The Oktoberfest at short notice: 4 things you should know

If you didn’t book your flights a few months back and if you don’t have someone in Munich to reserve tables for you a year in advance, then… No, wait a second: this is a brief guide for people who didn’t even know that the Oktoberfest is not an “Octoberfest”, but actually starts in September!

If you’re considering whether to go to the Oktoberfest at short notice, then our advice is: do it. But read this first.

Try going to Munich overland

You’ve got 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 very full planes for most of late September, so we wouldn’t recommend wasting time looking at flights to Munich.

You can fly there on the cheap, however, but you’ll need to go via Austrian airports like Innsbruck or Salzburg and then go on to Munich by train. Alternatively, you can try going by train. 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 better value 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…

You’re sleeping outside!

Hotels in Munich have been more or less fully booked since late summer – or charging the kind of prices that mean they might just as well be as far as you’re concerned. Even our old favourites, Air B’n’B, are getting pricey and packed at this stage of the game, and so you’ll have to get ready to sleep outside.

Yes, of course we mean “outside Munich” – and also “outside under the stars”. Not on the streets, though, no, don’t worry: we’re talking about the campsites around the city. And if this year’s Oktoberfest comes with its usual Indian Summer, then a tent might just be a pleasant place to spend the night…

Order your Bavarian costume on the net

As unbelievable as it may sound, even at this stage of the game – with only 5 days to go until the first keg is tapped – you’re better off ordering any Bavarian gear like lederhosen and dirndls on the internet. After all, you can get stuff delivered from Germany to the UK in two working days by ordering at online Oktoberfest dirndl shops, and that’s got to be better than running around Munich with every other British person who’s just arrived looking for lederhosn when you could be spending that time in the tents drinking…

Whichever tent you go to, go early

Beggars can’t be choosers, as they say, so you can’t go around asking which tent is the best and which one is most popular with the locals, etcetera. Instead, you’ve got to just opt for one and get in early doors. After all, they’ve all go beer and chicken – and, after about four or five in the evening – they’ll all be heaving and full of fun anyway. Save yourself the stress and get a seat early.

That way, when everyone else comes in following their fruitless quest trying to get into the most popular tent, you’ll be sat there nice and relaxed – as if you booked everything months ago…