How to do the Oktoberfest last minute

What’s that, you say? You didn’t reserve your Oktoberfest tables late last year? And you haven’t already booked your flights? Then you’re just the kind of slightly naïve but delightfully carefree last-minute traveller who should finish reading this guide to how to get the most out of the Oktoberfest if you decide to go at short notice!

Go on wheels, not wings
Be realistic: this is the world’s biggest beer festival and attracts people from all over the world. That means that the skies will be bristling with packed planes for most September and Oktober, so we don’t waste time looking at flights to Munich at this stage of the game.

Try going by train instead. Even if Deutsche Bahn doesn’t have any saver fares from London left (and, at this stage of the game, they may well not), it still could work out cheaper to just turn up at St. Pancras and buy on the day. Also, when a plane is full, it’s full. German trains have a lot more leeway…
Alternatively, there are quite few bus and coach services from mainland European destinations, so it might well be worth either getting the train or flying to neighbouring countries or other German cities and then using busses from there. Have a look at MeinFernbus and their routes from Brussels, for example.

No room at the inns
Munich is not short of hotel beds – and is adding capacity year after year. But it’s just not enough to bring prices down, especially around Oktoberfest time. What you’ll find is that, although there will always be a hotel bed somewhere in the city, it is bound to come at a price: don’t expect anything near the Wiesn for less than €150 a night. Last year, we advocated avoiding these kind of prices by camping or getting container accommodation, but Air B’n’B – which at one stage was lacking hosts in the Bavarian capital – has caught up and is offering a huge range of flats, many of which are still available…

Order your Bavarian costume on the net
As unbelievable as it may sound, even at this stage of the game – with only 10 days to go until the first keg is tapped – you’re better off ordering any Bavarian clothes such as lederhosen and dirndls online. Why not, when you can get stuff delivered from Germany to the UK in two working days by ordering on the net, and that’s got to be better than running around Munich with every other British, American, Australian person who’s just arrived looking for lederhosn when you could be spending that time in the tents drinking…

Try somewhere that isn’t Hofbräu!
There are two reasons to avoid this particular tent: firstly, it gets packed early one because everyone has heard of it or just heads there out of habit from earlier years. Secondly, it has – due to these attributes – become so over-run with international tourists that it is fast losing its traditional touch. We’d recommend avoiding other big-names like Schottenhamel – site of the tapping – too and heading for the “second rank” such as Bräurosl or Paulaner-Zelt, both of which are excellent and, while empty early on, full of party people later in the day.

So get in early and, that way, when everyone else comes in following their fruitless quest trying to get into Hofbräu and Schottenhamel, you’ll be sat there nice and relaxed – as if you booked everything months ago…