zac

This wouldn't surprise me at all, but then again some of my buddies may be the ones on the train puking! Anyway, I don't expect to spend more than a couple days at Oktoberfest.

chris18london

Well.. no one on this thread has actually mentioned yet that Oktoberfest is pretty much over by the first week of October. So go in October if you want to go to a tourist festival.. go in mid-September if you want the experience to be a little bit more authentically Bavarian.

But everywhere in Germany will be celebrating it, so I doubt you'll miss out on too much action wherever you go - Berlin should be just as fun.^

Also check out www.hotel.de, they have some great deals across the board.

zac

Any recommendations on where to stay? We a planning 4 nights in Munich. There are five of us. We are interested in anything from hostiles to apartment rentals. Hotels are expensive but the real issue is that it's hard to find rooms that have two doubles (or so it seems) so we would have to book two or three rooms.

AyanO

Probably off-topic to the point of Oktoberfest/Beer/Germany but the 3 finalists for the 2014 Winter Olympics are

Sochi, Russia
Salzburg, Austria
PyeongChang, South Korea..

given the political climate of things in Russia and South Korea these days, I would say Salzburg has a good chance..

Oktoberfest/Beer related, if you do goto Salzburg, make sure to visit the Augustiner Braustubl-Mulln. which is a cool beer garden used to be run by Monks back in the day, and while the monks are gone its still very old school with home made beer, and lots of food choices.

supermasterphil

You are right but on the other hand, IIRC Austria and Switzerland will have the European Soccer Championship in 2008...

The FIFA or the Olympics Board tend to not give a country big events too close in a row...

bkramt1

I stayed at the new Courtyard Marriott in Munich - it had doubles in it. You may want to search some of the hotel program threads on Munich, for specific reviews.

MariaSF

The locals avoid the second weekend - aka "Italian weekend"- of the Oktoberfest because hordes of young guys of the above mentioned nationality come to Munich in their hundreds or thousands of RVs and get as drunk and loud as possible.
Police and ERs work almost exclusively for them (as seen in reports on German TV in the last 4 years).

supermasterphil

^ Oh yeah and you want to make sure to keep your daughter away from those guys... There are just two things those guys are looking for... Beer and sex with german girls

zac

I just booked two rooms at the Le Meridien. Only two people per room, but they allow a thrid with a rollaway for 55 euro a night. For the price (SPG points) I can't complain. ^

pheller

I've been to Oktoberfest for the past 5 or 6 years now, and was there on 11 separate occasions last year. Granted, 11 days of attendance might become boring if you don't speak German or have local friends.

Mid-week certainly is the best time to head to the "Wiesn" (as Oktoberfest is known to the locals).

Table reservations are a good idea too, as free seating for more than a couple people can be hard to come by even in the mid-week afternoons. Look at oktoberfest.de for more info regarding reservations.

It is possible to get into tents on the weekends, even near prime time. Just circle the tents and watch for the side entrances that have a few people near them. I've had quite a bit of success this way.

The middle weekend is most definitely known as Italian weekend, and you'll even hear announcements on the radio in Italian (my favorite being one that indicated "the woman who serves your beer is not included with the price of the beer"). You'll certainly see and hear lots of propositions in Italian accents, which are quite humorous to witness.

All in all, it's a great time :-)

Also check out the BMW factory tour, the tour of the concentration camp at Dachau, the Audi tour in Ingolstadt. Schloss Neuschwanstein is definitely cool, too.

There are a good number of Wiesn afterparties, my favorite being at Viktualienmarkt.

Also checkout some of the other clubs, like 4004, P1, or Pacha. (I've heard 4004 is closing, and Pacha may have closed -- but others spring up in their place).

Drop me a PM when you're there too, I'll most definitely be there again for the duration!

HobokenFlyer

I was in Salzburg in 2003, right around that the IOC annouced that Vancouver/Whistler would be the site of the 2010 games. My then girlfriend was from Vancouver and she gave me a "Vancouver 2010" shirt several months before our trip. When we walked around Salzburg, I wore the shirt. I got a lot gawks and looks because it was pretty audacious to rub it into the Salzburgers faces at that time.

- HF

HobokenFlyer

Six years is close?

supermasterphil

Kind of... There are much more countries in the world... Instead of giving a country two events within 6 years they could look for somebody else...

See you on the 20st in NYC, HobokenFlyer^

peachfront

My friend has put me in charge of working out an itinerary for the Munich Oktoberfest. He wants to attend the fest for a couple, few days but also wants to see Switzerland. I would also like to see Vienna. Does anyone want to suggest a good itinerary for a couple weeks or link me to a page where someone has done a similar trip? We're not heavy drinkers even though we're from Louisiana. Once we've done the fest, I imagine that we'd like to do some walking or hiking. Maybe there are some tours or trails that can be suggested? I hope it's OK to piggyback on the other poster's thread. I've already learned some good information from it.

supermasterphil

So I need some information?

Where do you want to fly in? Which airline? How long do you want to stay in total? How is your budget? Do you want to fly/drive/take the train between Munich/Geneva/Vienna and "the mountains"?

Do you speak any german at all? How much time do you want at each place?

I can't work out a whole itinerary for you but I am pretty familiar with that area and I am always glad to help, even if it makes me envious because I want to go there as well