagle’s Nest was modified due to snow earlier that week). They were great tours and we’re glad we did them, but those were “extra things” that we’d have been fine not doing. Our package included the costs of those. Another reason why we’d be okay not needing a travel agent again…sometimes you will get a little more than you were planning.
4.) Our tour package included most, but not all meals. The hotel had a lovely breakfast buffet, including both American and German-style breakfast choices. Each tent reservation included a meal and 2 maß’s of beer. Plus there was a very generous welcome dinner. And our hotel had a keg tapping at the same time as the official one that included complimentary beer until the keg was emptied. That’s quite a bit of food/drink. We ended up paying for a total of 3 additional meals on our 5 day trip, and two of those meals were at food stands at the nearby train station…stuff like ham and cheese pretzels. Looks like we only spent an additional $200 US on food over our 5 day trip.
5.) While Dave and I are very very glad we did this tour package, and had a wonderful experience from it, we are fairly certain we don’t need to do this again for any future Oktoberfest visits. We know what to expect a bit more. We would more likely attend during mid-week, when you can walk into these large tents and find available seats easily. See the photo I shared, from opening weekend Sunday morning — over 1M folks attended opening weekend. So. Many. People. We can make our own hotel reservations and now have a sense of where’s safe to stay.
6.) The beers inside the tents are priced at a premium. €15 per 1 liter maß. You can buy a 0.5L bottle of beer outside the gates at a convenience store or grocery store for under €2. Not quite as good as the fresh drafts, but still better than most American beer, amirite? It’s just a way to save a little money.
7.) There is an art and a science to taking care of your servers when at the tents and biergartens. Be patient, and be kind. Pay cash. Tip the waitstaff well, especially inside the tents, where there is some sort of setup where the waitstaff pays at the tap for the beers they’re serving, then charges us customers at the tables. Pay right away (the waitstaff will make sure of that). Dave and I have stories of both being treated poorly by waitstaff (due to my visible impatience, a somewhat embarrassing story for another time), and also being treated well…the sweetest gentleman helped Dave bypass a velvet rope to join our group at a prime biergarten location.
8.) “Do I need a dirndl or lederhosen?” Short answer, “No”. Longer answer? Well…look at the photo. It’s fun to have, not certainly not a requirement to have a great time. Dave and I have each had one outfit for several years, Dave got a 2nd outfit last year, and then bought a lovely vest at a shop this past weekend to help mix up the look some. I bought a 2nd dirndl — the green one — just before this trip.
9.) As a corollary to #8 above…”Is one dirndl/lederhosen enough for a multi-day visit?” I think so. I’d only recommend multiples of the shirts you’re wearing UNDERNEATH. The white cotton blouses for the women (available on Amazon), the collared shirts the mens’ outfits have. The tents are HOT with thousands of people. I sweat quite a bit and the cotton shirts underneath will get quite ripe. You can even wear a t-shirt underneath and get away with it. Lots of folks did that.
That’s enough for now. If you’ve made it this far, I applaud you, lol.