Hello! I am looking at booking accommodations in Berlin in October. I arrive Oct 7th and leave Oct 23rd. Oktoberfest will be going on until Oct 14th. My question is is Oktoberfest is really worth it in Berlin? Is it a great time to be in Berlin vs after it ends? How big of a draw is it? Am I missing out by not going? Hotel prices and availability of hotels and airbnbs more limited during this time based on the searches I did.

My initial itinerary called for spending the first half of my trip in Berlin from Oct 7 - Oct 15, and then heading to Prague for 4-5 days and finishing in Dresden the last 4 days. But after looking at prices for hotels and availability of airbnbs from Oct 7-14 in Berlin, I am considering doing my itinerary in reverse and staying in Berlin on the second leg of my trip from Oct 15-23 and avoiding Oktoberfest, as hotel prices seem to be cheaper. I do enjoy beer, however I'm not super excited about sitting in beer halls pounding down oceans of beer. What would I be missing out on?

Berlin is a BIG city. You can easily be there and not even know any sort of celebration is happening depending on what parts of the city you visit. IOW, and IMO, no you do not "have" to sit in beer halls unless you WANT to.

Having a fake Bavarian Oktoberfest in the capital of Prussia is rather a bad joke, seen from the point of view of history. There is only one authentic Oktoberfest, and that one takes place in Munich. You could just as well attend an "Oktoberfest" copy in Houston/Texas, in Japan or South Australia. In Berlin it is certainly not a big draw that influences hotel prices. You would not notice a thing in the rest of the city, apart from, perhaps, seeing some dressed-up people on the S-Bahn.

Unlike Munich where the real Oktoberfest takes place all other events in Germany called Oktoberfest are minor ones. If you don't go there you won't miss anything. During the time of Oktoberfest you shouldn't go to Munich unless you want to take part in the festivities. In other cities and towns you don't even realize there is an 'Okoberfest'.