Why You Should NOT visit Oktoberfest – From a Local

The Oktoberfest in Munich is becoming more and more popular around the world, as it is the largest beer festival worldwide. In 2022 there were 5.7 million visitors. If you are considering visiting Munich at that time of the year and experience the Wiesn, as the locals call it, but you are not 100% sure whether that’s a good idea, we’ve got you covered. Read on to find out why we think you should avoid Oktoberfest and what is a better suited beer fest alternative.

The Wiesn is a very beloved festival among the locals. During our years living in Munich, we also visited it many times. It sure is a unique experience. The festive spirit and the excitement of the visitors is palpable all around the city. Kids all get excited to ride as many rollercoasters as possible and to have a typical gingerbread candy. Adults celebrate by drinking local beer brewed especially for the event, having typical festive Bavarian food, like Grillhendl, and dancing on the benches to Bavarian schlager music.

A lot of the locals nowadays agree, that even though it has been the greatest annual event for centuries around Munich, Oktoberfest has evolved to something less pleasant over the last decade. If you’ve been thinking whether you should book your trip to Munich for Oktoberfest or not, here are three main reasons why you should not go:

Reasons not to visit Oktoberfest:

1. Oktoberfest is massively packed with people. More so on the weekends, but also during the week.
2. Everything is overpriced during the festival – accommodation, flights, food and drinks at the event.
3. There are drunk people EVERYWHERE – not just on the Wiesn, but in any given subway station in Munich.

Oktoberfest is overcrowded

In 2022 around 5.7 million people visited the Oktoberfest in 17 days. That means around 350,000 visitors per day, but definitely more on the weekends. The Wiesn is an open space of 420,000 square metres before all the attractions and tent are build up. No need to be a maths genius to get the idea that it must be packed with people.

Even though, nobody goes to a beer festival to be alone and meditate, there is still some personal space you need to properly enjoy a few drinks in the company of your friends without feeling claustrophobic. Well, that’s very hard to do during the Oktoberfest. You either have to reserve a table well in advance in one of the huge beer tents, or you could have a beer at the outdoor beer gardens and grab something to eat from the food booths. Inside the tents there are long tables and benches, so there is absolutely no privacy. You sit between two other groups of people. There is always a live music band, playing mostly Bavarian hits. Add to that hundreds of groups trying to communicate and you get an extremely loud atmosphere. And not cool loud like at a rock concert, but rather frustrating.

I find it a little bit more pleasant on the outside, in the beer gardens. It might prove difficult to find a place if you are a group of many people, but for 2-3 you should be able to find a place to sit quite quickly.

The lines for the activities are also very long, for some of the more beloved rollercoasters it could take up to 30 minutes.

Getting around is difficult and could also be very frustrating. You have to make your way through a lot of other people, most of them drunk and not really aware of their surroundings.

Oktoberfest is overpriced

The main reason you will be coming to the festival, is probably German beer, and it is a very valid reason since German beer is fairly good. The price for a litre of beer at the Oktoberfest in 2023 will be 14.50 EUR. It is being adjusted every year and just 9 years ago in 2014 it was around 9 EUR. Bear in mind that beer in Germany is generally quite cheap. You can get a 0.5l bottle for about 1 EUR in a supermarket or around 4-5 EUR at a restaurant. For that reason, I think that the beer at Oktoberfest is majorly overpriced. And when you fly over to Munich especially for the festival, you definitely won’t just have one. Expect higher prices for food as well, a portion of Grillhendl (grilled half chicken) will set you back about 15 EUR and a Haxe (pork knuckle) – 25 EUR. Currywurst and Pommes (sausage in curry sauce with French fries) at the outside food stalls is cheaper – about 10 EUR.

Except for Oktoberfest itself, prices in Munich for accommodation explode during the event. Prices literally double for this period of time no matter whether it’s a hostel, the cheapest hotel on the outskirts of the city or the best hotel in the city centre. The only cheap option is camping in a tent. There are a few places around the city offering tents on a lawn with basic toilet facilities, and they are quite popular among visitors.

Flights to Munich tend to be more expensive for the duration of Oktoberfest than the weeks after that. But depending on where you are coming from, there still might be a reasonable deal.

Too many drunk people

Even when you probably won’t be the most sober person at the Oktoberfest, there are a LOT of really drunk and totally wasted people everywhere. Obviously, on the grounds of the festival, but also all over the city of Munich. We lived there for 9 years and during the Oktoberfest it is quite common to encounter drunk people on the streets, on the subway, on the bus, in a café or a restaurant at any given time of the day. Needless to say, how unpleasant the smell is in a subway, that is packed with intoxicated people. Add to that picture the fact, that for some reason many of them feel the need to sing very loudly and mostly badly.

At the Oktoberfest itself, there is a dedicated place for the drunk people to relax and maybe sober up a little, and it is called the Kotzhügel (literally means puke hill).

Is there an alternative to Oktoberfest?

If you could take all the factors mentioned above out of the picture, Oktoberfest would be a very nice experience. Fortunately, there is actually a smaller version of the festival, less popular among foreigners, called Frühlingsfest (spring festival) or Kleine Wiesn (little Wiesn). It is very similar to the Oktoberfest, with many attractions, beer tents and so on, but smaller. It takes place from mid of April to the beginning of May.

The Frühlingsfest has the same joyful and colourful spirit as the Oktoberfest, and I would highly recommend visiting Munich at this time of year instead. The weather in May will most probably be much better than in late September, and you will get to experience spring in Germany. This festival is much cosier than the Oktoberfest and less crowded. You will get to enjoy your time there in a more relaxed atmosphere. While the prices for food and drinks are similar to those at Oktoberfest, the accommodation is more reasonably priced, so overall you will still get more bang for your buck.

If you still decide that you want to give Oktoberfest a chance, go for it! Just make to plan your visit smartly. Check out our articles for more tips on how to visit on a budget, how much time to schedule, and much more: