48 Hours at Oktoberfest: Day One

Most people aren’t as crazy as Scott and me. Most people would not book return flights from Istanbul to Munich just so that they could spend 48 hours at Oktoberfest.

But that’s exactly what we did. After missing the festival last year while we were in Belgrade (and seriously considering the return flight option that time also) we were desperate to try and get there this year. It would be Scott’s fourth visit to Oktoberfest but my first.

It was definitely on my life list to visit Oktoberfest and the night before we flew out I was so excited I could hardly sleep. After nearly two years of travelling, there aren’t many times when I can say that I’m that excited. Sure, I still love to explore new places, but when it becomes routine or you are discovering places you know nothing about beforehand, it can be hard to muster too much excitement until you get there.

With Oktoberfest I had read, heard and seen so much over the years that I couldn’t help but be excited about what was awaiting me.

Oktoberfest Munich – Not Just About the Beer

We had made sure to book for two week days, knowing that weekends would be far too busy. Unfortunately we had not realised that the first day we were there was German Unity Day (a public holiday), meaning that EVERYONE was off work and the shops were closed. Big bummer. Also, it was a glorious sunny day. It seemed as though the whole of Germany headed to Oktoberfest that day.

I had wanted to buy a dirndl but as all of the shops were closed, this proved to be a no-go. I managed to get one from an alpine outlet store located right near the train station, which I ended up loving and wasn’t as expensive as I would have imagined.

It was funny to take the U-Bahn wearing this traditional dress and see so many other people wearing dirndls and lederhosen like it was the most natural thing in the world. I felt as if I was part of an elite club.

My first impressions as we rounded the street corner and entered the festival was how huge it was. I was also struck by the number of rides there. It was almost like walking into a theme park (and the crowds reflected that, too). I had heard that Oktoberfest was largely for families and I can now see why – there were fairground and theme park-style rides, games and plenty of food stalls. It isn’t just about the beer.

We went into a few tents and they were all so busy that we couldn’t find a seat anywhere. Eventually, after wandering around for about an hour we managed to bag two seats in one of the outdoor beer gardens (one of the benefits of it being a sunny day) and order some beers and half a roast chicken.

After a couple of hours we realised that they had stopped letting people enter the tent because it was too full and so we hung around the side door for a while waiting to get in, because it was late afternoon and the band was really starting to liven up.

When we made it in, we managed to squeeze onto a table of German folks (you have to get used to having very little personal space at Oktoberfest) and stood up on the benches with everyone else, singing and dancing and clinking our huge beer glasses all night. We made friends with a local German couple who helped us try and learn some of the pop songs and I had so much fun.

Although I’m not sure I’ve ever had so much beer spilled over me before. I left with a pool of it in the bottom of my handbag. Funny thing is, you’re having such a good time that you really don’t mind!

We left by 8.30pm which seemed ridiculously early but we had been up since 4am that morning and considering we had been drinking steadily since lunchtime, I think it was pretty impressive. The tents themselves actually close around 10pm anyway, mainly to contain the craziness!

We headed back to our hotel on the outskirts of the city and feel soundly asleep, excited to make an earlier start the next morning.