Oktoberfest 2014 Update – August

Can you name the gigantic beer festival due to start in just one month? What was that? Can’t hear you… Yes, that’s right: the OKTOBERFEST 2014! That means only four more weeks, only three more Saturdays, and then it’ll be “O’zapft is’!” again and Munich will go mad for two whole weeks.

We’ll be there – will you?

If you will, then read up here in our latest update on what to expect this year as compared to last. After all, it never hurts to be well prepared because, once you get here, it’s all systems go!

“Grüß Gott, Marstall!”

“Grüß Gott!” – literally, “greetings to God!” – is what Bavarians say to each other by way of greeting. And so that’s what they’re saying to the new tent Marstall, which replaces the Hippodrom and it’s wheeling-and-dealing, tax-defrauding owner Krätz. Although the website, which went online almost immediately after the identity of Krätz’ successor was announced, gave some idea of what we were to expect (i.e. just as pricey as Hippodrom, but with a classier design), now that the set-up for this year has been going on a-pace for several weeks, Munich’s festival-goers are getting their first look at the new tent.

When you arrive, you see it’s beige outline with twee horse-related designs on the façade first on the right as you step onto Theresienwiese coming in through the main entrance to the north. Don’t necessarily expect to get in, though: even if, as it’s new, the whole tent isn’t booked out, we don’t expect them to be particularly welcoming to groups of tourists from abroad.

Another place it will be increasingly difficult for Wiesn-goers from abroad to get into is the Oide Wiesn, the small bit to the south of the big tents with lots of old-timey rides and steins instead of glass tankards. This part of the festival has always – in contrast to the main field – always cost a little extra to get in, and now a set number of the tables in the main tent, named Tradition, has been reserved for people who are in Munich and can go in person to the city hall to buy them. Not that the city is informing anyone about this in English: compared to the German press release, this English one glosses over the new rule entirely.

We’re in two minds about this: while it’s a shame that this very fun and ultra-authentic part of the Wiesn is pulling up the drawbridge even further, we can also see the argument that people who live in Munich and don’t necessarily want to be sat next to a group of 20-year-old Brits on a stag-do have a right to their own space.

Furthermore, it’s worth noting that these are only barriers to entry, not bans. So if you have a few Euros going spare and fancy getting a glimpse at the Oktoberfest as it may once have been – along with traditional wooden merry-go-rounds, don’t be put off…

Less adrenalin

Then again, the entire Oktoberfest 2014 is kind of gearing down in terms of rides. Well, to phrase it better: this year has seen a truce in the age-old to make the fairground faster and furioser. Unusually, there are no new record-breaking rollercoasters, no new NASA-style G-force madness. If anything, this year’s crop of new rides sounds slightly nerdy – and perhaps kinder to those without strong stomachs…