Munich - Oktoberfest
 

Hello,

Just trying to get recommendations from people who know/have been to Oktoberfest. My buddy and I are going to go for a couple of days. Online it says there are a decent amount of tables in the big tents where no reservations are required and reservations look to be for groups of 8-10 or more. Any idea on how hard or easy it would be for two people to get seats and drinks on a Friday and Saturday night in the tents?

Thanks!

Hi travlinmike,

On Friday & Saturday nights, it'll be a challenge. There are a few places outside of the tents that sell beer, but getting a seat inside will be tough.

If you are on Facebook, there are a few groups you can join where you can find folks selling individual reservations -- Oktoberfest in Munich is one. You can search for others. The reservation comes with a dinner (usually chicken) and a beer. Of course you can order more.

I did this for my nephew one year, and he had an excellent time. I made contact with the person on the FB group and arranged to buy the ticket; we met at the Viktualienmarkt to make the actual buy. The seller was an American, and the table was full of great & fun folks. In fact, he is still in touch with that couple and met up with them when they were all in Munich last fall.

I tried it again for his visit last fall, but the seller seemed not to be a person my nephew would click with, so I let it drop. He and his fiancee decided not to get tickets for an evening seat, and they did fine, except it was a week night.

Good luck with your trip, and have fun as you plan!

s

Oh ... where in the world did you see tables at night with no reservations required?? I've never heard of that. I live about 60 miles south of Munich.

s

this was form the Oktoberfest website. "A quarter of the places in the tents are not reservable. At the weekend and on the public holiday half the seats cannot be reserved until 3 pm, after that 35% are not reservable"

I´m sorry if I say it so harshly, but: forget about free tables in any of the tents on Friday or Saturday evening. Reservations are sold out here in Munich in March, already and the few number of free tables will be occupied all the time. In many cases the tents will even be closed because it´s overfilled. It means that one can leave the tent but no one comes in. The only exception may be if it´s cold and raining because not so many people will go to Oktoberfest but even then there´s no guarantee to get two free seats. What some people do is to enter the tent in the afternoon already. There`s a bigger chance to get a free table. However you´ll have to order beer frequently. They won´t allow you to occupy a table for several hours and just have one or two beers in all that time. Don´t forget: they just have 2 weeks to make their money.
So what could you do? Many locals who don´t have a reservation enter the tents at noon or in the early afternoon. They start with lunch as the tents are not so crowded at that time. There´s a number of tents where they offer some meals for lower prices at lunch time than in the evening so you could even save some money (Oktoberfest is expensive!) . Another option would be to not enter the tent but to stay in the so called "garden". Garden in this case means that there is a number of seats around every tent. There´s a better chance to get two seats outside of the tent. However this not an option if it´s raining or if it´s too cold. You could also visit Oktoberfest on a regular working day. From Monday to Thursday there´s a much bigger chance to get a free seat.

Not reservable -- doesn't mean they are not filled. Folks will queue forever to get in.

Oh dear, I neglected to come back... Sorry!

Yes, I did find the information about non-reservable tables on oktoberfest dot de. However, I still think it'll be a challenge on a weekend night, and I see from the other posts above that I'm not alone in that thinking. Yes, folks will be in line at 15.00.

I agree with ml871 above that you may want to have lunch in a tent then stay & drink a bit. But then I'd suggest that you wander around. Some of the best bits of the Fest are outside, in people-watching and just enjoying the atmosphere. See the families with prams. The gaggle of old friends. The staunch old-timers in real, honest-to-god, expensive, ancient Lederhosen. It's such a silly and wonderful time, when everyone is just a bit tipsy and happy, and it's hard to imagine there's hate anywhere in the world. Well, okay, it's a false feeling, but it's fun to experience it for a while.

Good luck with your visit, and let us know how you guys did!

s

Thanks everyone! We will definitely try to go early in the day to try to experience the tent. If we can't get in at least we are there and can enjoy the atmosphere all around the area!

I can only share what we did in similar circumstances. We were a party of 2 on a Saturday afternoon with no reservations. We went to the Augustiner tent and had to wait in line for about 40 minutes. Once inside we walked around unsure what to do, quite honestly. We spotted a table with a few empty seats and a group of about 6 locals close to our age. We asked if they would mind if we joined their table in the 2 empty seats. On our first attempt we had a place to sit and remained there all night. They were friendly and welcomed us into their group. We ordered beer regularly throughout the event but not every time a server showed up. Mostly if our beer was empty we ordered, if not we passed. We had a great time.

If you want a similar experience but less crowded and frankly a nicer whole thing, then go to the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wurstmarkt which tries to do the same but with large mugs of wine. Lots of pig to eat. Drunks are friendly and no reservations at all

Update
 

Thanks for all the feedback everyone! We went early on a Saturday around 11:30 am and started at the Haufbrau tent which was just insane and maybe could have gotten a seat eventually but didn’t seem likely even at that early time. Walked out and went to the ochsenbraterei tent across the walkway and was able to find seats pretty much right away for two people. Spent about 4-5 hours having a good time in there!