We could have easily spent a few more days in Switzerland (wallets permitting!) but we were on a mission to make it to Oktoberfest.
I had more than a few concerns about getting into Oktoberfest. I tried to book tickets online but as we didn’t have a group of ten, we couldn’t. There were businesses selling tickets at huge prices but I was told that these are not authorised by Oktoberfest and did not guarantee you entry so I didn’t want to waste our money.
I looked online to see when the busiest times were and found that if we went before 12 noon, we had a better chance of being allowed in. I also read that people wearing lederhosen and dirdls had a better chance of getting in and, in fact, over 75% of people at Oktoberfest wear full traditional Bavarian outfits but we just didn’t have time to stop and buy outfits.
travelling to munich
The best we could do for time was to leave the hotel at 5.40am for the 6.10am train. That got us into Munich around 11.30am with the aim that we would be at Oktoberfest by 12.30pm.
We chose to stay in Hotel Concorde which was only 5 mins on the train from Munich’s main station to Munich Isator. The hotel was only a few minutes’ walk from the station and, as we found later, just a short walk from restaurants and cafes too.
We were in a hurry so we dropped our bags off and took the train to Theresienwiese station from the Lehel underground which was about 10 minutes away. It sounded like a complicated route of multiple trains and a walk to get there but in reality, all we had to do was follow the crowds, especially anyone dressed in a dirdl or lederhosen!
I was still nervous about being allowed in but it was actually easy. At the entrance, I asked if it was okay to come in and, with a very quick security check, we were all ushered in with smiles. Phew! I had envisaged coming all the way to Munich and missing out on Oktoberfest because they were full!
getting in to oktoberfest
I don’t think it is always as easy as it was for us. We went midweek on a Wednesday one week roughly before the end of Oktoberfest. If you want to go for the evening or on Friday and the weekend, it can be more difficult I believe. The best way to ensure you can get in is to pre-purchase tickets with a table of ten, even getting together with other people you don’t really know to buy your tickets together.
armbrustschutzen tent
Once inside, we then had to try to get into a tent without a reservation. The first tent we tried was Armbrustschutzen where we were told that we could have a table at the back until later in the day when dinner reservations would start. That totally suited us so we bought our mandatory meal vouchers for two litres of beer and one chicken each.
Actually, although there is a mandatory ‘beer and chicken’ rule, you can choose other meals from the menu and there is wine in addition to beer. Karl and I chose sausages and mash instead of chicken which was quite tasty. Of course, it comes with the required sauerkraut which Karl won’t touch but then we were in Bavaria.
This tent is apparently known for its cross bow competition which started back in 1895. There were traditional Bavarian dancers and music playing so it didn’t take us long to get into the spirit of the festival. It was definitely a lively, loud and fun atmosphere right from the start and, although it was only 12.30pm, there were already completely drunk people falling all over the place, one of which was quite a young teenager with his much more sober dad – probably he should have had a little more supervision!
We had a lovely Bavarian waitress who got Karl, Nick and Sam steins of beer and Alex and I had a giant mug of beer each! We both decided to pace our drinking so didn’t drink it all before moving on to the next tent but the others weren’t quite as sensible as us…
Soon the ladies selling hats started coming round and we couldn’t resist. We were getting quite a reputation for picking up hats wherever we went and we weren’t going to miss out on a traditional Bavarian hat which is pretty much like a felt trilby.
Alex declined but the rest of us bought hats and feathers which made up for our lack of lederhosen and a dirdl.
fischer-vroni tent
After finishing our meal, we headed for our second tent, Fischer-Vroni. This one was smaller, in fact it is the smallest of the large tents, and it was a lot quieter. The waiter was a bit gruff when Alex and I ordered wine – in fact, I will go so far to say that he was appalled that we weren’t drinking beer! The entertainment in this tent was coming from a boat and there was charm about it. It is known for its seafood (hence the name Fischer) and apparently it is favoured by the gay community. I think it would be fair to say that the atmosphere of this tent was less exciting than the first tent but I think it did have a bit more class than the first tent – if that is what you are looking for at Oktoberfest!
By the time we were ready to leave, I was encouraging Sam who was only 17 to abandon his beer so that he didn’t have too much before starting another in the next tent. Nick and Karl were not as caring as me though and encouraged him to drink up, which of course he did…
hofbrau tent
Our last tent was a big one – Hofbrau. This tent can hold nearly 7,000 people inside and the atmosphere was loud and partying. Everyone had had a few drinks by now, although Alex and I were still relatively sober and trying our best to look after the others. It was fun though – different tables were chanting their country’s national songs (not exactly national anthems – more like Footy songs!) and we joined in with an ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie – Oi, Oi, Oi!). Yes we were getting loud the more we drank but at least we were still on our feet!
Having said that, it was now nearing 4.30pm and I realised that we should probably stop drinking – especially the boys. We left the tent and made our way through the stalls where Nick bought a lederhosen tee shirt and Sam , Nick and Karl bought beer steins. Although Sam can’t quite remember…
Upon getting back to the hotel, Karl, Nick and Sam all fell straight to sleep. Alex and I took a walk into the town and ended up picking up some food at McDonalds.
Poor Alex then spent the rest of the night cleaning up for Sam who was sick all over the floor, many times. In fact, he was still sick all the next day as we made our way to Austria. Poor boy, he should have had much more responsible parents and brothers to look after him…
It was a lovely amazing day though and it just shows that parents and their teenage/young adult sons can have a good time together at a party event like Oktoberfest – especially if there is a lot of beer and wine involved!