Our first day in Germany was a whirlwind. We landed in Munich at 7:40 am and as soon as we grabbed our bags and a coffee, we were off to the fest. We stopped by a nearby shop to buy a dirndl for me and lederhosen for the guys, and then walked a few blocks to the festival.
We found a beer tent at 11 am and immediately searched for a table. Luckily a table full of elderly German men and women allowed us to sit at their table with them and we began drinking!
Each beer is about 1.5 liters and at Oktoberfest, they add more alcohol to the beer. Suggestion #1 for anyone attending is have a solid meal before going or plan to buy food at the fest. You’re going to need some food in your stomach to soak up the alcohol! We went through two pretzels the size of my head (that were delicious!) while we were at the first beer tent.
We stayed at the first tent until we were kicked out at 4:30 because someone had reserved our table. By this time, we’d been drinking since 11:30 and had made friends with some German college students who were very kind. We sang “Ein Prosit” at least 12 times by then (we started to lose track) and we had drank about 3 liters of beer. It was sooooo much fun! Suggestion #2 is don’t be afraid to make friends! We couldn’t understand anything the elderly German men and women were saying to us (and vice versa), but we still sang along with them and said, “Prost!” as we clinked beer mugs and laughed. The college students were pretty fluent in English, so we had a lot of fun with them too. You will be in close proximity to others so if you have issues with that sort of thing, don’t bother with the beer tents. Suggestion #3 is if you’re bringing a purse, bring something small that you can wear across your body. You’ll be hip to hip with the person sitting next to you so you’ll want something small.
The band at the first beer tent was awesome! They even played songs like “YMCA” and “Sweet Caroline”, and it was fun to watch all the German people sing along and dance. The later it got in the day, the more people sang and danced.
The second beer tent we went to was a little more rowdy than the first. People were standing on the tables and dancing, and the band was playing more upbeat music. It was a ton of fun! We couldn’t find a seat at this one because it was dinnertime and most of the tables were reserved at that time, but we found standing room, ordered some beers, and had a good time!
We finally began walking back to our hotel at 6:30 pm. In total, we each drank a little over a gallon of beer and we were feeling it! We very carefully walked back to our hotel and crashed. Feeling drunk that night and slightly hungover the next day was totally worth the fun we had at the fest! I wish I could go back every year!
Suggestion #4: Don’t wear anything that can’t get beer on it. The white blouse from my dirndl was soaked in beer (from myself and (mostly) others), and I got tons of beer on my shoes too.
Suggestion #5: Speaking of shoes, wear comfortable shoes. You might not be able to get a table so you’ll end up standing the whole time. You’ll thank me later.
Suggestion #6: Bring change. You’ll need to pay anywhere between 20-50 cent Euro to use the restroom at the fest.
Suggestion #7: Go all in. If you’re going to go to Oktoberfest, get a dirndl and/or lederhosen. You’ll fit right in and you’ll have so much fun!
Suggestion #8: Carry cash (and bring more than you think you’ll need). Most of the beer tents will only accept Euro so bring dat cash!
Suggestion #9: Arrive early. Don’t worry about being bored. Get there early, eat breakfast and have a beer with it, watch some people sing and dance, eat and drink some more, learn the words to German songs and sing along, meet new people, and eat and drink some more! Before you know it, the beer tents will be closing and you’ll have had an amazingly fun day. The earlier you get there, the more likely you’ll be to get a spot at a table. However, don’t be surprised if you end up getting kicked out of a table for a reservation like us!
Suggestion #10: Enjoy yourself! Oktoberfest was one of the funnest things I’ve ever done and I would highly recommend it!
wmbtm 