Oktoberfest & München Adventures

What a weekend! I had no idea what to expect traveling with my relatively new NYU Berlin friends to a festival notorious for becoming a drunken mess, but it was absolutely wonderful. We not only got to experience this legendary Bierfest, but we also got to explore the beautiful city of München---4 years after my first experience there---and relax to forget about our stresses for a while. (This took place September 28-30, and Oktoberfest this year was from September 22 to October 7.)

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FRIDAY

We took a really rough 5:30 AM train to München Hauptbahnhof, where we arrived at 11:00 ready for the day! We were surprised by the cuteness of our airbnb (our previously booked one had been cancelled 5 days earlier, and we actually ended up saving money with a cheaper airbnb + a $90 credit), and it was shockingly central! We left to find a thai restaurant where I got one of my favorite foods, panang curry, and then we headed into the center of the city where the neues Rathaus (the new town hall, pictured above) and the beautiful churches are. We just wandered through the Frauenkirche, admired the Rathaus, and meandered through the Viktualienmarkt. People in Trachten (traditional bavarian clothing, aka lederhosen and dirndl) were absolutely everywhere. At the main train station, I was just imagining the THOUSANDS of people pouring into Munich for Oktoberfest.

We found a park and crashed, laying in the grass in silence for a while. It was such a blissful feeling, I took a picture of the sky just to remember how I felt. We headed back to the area of our airbnb and went to ALDI to buy groceries to make a wholesome home cooked meal. It ended up costing only 9 Euro per person for 3 bottles of wine, ratatouille, pasta, carbonara, and the fixings for mimosas in the morning (and a bunch of leftovers). We played charades and had an extremely adorable night in.

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SATURDAY

This is where things get *real*… we woke up at 6:30 to start preparing breakfast, drink a few mimosas, and head out to Oktoberfest. We wanted to ensure a table for the 5+2+maybe more of us, so we aimed to leave at 8—we didn’t actually end up leaving until around 8:30, but we were still perfectly fine. We poured with the crowd into Theresienwiese (the grounds where Oktoberfest are held—Germans actually call Oktoberfest “Wiesn”) and made our way to the back of a very, very, very, very long line to wait for the grounds to open at 9:00. I think we eventually made it in around 9:30 to find a completely empty fairground, slowly make our way to our tent of choice (pschorr braurösl), which was pristine and, again, very empty! At around 9:45 or 10:00 we sat down and ordered our first Bier (yikes!).

We played a drinking game, chatted, and enjoyed the calm atmosphere. We ordered another round an hour or so later, and finally at around 12:00, the live music started. It started to pick up then, but despite my warnings, we decided to leave the tent and find a new one. We tried to get into Hofbräu, but it was just insane, and we headed to Paulaner. We eventually got in and grabbed a place at an outdoor table (oh, I’ve forgotten to mention, but it was kinda chilly & we had decided to ditch our coats at home rather than to drag them around all day—that might’ve been a mistake). We ordered another round of beers, and most people ordered lunch. Our waitress may or may not have ripped us off and charged us for too many beers, but we moved on. We got a bunch of people to sing bad romance, which was truly iconic, and we headed back to Braurösl around 2 or so, which was by then a total mess to get into. We tried our luck at a side entrance, where I by some magic got in on my own. I then waited about half an hour as my friends slowly shoved their way in as the guard would open the door for half a second to let some people out, but it was very intense and stressful from my end. Soon after, they closed our section of the tent, and we were all kicked out, and by then it was around 4:30 and three of us had had enough for the day and headed home on the U Bahn. I then slept for, uh, 12 hours and was ready to start the next day at 7 AM.

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SUNDAY

It was a slow start getting us all up, but we left and took the U Bahn to central Munich where we exited right into a huge farmer’s market. There was even a cheese festival, and it was a great way to start the day. Then we walked to a museum, Lenbachhaus, which had an awesome pop exhibit and some beautiful portraits and landscapes from the 1800’s. I rarely enjoy a museum in its entirety, but I had a great time at Lenbachhaus. I especially loved a film there, Ghost Story by Willie Doherty, that completely entranced me.

Afterwards, we got some gyoza and headed back to our airbnb to be checked out by 5:00. After crashing there for a bit, we dropped our suitcases at the luggage storage at Hauptbahnhof (it totally came in handy and was 6 Euro for a locker that held two suitcases and a duffel bag and was located right by the platforms). We got dinner a 15 minute walk away at Andy’s Krablergarten. My friends fulfilled their schnitzel fantasies, and I ate some much needed Pommes Frites and vegetables. We were pushing it on time and took an uber to the station, grabbed our bags, and hopped on the train. Here’s my opportunity to again rave about german trains because they are so clean and beautiful. The glass doors have motion sensors and glide open!! There are nice tables and restaurant cars! What’s not to love!

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I was so happy to be back in Munich, and if you’re coming for Oktoberfest, please don’t just spend the weekend at Theresienwiese!! See the beautiful city and its art and parks, too :) Afterwards, I felt very reinvigorated for the coming week, and it’s been one of my best travel experiences yet.