tbyrne

Hi all,
Me and two of my sisters wanted to experience Oktoberfest so we booked a trip- arriving in Munich the morning of September 26th and departing from Munich at 3pm on October 5th. We plan to explore Munich on the 26th and then do Oktoberfest on the 27th. We're now trying to decide where to travel to on the 28th. Some options we've discussed are Salzburg, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, and Berlin. We want to narrow it down to two cities as we don't want to bite off more than we can chew. Ideally, we'd like to travel back to Munich the morning of our flight home to give us a 6 full days to explore. We're also open to overnight trains to maximize our time in each city.

For reference, I'm a 28 year old male and my two sisters will be 26 and 24. This will be the first continental European trip for me and one of my sisters but the other sister studied abroad in London and saw much of western Europe which is why we're focusing on the cities we chose. We enjoy going out but that will be taken care of at Oktoberfest so we're more focused on seeing/doing as much as we can in the other cities we travel to.

Prague seems to be the frontrunner right now but upon doing some initial research we've seen sone mixed reviews. Any advice or pros and cons on the cities we mentioned would be much appreciated as we attempt to pull together our itinerary.

Thanks in advance!

Travelforbeer

You might take a look at http://www.oktoberfest-insider.com/oktoberfest-faq.htm to get a good idea of the 'Fest. Expect very high hotel prices if making reservations this late. If you want to sit inside of a tent for several hours I would recommend getting there by 11 AM on Saturday the 27th, especially if the weather is nice. If sitting outside (some tents are smoky) in one of the many beirgardens surrounding the tents is sufficient, get there by 2 PM to get a seat You can still walk through the tents to look at the sights but seats may be very difficult to find inside the tents after noon on Saturday.

As far as trips after your (very) short visit to the 'Fest, I would make the following suggestions. First, can you change your return trip? If so, I would catch an overnite train from Munich to PARIS on the evening of the 28th and spend the rest of the time in and around Paris. Catch the plane back from Paris instead of Munich.

If you can't change your return flight then spend a 3-4 days in Berlin (or Prague) ,then catch a train to Salzburg on Oct 2 or 3, then catch the early train from Salzburg to Munich on the 5th to return home. I suspect you wouldn't enjoy Vienna or Budapest as much as Berlin (or Prague or Paris) and Salzburg.

I hope you have a good trip !!!

nytraveler

I would put Prague and Berlin at the top of my list for people your age. Tons to see and do plus a lot of nightlife (quite a bit at a more budget student type price range - versus the 20 euro drink updsacle places).

Check out bahn.de to organize train schedules.