Oktoberfest Munich is the world’s biggest folk festival, organized over 16 days from late September to early October.
The festival, which has over time became one of the most popular events in Germany, is organized at Theresienwiese, a field near Munich Hauptbahnhof.
Annually, some 6 million visitors from around the world take part in the Oktoberfest festivities in Munich.
Germany, in fact, has several similar Oktoberfest’s …
…including the famous Oktoberfest Hannover (oktoberfest-hannover.de).
PHOTO: An aerial view to Oktoberfest festivities 2006 at the Theresienwiese. Theresienwiese covers an area of 42 hectares (103 acres), and adjacent to it, to the west, you’ll find a monumental statue,Bavaria…and on the northern corner, St. Paul’s church.
PHOTO: Theresienwiese outside of the Oktoberfest weeks, as seen from next to the Bavaria statue. Other uses for the square include Tollwood Winter Festival (www.tollwood.de), offering circus, cabaret shows, and varietee performances.
Munich Oktoberfest is normally organized over 16 days, up to the first Sunday in October (including that day).
However, if that first Sunday is 1st of October, the festivities end on the 3rd of October.
Oktoberfest, as a festival, is best-known for servings of beer, but you can also order local food at the festival restaurants, including:
- Hendl (chicken),
- Schweinsbraten (fried pork),
- Steckerlfisch (grilled fish on a stick),
- Würstl (Bavarian sausages), and
- Brezn (local variety of pretzels).
The first Oktoberfest was organized in 1810, to celebrate the wedding between Crown-Prince Ludwig and Princess Theresia (after whom the Oktoberfest square has been named).
Oktoberfest became an annual event from 1819, and in 1835, a parade was added to it, to commemorate the festival’s origins, a royal wedding.
Over 8,000 people take part in the parade each time, with most of the participants being Bavarians, dressed in traditional costumes.
Oktoberfest Munich
Address: Bavariaring 10, 80336 München, Germany
Facebook: Facebook.com/Oktoberfest
Official website: Muenchen.de/Oktoberfest
- starts from Maximilian Strasse,
- going through Munich’s city center, and
- ending on the Oktoberfest festival area.
To plan your visit to Oktoberfest, the world’s biggest ‘Volksfest’ (“folk festival”), a good resource is the official website, at www.oktoberfest.de.