I’ll be honest with you – I didn’t even want to mention Oktoberfest right off the bat. To do that is to do an injustice to Stuttgart, whose Cannstatter Volksfest is something completely different in its own right.
But…
You mention beer festivals, held in September/October, and the name will inevitably come up. People will ask you to compare the two, whether you want to or not. I myself was guilty of making comparisons during my two days at the Stuttgart Beer Festival (its alternative, and easier-to-pronounce name) – which was not difficult to do, considering I’d had such a blast at Oktoberfest two years ago.
The Cannstatter Volksfest is the world’s second largest beer festival after Oktoberfest, founded only eight years after its larger counterpart and starts one week later than the Munich festival each year. Which means that, of course, there are going to be similarities.
Ultimately, my experience could be summed up by that famous South East Asian quote: “Same same, but different”.
Sure, there’s beer, and beer tents. There’s dancing on benches. There’s dirndls and lederhosen. There’s rides and roast chickens.
But Stuttgart is different (and in some ways, dare I say, better) than Oktoberfest for many reasons, which became apparent to me over the course of my two days’ visit.
The Festival Ground
The festival ground is placed in an area of the city known as the Wasen (also used as another nickname for the festival), next to the Neckar River. This means that, not only is it surrounded by really pretty scenery, but it’s also very easy to get to on the public transport system.
The most famous symbol of the festival is its colourful fruit column, located right near the main entrance. A huge wooden pillar, it gets decorated each year with real fruit and vegetables to commemorate the original harvest festival of 1818 that the whole event is based upon. Unsurprisingly, it’s also a great meeting point should you drink one too many steins of beer and lose your friends.
As we were there on weekdays, the grounds themselves weren’t very crowded at all, and it was much nicer and calmer walking around than it had been on a sunny public holiday in Oktoberfest two years previously. However, we heard from several people that the weekends (and public holidays) can get ridiculously busy, making it much less serene than we experienced.
The Beer Tents
I’m going to write a separate post about the beer tents and their individual atmospheres, so I won’t harp on about it too much here. But there are seven large beer tents on the festival ground, all of different sizes and serving beer from several local breweries, all brewed especially for the event.
What I particularly liked about the tents in Stuttgart was that, even if the tables have a reservation for later in the afternoon, you are free to sit at them during the day, until the reservation time. It’s usually never possible to do this at Oktoberfest unless you get there at around 10am, because the tents fill so quickly and it’s a little stressful queuing and trying to find a seat. Again, this was a weekday, so during the weekend, you may still have to get there early to get a good seat.
Each tent is decorated in its own unique style, features its own house band or DJ and serves a ridiculous amount of roast chickens and pork knuckles.
Which leads me on to…
The Food
I could be wrong, but it felt to me as though the menus inside the tents were bigger and more diverse at the Stuttgart Beer Festival than they had been in Munich.
There are several local specialities from the region served here, including maultaschen – a pasta dumpling filled with minced meat, onions and spices which Scott sampled and was delicious.
Alongside the usual roast chicken, there were also burgers and vegetarian options like kasespaetzle and dessert options like dampfnudel (very similar to the yeast dumplings I talked about in my Celle Christmas market post).
Of course, you don’t have to eat inside the tents because there are multiple food stalls outside on the festival grounds and on our last evening, we stumbled onto a delicious stall in the Alpine Village serving hot smoked salmon, so of course we had to partake.
The Rides
The Canstatter Volksfest boasts more rides than any other volksfest (“people’s festival”) in Germany, making it the perfect destination for families. The festival grounds are crowned at either end by two large ferris wheels – one open and one enclosed – and they offer a great view out across the festival and the surrounding countryside.
The number of rides definitely give it more of a fairground feel than Oktoberfest, but this isn’t a bad thing – in fact, if you don’t like beer, or are looking for even more fun to pack into your day, then they’re the perfect way to spend a couple of hours. We also took a ride on the Haunted Mansion, which was appropriately cheesy and old-fashioned – the exact reason I love haunted mansion rides at theme parks. A couple of other rides we had our eye on but sadly didn’t make it on to were the Crazy Mouse (again, a staple) and the Wellenflug (the swing seats that rise into the air).
But don’t be fooled, some of the rides here are huge and just as big as rides you’d find at a theme park. In fact, The Hangover, an insanely big vertical-drop ride, is the largest ride of its kind to be found at a temporary festival like this. Wusses – you’ve be warned.
The Attire
It has to be said that less people wear traditional trachten (dirndls and lederhosen) at the Stuttgart Beer Festival than they do at Oktoberfest. This is a) because that kind of traditional dress is not as commonly worn in this part of the country at any time of year, not just during festival time and b) the festival is still majorly filled with locals, many of whom are there to just enjoy the music, the food and the atmosphere.
Having said, at least half of the people I saw during my time there were wearing some kind of trachten, even if it was just a check shirt or some leather shorts and it definitely seems to be popular with younger generations (inside the party tents, it seemed that almost everyone was wearing it). So, much like Oktoberfest, I have no doubt that it will become ever more popular and, of course, don’t be put off wearing your own traditional dress because you’ll be in good company!
In the end, I loved the Stuttgart Beer Festival just as much as Oktoberfest, but for completely different reasons. As we were there during the week, the whole visit was stress-free and didn’t involve queuing for tents and wandering aimlessly looking for a seat. The Alpine Village is a unique section of the festival and provides a relaxing little haven with its own beer garden and food stalls, while the huge funfair is perfect for families and teenagers. If you’re looking to drink, dance and party, you can still do it here in bucketloads, but you need to visit fast, before it becomes too popular!
Great article. Very accurate!