Do you remember that feeling after spring break? You have been on a 5-day/night drinking bender. Broke, sun-burnt and exhausted. You went hard. The last thing you want to do is drink for at least a few days.
This is exactly how I felt, but I had been doing this for almost 3
months now. Extremely worn out and all I wanted to do was rest. I had just
returned back to Prague. The previous 3 months were spent traveling to
15+countries around Europe and my final month was spent working a Pub Crawl in
Croatia (where I was paid to drink in a Paradise city on the beach. yeah…dream
job!) More about that later. Anyway, I was living out of a backpack for
three months…and VERY excited to get back to my left behind wardrobe. I had 5-6
shirt rotation…and got tired of those real quick.
I had just gotten off a plane and back to my room in Prague…all I
wanted to do was sleep and get ready to start my full time job in one week.
However, an opportunity to check something off my bucket list fell into my lap. Oktoberfest was this
weekend…and Munich was only a 4 hour drive from Prague. I knew it was going on,
but had no plans at all to make it there. (Due to the fact most accommodation
fills up at least 6 months in advanced.)
People normally plan trips to Oktoberfest months, sometimes even a
year in advanced. I was lucky to have a friend in the “Tourism Biz” who had a
free spot in his car and a place for me in a hostel (Mad props to Isaac: Owner
of Prague’s Clock Tower
Pub Crawl). 6
million+ people visit Oktoberfest during the 16-day span…this was an
opportunity I could not pass up!
I had 2 days of rest and then packed up my bag and we headed off
for Munich. It was a quick 4-hour drive in our Skoda that maxed out at about 88
mph, so we were really racing on the Autobahn (no speed limits). We checked
into our hostel and went out for a few liters of German Beer. Tomorrow
was opening day of Oktoberfest aka “die Wiesn” to the locals. We took it semi-easy
because to get a seat in a tent you need to be there EARLY…we were up at 6am.
(6 am first day of Oktoberfest)
6 am rolled around way too quick. It was time to head off to the
main tent. We hopped on the metro and did not bother getting a ticket. We
stopped outside the main gate for an early morning photo shot, and then headed
to the most crammed line I have ever. It was full of local Germans and some
very young Germans (age 15 accompanied by an adult and 16 to drink by
themselves); it was going to be a local spot as we knew beforehand.
This was my buddies 8th Oktoberfest, so he knew how things
were going to go down. We got to the line around 6:30 am and waited there until
9 am when they opened the doors…I was ready for some beer after the sardined
packed line. I’m not going to lie, it sucked. Unfortunately, beer was not
served until noon. Nevertheless, our tent was the most important one of
Oktoberfest. We were in the Schottenhamel tent on OPENING day. The first keg
would be tapped in this tent and first beer poured by the mayor. We drank
the first beers of Oktoberfest 2011!
How to avoid this crowd? 1.) Choose a mid week festival day 2.) Avoid some of the most popular tents like Schottenhamel 3.) Opening weekend is normally the most crowded
The doors have just opened and it was a mad dashed push to get
through this bottle necked door. Huge German door guys trying to make sure
there was some order to this madness. Once inside it is a freaking war zone
trying to get a table. You cannot save seats. We had our full table ready
and sat down next to two Germans who immediately got up and left because they
were trying to save seats.
We finally got our table and all we could order was a Fanta/Coke
mixture (that was actually really good), but I was craving some BEER! Noon came
around very slowly, but finally it was beer ‘o’clock!!! It was 9 Euro per liter
of beer. (We tipped our server 100 euros at the beginning so we would get
served first; it takes forever after a while to get served if you do not tip.)
There was a huge ceremony in our tent for the tapping of the keg (all in
German) which was entertaining and of course great German music to go along
with it. After many liters of beer, it was time to head outside of the tent.
Ahh, outside the tent is where you really experience the great
part of Oktoberfest. It is like the moment you walk out of a dark movie theater
and are blinded by the light. So you start by drinking a lot of beer, go
outside to stuff your face with food, and then finally hit up all the carnival
rides. What a great order of events. We went outside and you really are a
kid at a carnival, but for grownups. The rest of the day got a little
blurry, but I made it home safely to the hostel after a great festival! The
festival continues pretty late through the night, but some of the tents close
at different times. Stick together, have fun, and if you see people snorting
white powder...it is most likely just Wiesn Koks (smokeless tobacco). This turned out to be one of the best weekends of my life and I would recommend it to anyone traveling Europe. It's not as expensive as you would think and well worth the journey!
(View from one of the rides)
So how can you make it to Munich’s Oktoberfest in a more organized
fashion???
After using multiple tour companies around Europe….I always
recommend my favorite to friends traveling Europe: bus2alps.com. They have an
awesome business model that puts together incredible trips for young travelers.
(Fun groups, highest rated hostels, and is cheaper than if you did it on your
own.) It is always more fun to travel in groups and less stressful when the
trip is planned out for you!
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