Munich - Oktoberfest 2015

tempnam

Looking at heading over to this for 2 nights next year with a group of the lads.

I'm finding it hard to find hotels with any availability. Am I trying to book too far in advance?

Also, any recommendations?

Bear in mind that this is a group of 6 - 8 lads, early 30's - all just looking for somewhere central to sleep each night, and a shower in the morning! No other requirements really!

munchkin_utd

theres plenty of availability, but you do need to be aware that there just arent any bargain hotels anywhere central for the Oktoberfest, especially at the weekend.
On the other hand, if you are prepared to go during the week, then you can get deals like say the Ibis Budget north for 108/ night for a double, so €54PP per night
Its right by an underground station which has you straight to the Götheplatz stop for the Oktoberfest in 10 minutes.
Check www.hrs.com and http://www.accorhotels.com/ for loads of options.

keithclancy

Have you considered Stuttgart ?

http://www.stgt.com/stuttgart/volkfste.htm

Much better than Munich IMO and way less touristy.

Its a bit cheaper, the accommodation problems aren't as bad and this craic of having to have a seat reservation to get a beer isn't necessary.

Some reviews on Tripadvisor also
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g187291-d2275103-r123016893-Neckar_Park-Stuttgart_Baden_Wurttemberg.html

tempnam

Booked this a few months back.

6 of us going for 3 days (2 nights) Friday to Sunday.

Managed to get flights & hotel for just over €200 per person which I think was good....

We're staying about 4km southeast of the city though.... According to Google Maps there are a number of Tram options to get us there... but they all seem to take about a half hour - for a 4km journey? - Is this right?

Would we be quicker walking in and out to the festival. If so, anybody know of any areas to be avoided (when heading back to the hotel at night) or is at all relatively safe?

Thanks.

munchkin_utd

cant say unless you give a hint at where youre staying

chewed

tempnam wrote: »

Booked this a few months back.

6 of us going for 3 days (2 nights) Friday to Sunday.

Managed to get flights & hotel for just over €200 per person which I think was good....

We're staying about 4km southeast of the city though.... According to Google Maps there are a number of Tram options to get us there... but they all seem to take about a half hour - for a 4km journey? - Is this right?

Would we be quicker walking in and out to the festival. If so, anybody know of any areas to be avoided (when heading back to the hotel at night) or is at all relatively safe?

Thanks.

Munich is VERY safe in general, although I'm not sure what it's like in and around the Oktoberfest (with a lot of drunken tourists hobbling around)! Where exactly are you staying?

munchkin_utd

chewed wrote: »

Munich is VERY safe in general, although I'm not sure what it's like in and around the Oktoberfest (with a lot of drunken tourists hobbling around)! Where exactly are you staying?

indeed, missed the safe thing.
em, I can list a ream of towns and cities in Ireland which you'd be infinitely more likely to end up in trouble in than Munich.

The place is currently coming down with asylum seekers (35,000 since january, and Ireland finds 500 too much to accept....) and whilst the odd one acts the bollix, the other 99.99% are docile and careful not to do anything that'd get them deported!
There are definitley more incidents now than at any stage in the past decade, but its still so low level that you'd probably have more trouble in Temple bar in a weekend than all of Munich in a year

tempnam

We're beside the tram stop at St. Martins Platz. Not too far from the city centre or Okroberfest.

chewed

You might be better off walking to Untersbergstr. U-Bahn station and getting a U2 train to Haubtbahnhoff. From there you can get a U4/U5 to Theresienwiese which is near the Oktoberfest venue.

munchkin_utd

tempnam wrote: »

We're beside the tram stop at St. Martins Platz. Not too far from the city centre or Okroberfest.

theres indeed a heap of options.

My favourite option (to get to the oktoberfest) would be to walk down St Martins strasse to Silberhornstrasse and get the bus 58 straight to Oktoberfest. Its only 10min on the bus and the most direct way.

Alternatively get the underground U2 to the Hauptbahnhof and walk the 10min.
There is a connection with U4/U5 but it can be insanely crowded and the train may even skip the station, leaving you no better off than just walking from Hauptbahnhof.
Should you take the U4/ U5 underground the 1 stop to theresienstr then you can get out at the back of the platform to St Pauls Platz, and that actually has you to "Bier strasse " quicker than the main ubahn exit which is just a balls at the best of times with idiots and zombies (and the odd drunkard) standing about blocking the way.

The tram of course can be used to get to an underground station, or indeed all the way to town, but that bus would be quicker. The only thing might be that the journey on the tram to town is quite pleasant so worth doing one of the days nevertheless.

To get an idea of what goes where, heres a map with all busses, trams etc marked on it.
If Dublin had similar it'd be brilliant. For Galway and cork too. (of course Irish civil servants all drive cars to their free city centre parking spaces so such a good idea wouldnt be aparant to them)
https://www.mvg.de/dam/mvg/plaene/stadt-regionalnetzplaene/vl-stadt.pdf

tempnam

would it be as easy to just walk to/from Oktoberfest from where we're staying? on the map it's only 4km... bout a half hour/40 min walk?

munchkin_utd

tempnam wrote: »

would it be as easy to just walk to/from Oktoberfest from where we're staying? on the map it's only 4km... bout a half hour/40 min walk?

but sure thats my point with the bus.

If you walk a few min in direction of the fest, then you are simply following the route of the bus so you may as well get on it seeing as you're going that way.

If its a cost thing (which is insane seeing as the Oktoberfest is the ultimate drain of cash, so the only cheap way to do it is to avoid it) then you can get a short stretch ticket for 4 stops for €1.30 which would get you down the hill, across the river and up the hill again.

It looks like you'd only get as far as Kapuzinerplatz on that ticket, but theres a great microbrewery with beergarden there so might not be the worst idea for a warm up beer !

chewed

It could be 40 min there, but 40 hours back, depending on how many steins you've guzzled!

tempnam

Does anyone know if a reservation is required for the beer tents?

I was there a couple of years ago as part of a group of 4 and there were massive queues outside each tent on the Saturday afternoon.

It looked like we would be waiting for a long time or else not even make it in to a tent but then we seemed to have gotten lucky. One of the servers/waitresses came out of the tent and escorted us past the crowd and through security and led us into a tent.

We were all a bit shocked at what happened, and I know it's very unlikely to happen a 2nd time!

So this year there's 6 of us going... arriving Friday morning so we'll be there Friday - Sunday. Will we need (or be able) to make a reservation for any of the tents?

munchkin_utd

theres no chance of a reservation, literally none. If you applied in the spring you'd be very unlikely to succeed (as renewals from the year before mean the tent is booked out almost before reservations are released) but at this stage its not worth thinking about. Theres waiting lists and you'll be at the back of it, if even they take your details.

still, thats not a problem as theres 10s of thousands of non reserved seats and 10s of thousands of unreserved beergarden seats.

If there on Friday you should be ok before 3pm (and be sure to get in when doors are open, as they do close for the changeover of reservations and may not open again till late evening).
The Oide Wiesn is more laid back. Its like a museum area with 3 or 4 beertents and a couple of euro admission charge basically to fund the exhibits. Even on a Friday its not too crowded
Saturday is a balls. I avoid it.
Sunday is more relaxed and no real problems getting into a tent. I go with the kids 2 or 3 of the Sunday mornings and not a bother. Wouldnt even contemplate going on a Saturday

keithclancy

tempnam wrote: »

Does anyone know if a reservation is required for the beer tents?

I was there a couple of years ago as part of a group of 4 and there were massive queues outside each tent on the Saturday afternoon.

It looked like we would be waiting for a long time or else not even make it in to a tent but then we seemed to have gotten lucky. One of the servers/waitresses came out of the tent and escorted us past the crowd and through security and led us into a tent.

We were all a bit shocked at what happened, and I know it's very unlikely to happen a 2nd time!

So this year there's 6 of us going... arriving Friday morning so we'll be there Friday - Sunday. Will we need (or be able) to make a reservation for any of the tents?

Do what the Germans do, find an empty seat, sit down and rotate the seat/seats between your group to order beer.

munchkin_utd

keithclancy wrote: »

Do what the Germans do, find an empty seat, sit down and rotate the seat/seats between your group to order beer.

but, on a Saturday getting into a tent that has doors shut is your main problem.

keithclancy

munchkin_utd wrote: »

but, on a Saturday getting into a tent that has doors shut is your main problem.

I would never go on a Weekend again ... it was horrible. :pac:

All of my workmates from Munich go on a week day.

keithclancy

keithclancy wrote: »

Have you considered Stuttgart ?

http://www.stgt.com/stuttgart/volkfste.htm

Much better than Munich IMO and way less touristy.

Its a bit cheaper, the accommodation problems aren't as bad and this craic of having to have a seat reservation to get a beer isn't necessary.

Thanks for that, could be a great trip and a lot more affordable!

munchkin_utd

Deleted User wrote: »

Thanks for that, could be a great trip and a lot more affordable!

after a few beers Stuttgart probably would be the same.
but in general theres simply no lack of Volksfests about Germany from the large in Munich or Stuttgart to the ones in Straubing, Rosenheim or Dachau which are a bit more chilled and very much a local affair.

or for instance the Kiliani (named after the saint from Mullagh in Cavan) begins in Würzburg today for the next 2 weeks.
http://www.bayern.by/kiliani-volksfest-in-wuerzburg
It gets about a million visitors over the 2 weeks, so whilst not quite the Oktoberfest, its still a busy wee festival !

heres a page with a whole heap of festivals of all sorts all round Bavaria.
http://www.bavaria.by/events-festivals-bavaria-germany
Inevitably most are an excuse to have a heap of beer !

tempnam

Well, our flights & hotel are booked since last year, and we're going Friday to Sunday so we're going to be there on a weekend so unfortunately we can't change that!

Any tips on which tents are more likely to be accessible on the Friday / Saturday without any reservation?

Bear in mind, we're going for the beer - but also for the atmosphere.... so don't necessarily just want to be sitting in some empty tent with nothing happening.... sure we could just pop down to the local boozer here in Ireland if we were going to do that!

munchkin_utd

the main thing at the weekend is to just get into a tent as thats the hardest hurdle.

On specific tents, possibly avoid the Augustiner main tent as it's more an old mans drinking tent so it doesnt get lively till about 7 or 8 (savage good beer though)
On the other hand, Hofbrau is the most touristly tent, which has its plusses and minuses. But its definitely the messiest tent.

Otherwise, not a fierce amount of difference to be honest with the rest.

tempnam

munchkin_utd wrote: »

the main thing at the weekend is to just get into a tent as thats the hardest hurdle.

On specific tents, possibly avoid the Augustiner main tent as it's more an old mans drinking tent so it doesnt get lively till about 7 or 8 (savage good beer though)
On the other hand, Hofbrau is the most touristly tent, which has its plusses and minuses. But its definitely the messiest tent.

Otherwise, not a fierce amount of difference to be honest with the rest.

Cheers for that.

I see earlier someone said to get there early on the Friday. We do arrive early in Munich on the Friday morning..... just on the logistics... Don't wanna arrive at the festival with bags. would prefer to check into the hotel & drop off bags first.... but most hotels don't allow check in until the afternoon.

So I assume we'd be OK to just drop off the bags at the hotel and then check in later in the day?

Also, if we were to do this, would there be any hassle checking in to the hotel if we arrived back steaming drunk???

munchkin_utd

tempnam wrote: »

Cheers for that.

I see earlier someone said to get there early on the Friday. We do arrive early in Munich on the Friday morning..... just on the logistics... Don't wanna arrive at the festival with bags. would prefer to check into the hotel & drop off bags first.... but most hotels don't allow check in until the afternoon.

So I assume we'd be OK to just drop off the bags at the hotel and then check in later in the day?

Also, if we were to do this, would there be any hassle checking in to the hotel if we arrived back steaming drunk???

most hotels would allow you to drop bags there unless it is a fawly towers type of place altogether.

What you could do is check-in at the hotel, i.e. fill out registration form with passport and whatnot, and pick up the key later when the room is ready to save confusion later.

This year at the fest they are very (i mean no exceptions) tight on allowing large bags into tents and also small backpacks arent allowed.

Getting to the fest by 2 or 3 should mean you are grand. If anything go for a proper feed somewhere else (even burger king or mc donalds at the station) if youve time and get in a base before heading to the fest and then youre bombproof for the evening.
And dont forget, the tents in general will start to close at 3.30 or 4 for a few hours for the change of reservation, so if you miss that window then it could be 7 to 8 before you get into a tent. Theres no lack of beer outside the tents anyhow so you wont go thirsty!

tempnam

munchkin_utd wrote: »

most hotels would allow you to drop bags there unless it is a fawly towers type of place altogether.

What you could do is check-in at the hotel, i.e. fill out registration form with passport and whatnot, and pick up the key later when the room is ready to save confusion later.

This year at the fest they are very (i mean no exceptions) tight on allowing large bags into tents and also small backpacks arent allowed.

Getting to the fest by 2 or 3 should mean you are grand. If anything go for a proper feed somewhere else (even burger king or mc donalds at the station) if youve time and get in a base before heading to the fest and then youre bombproof for the evening.
And dont forget, the tents in general will start to close at 3.30 or 4 for a few hours for the change of reservation, so if you miss that window then it could be 7 to 8 before you get into a tent. Theres no lack of beer outside the tents anyhow so you wont go thirsty!

If you're in before they close at 3.30 or 4 for the change of reservation can you stay on during that period or will they turf you out without a reservation?

munchkin_utd

tempnam wrote: »

If you're in before they close at 3.30 or 4 for the change of reservation can you stay on during that period or will they turf you out without a reservation?

imagine it being like getting into an old style unreserved stadium back in the days.
First step is to get into the stadium before the stewards close the gates when theres too many already let in, next step is to find a seat or place to stand. But if you arent in the stadium, you miss the game altogether

and the oktoberfest is the same. You need to get into the tent, and then worry about a seat. But once you are in, you are in !
The seats with no reservation are down by the band in the middle so thats essentially where you might want to be heading.
The seats on the perimiter will be reserved, but you can nab those after a half hour should nobody turn up, or give it a little time and maybe they havent the full amount (lads working late or customers not turning up, which happens a fair bit) and the barmaid will tell the folks with a reservation to huddle up and let in some paying customers ! (from whom she can earn some tips! )

Often staying in the same place and just having a drink in the aisle (which is technically not allowed, but happens) is better than constantly moving. But you MUST be sitting down to order and get a drink. Even if that means acting a charade that you sit down for 3 seconds in beside someone, then stand up till the woman comes back and sit down for another few seconds to pay.
She will loose her lucrative job if she serves someone standing, so she wont, but if you stand up 2 seconds after recieving the beer its no longer her problem!