Oktoberfest, Munich

...200 carnie businesses at the Oktoberfest, more than 80 of them fun rides. I will, however, only describe some of them as of course I couldn't give them all a try.

Modern rides:

_Top Spin Fresh_
My favourite ride - it consists of a passenger platform that is suspended between two arms which are turned by motors so that the platform will rotate. If you don't want to get completely wet you should try to get a seat ...
...different swing carousels on the Oktoberfest, the best known one probably the "Wellenflug". The rides last between 3 and 5 minutes and cost around 3 € (ca. £ 2.45) - something I loved as a child and still enjoy!

_Big Wheel_
Of course with its height of only 50m the Big Wheel that we have on the Oktoberfest cannot keep up with the world's other big wheels like the Beijing Great Wheel or the London Eye - but it nevertheless ... more

As I live in Munich, I know all aspects of the Oktoberfest…but I might as well be a bit biased :o)

The Oktoberfest is the world's biggest fair and is vernacularly called Wiesn. It takes place on the Theresienwiese near Munich's city centre every year in the two last weeks of September and the first October week, so this year it will take place from September 20th until October 5th 2008.
To date the Oktoberfest has been divided into two main streets: one for the fun rides and the other one for the beer tents. This year, however, the town Munich decided to add another street in the hope of straightening out the crowds a bit.
There are many great attractions that draw in approximately 6 million people from all over the world every single year:

Fun rides

There are about 200 carnie businesses at the Oktoberfest, more than 80 of them fun rides. I will, however, only describe some of them as of course I couldn't give them all a try.

Modern rides:

Top Spin Fresh
My favourite ride - it consists of a passenger platform that is suspended between two arms which are turned by motors so that the platform will rotate. If you don't want to get completely wet you should try to get a seat in the second row, as there you will be able to hold off most of the water which comes spraying into your face out of a cascade on the ground. The ride lasts about 2 minutes (far too short if you ask me) and costs 4.50 € (ca. £ 3.70).

Free Fall
If my friends hadn't forced me, I never would have done this one, because I was just too scared. I'm sure all of you know what a Free Fall tower is, so I'll keep it short and sweet: first people are launched up the tower, then they suddenly fall and, as the seats are arranged around the tower and their feet are hanging in the air, get a free fall experience. The ride lasts about 3 minutes and costs 5.50 € (ca. £ 4.50) - I won't do it again!

Olympia Looping
The Olympia Looping is a rollercoaster with 5 loops that look like the Olympic rings. It might be fun for some people, and I am certainly no coward, but there were some things that really kept me from going a second time: the body restraints seemed loose and weren't restraining at all, the seats were bouncing from one side to another - which is, to a certain extent, normal as the ride is quite fast but nevertheless frightened me a bit - and, last but not least, the loops that were too close to being circular for my taste. Normally I really like rollercoasters in all their variety, but this one was just too much - call me a coward if you want :o)

EuroStar
EuroStar is an inverted rollercoaster, which means that the trains run under the tracks so that the passengers are hanging in their seats instead of having the track under their feet. I really enjoyed this one, although I always have to convince myself to ride it since there has been a rear-end collision accident in which 26 people were injured. EuroStar has four overhead elements: one loop, two back-to-back corkscrews and a chain lift hill.

More traditional rides:

Chair-O-Planes
There are at least three different swing carousels on the Oktoberfest, the best known one probably the "Wellenflug". The rides last between 3 and 5 minutes and cost around 3 € (ca. £ 2.45) - something I loved as a child and still enjoy!

Big Wheel
Of course with its height of only 50m the Big Wheel that we have on the Oktoberfest cannot keep up with the world's other big wheels like the Beijing Great Wheel or the London Eye - but it nevertheless offers a great view over the whole fair and some parts of Munich in the background.

Other attractions:

Schichtl
The "Schichtl" is part and parcel of the Oktoberfest since 1869. It's basically a small theatre where the audience gets to see a unique assortment of attractions - from political satire to shocking onstage beheadings - playacted, naturally.

Booths
A very important element of the Oktoberfest certainly is the large number of sales booths, where you can get everything you need to remind yourself of your visit to the Oktoberfest: gingerbread hearts in all sizes with numerous different Bavarian sayings on them, cuddly toys, Oktoberfest hats (from traditional Bavarian ones to more crazy ones like the cow hats), T-Shirts and sweaters and of course the beer mug with the official Oktoberfest motive of the year printed on it.

Beer Tents

Opening hours
Weekends: 9.00 - 23.30 (service stops at 22.30)
On weekdays: 10.00 - 23.30 (service stops at 22.30)

The situation on weekends of course is much worse than on weekdays, as then all the people from Munich and the surrounding areas can go to the Oktoberfest as they don't have to work. So if you want to get a seat in a tent, but don't have a reservation, you should be there at 8.45 am at the latest, as there are always so many people queuing up in front of the entrances that at 9.00 am, when the tent is opened, all run inside like maniacs and try to occupy a table. Once the crowds are inside the tent is immediately closed and left thus for at least half an hour, in which the people already inside who didn't manage to get a table, can look whether they find a place somewhere. After some time they will either decide to let a few more people in or the tent remains closed for the rest of the day, which means that the chances to get inside are extremely low - if you decide to wait nevertheless, you have to be really patient. And don't yell at or try to discuss with the door guards - they can do just as little as you.
If somebody from your group managed to get into the tent and has a table, there is one last slight chance that you might get in: tell him to ask the waiter/waitress that is responsible for his table to go and get you in. But that only works if the waiter/waitress is in a good mood (which is hardly ever the case), if you ask really friendly and if the door guards haven't already been given the order to consequently keep the doors shut for the rest of the day. Furthermore, contacting someone at the Oktoberfest is not exactly a very easy task - phoning is almost impossible, as the one in the tent doesn't understand what you're saying and vice versa and sending text messages often takes too long.
That actually is the only thing that I find really annoying - if you want to get a decent place somewhere, no matter in which tent, you always have to get up so early. Most of the people I know (me included) meet in front of the entrance at about 7.00 am in the morning. But it's worth it, believe me!
For people with reservations of course the situation is a lot more relaxed. But if you want to reserve boxes you'll have to be really early, as the tables that can be booked (which of course is only a small number and in the majority of cases arranged at the sides and at the top of the tent, not in the centre where the party is at its peak) are booked by November or early December.
On weekdays the situation can be a bit more relaxed, but even then the tents normally close at about 14.00 or 15.00 pm due to congestion and if you want to get a table for you and your friends you should be at the tent at 10.00 am or shortly afterwards.

One litre Oktoberfest beer will cost between 7.70 and 8.10 € (ca. £ 6.50) this year and as every year each brewery brews special Oktoberfest beer, which has between 5,5% and 6,5% abv.
If you want to order a beer but don't have a place, ask someone who's sitting on a table to order one for you - you won't get it if you're standing in the aisle! And you should also be careful that you're not in the way of the waiters/waitresses - if the security guards see you standing in the way and they're in no good mood (which is the case very often) you might even get thrown out of the tent!

Apart from beer and soft drinks you can also buy cigarettes and cigars from people going around the tent with vendor's trays and you are also offered a big variety of food inside the beer tents: you can choose from a large variety of Bavarian delicacies like roast pork, the famous Bavarian white sausages, sauerkraut, roast chicken, Brezn and so on.

Another aspect that might be important to some of you (well, it certainly is to me) is that, although the Bavarian government originally planned it, there will be no smoking ban in the beer tents this year. In Germany the smoking ban in restaurants, bars and other public places was introduced on January 1st 2008 and so they of course wanted to push it through for the Oktoberfest as well, but in the end they decided to wait another year, because they realised that the big preparations that would have to be made in order to make sure the ban is obeyed would have been infeasible in that short amount of time.

In 2005 the "quiet Wiesn" was introduced, which means that until 6.00 pm the brass band is not allowed to play louder than a certain level (85 decibels). This concept was developed to make the Oktoberfest friendlier for families and older people, but in my opinion it is quite useless, as older people and families rarely visit the beer tents anyway since some years, as they are always so crowded.

The toilets in the tents, especially the girl's ones, are mostly very crowded, but if you go to a door guard and tell him that you need to go to the toilet, he gives you a stamp so that you can go outside and will be able to get back in a few minutes later.

There are 14 big tents at the Oktoberfest, but I'm once again only writing about those I've actually been to:

Schottenhamel
The Schottenhamel is the biggest tent on the Oktoberfest where mostly the young people from Munich meet and also the one where the tapping takes place every year. The mayor of Munich, Christian Ude, will tap the first beer barrel exactly at noon on the first day of the Oktoberfest and confirm this with the well known words: "O'zapft is!'. Only after the tapping all tents are allowed to serve beer.
Seats: 6 000 inside, 4 000 beer garden
Brewery: Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu

Winzerer Fähndl
My favourite - there are two characteristics about it: one certainly is the big tower with a rotating, 6m high Paulaner beer mug at its top, which makes this place a popular meeting point. The other one is the fact that the Winzerer Fähndl is lovingly decorated and that the Bavarian "Gemuetlichkeit" is something that is very important here. Also, it is not very unlikely to meet some members of my favourite football team (FC Bayern München) here.
Seats: 8 450 inside, 2 450 beer garden
Brewery: Paulaner

Hacker
This tent is probably best known for its slogan "Bavarian Heaven" and the decoration really sticks to that slogan: the roof and the walls are painted with blue sky and some clouds and makes the visitor truly feel like he is in heaven. This year the owners of the Hacker have decided to take an initial step into another direction: instead of the typical brass band music they have engaged a Rock 'n' Roll band to play every evening.
Seats: 6 900 inside, 2 400 beer garden
Brewery: Hacker-Pschorr

Hippodrom
Particularly popular with the younger people is the nice champagne-bar and the fact that you will find more celebrities here than in any other beer tent at the Oktoberfest. For my taste the people here are a bit over the top but if you're single maybe you should try it out - the Hippodrom is said to be the tent with the highest flirt factor!
Seats: 3 300 inside, 1 000 beer garden
Brewery: Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu

Augustiner
The Augustiner tent is said to be the one with the greatest hospitality and friendliest employees, which in my opinion applies for the waiters and waitresses as well as for the door guards - actually, they are the only ones that might be open to reason when it comes to getting inside the overcrowded tent.
Seats: 6 000 inside, 2 500 beer garden
Brewery: Augustiner

Löwenbräu
The Löwenbräu tent is on the one hand particularly well known for the huge lion (4,5 m) that is watching over the entrance and roars at the crowd every few minutes but also for the extreme kindness of its employees.
Seats: 8 573 inside
Brewery: Löwenbräu

Weinzelt
For all those that don't like beer or have had enough of it during the last days: from nine o'clock on (the tent is opened until 1.00) you can choose between an extensive range of wines, sparkling wine and champagne and before that they serve delicious wheat beer!
Seats: 2 500 inside

There are also some smaller beer tents at the Oktoberfest that are little-known but nevertheless important for the Oktoberfest and its special air, as there you can get Bavarian delicacies that you maybe won't find in the bigger tents. Also, when all the other tents are closed due to congestion you might find a place somewhere in a smaller tent and eventually be able to spend a nice evening at the Wiesn.

Accommodations

Of course during the Oktoberfest all the hotels, youth hostels and camping sites are fully booked. You should make sure you have an accommodation at least 9 months before the next Oktoberfest. Of course you might be able to find some accommodation somewhere later, but if you want to live in a decent hotel or youth hostel, you should take the trouble of booking as early as possible.
My tip: The Tent
Also known as "Kapuzinerhölzl", The Tent is an extremely cheap and, in my opinion, nice place to stay for backpackers, interrailers and young people from all over the world. It is located in a quiet park area and consists of one large tent with bunk beds in it and a small camp site in the back where you can stay with your tents. It's very close to the city centre and to go to the Oktoberfest you'll need no more than 25 minutes at utmost. I live only five minutes away from them and so far I've only met really nice people there.

Getting there

Once you've arrived in Munich, the quickest and most prudent way to go to the Oktoberfest certainly is by using the public transportation network (MVV). Although the trains, buses, subways and also the stations (particularly the subway station Theresienwiese) might be overcrowded as of course everyone goes to the Wiesn using the public transportation vehicles, it still is the best solution - and by increasing the frequency of the busses and subway trains the MVV knows how to get the crowds under control, too!

And if you've really made it until here - congratulations, you're done now :o)
Thanks for reading!
Sarah 

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