Prost to Oktoberfest!

The entrance to Theresienwiese, Oktoberfest 

Every year over 6 million people descend on Munich, Germany for the 16-day long, traditional folk festival known as Oktoberfest. While wearing Lederhosen and Dirndls, people young and old enjoy beer, pretzels, sausages and sing and dance all night long!

Festzelt's and rides

I’ve been dreaming of going to Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany since I was little.  I swear, ask my friends and family. My parents and I always go to the Hofbrauhaus Restaurant at home in Pittsburgh and from the first time I stepped foot there, I etched Oktoberfest on my bucket list.

After being in Germany for an extended time a few years ago, it has lived at the top of my “favorite countries I’ve been to” list. The people, their way of life, the food, the traditions they celebrate, THE BEER, just basically everything. Germany just gets me.

I only had one day at Oktoberfest and not to be dramatic but it was one of the best days of my life.

My friends and I arrived in Munich on the opening day of Oktoberfest and quickly ran to get our traditional Oktoberfest outfits: dirndl’s for the girls, lederhosen for the guys. They’re are so specific about how to wear them, especially when it comes to where to tie the bow on your dirndl. A little history lesson: If you tie the bow on your left hip you’re single and right means you’re married!

The Oktoberfest grounds open early and people run to one of the 14 tents to grab a table. I was at the Hofbrau Festzelt most of the day. This is known as the “party tent” but honestly all of them are just as much as a party as the others. The other tents I would recommend are Hacker-Pschorr, Shooters and Marquee Traditional Festzelt.

Since it was opening day, beer wasn’t served until noon. There was an actual ceremony to tap the first keg, called “O’zapft Is” which literally means “It’s tapped”. The mayor of Munich taps the keg and then the beer is served. PROST!

The women come around to your tables carrying anywhere from 5-10 liters of beer at a time, slam them on the table, you grab a liter and chug. It’s a beer drinkers dream! Other people are coming around selling giant pretzels, pickles and traditional German cookies. All while live German folk music is being played. About every fifteen minutes the band plays the infamous “Ein Prosit” song which means “I salute you”. This is THE song of Oktoberfest. The iconic song starts and everyone sings along, even though most of us had no idea what we were saying.

A few of my friends and I decided to leave around 5pm to grab a traditional German sausage at one of the hundred food stands. Oh, how I missed those! There are a ton of rides on the grounds too, so of course we had to ride a few!

We headed back to the Hofbrahaus tent later in the evening and that’s when the real party starts. The music is switched from German folk to American classics like Sweet Caroline, Don’t Stop Believing and I Will Survive. Everyone stands on the tables, singing along and prost-ing all night!

Oktoberfest was an absolute dream so I will 100% be back and honestly, I cant wait! PROST!

Love Always, 

Marge