Who here will be at Oktoberfest this year? I will be there from Sept 24-Oct 1.

In München 19-22 Sept. and then off to Prague.

You guys keep having a thread like this every year until I just cannot resist and have to go the following year!

So jealous! Went last year (my 5th time) and it was a blast, as always!

I went last year and am slated to go again next year.

Have a blast. I dont know how you cant.

If you guys need a great place to stay let me know. I have a great hotel contact.

/jealous

both my brothers, and my parents, will be there....granted, one of my brothers lives in Munich so this is nothing new, and starting to get used to it since I have ever oktoberfest glass since roughly 02. Given I have a free place to stay, I am still quite annoyed that I have yet to go

You could always visit me for the Canstatter Volksfest Wes ..

the Wasen is a ton better than the Wiesn anyhow .. not so many drunk foreigners.

And yes, I will be at the Wasen at least 2-3 times (the factory here in Untertürkheim ends at the Wasen), but no "Oktoberfest" that is the tourist trademark that the Wiesn runs under, no one calls it anything besides the Wiesn here.

[This message has been edited by Randy03 (edited 9/2/2009 9:32a).]

watching Beerfest is the closest I'll get.

never been, but always wanted to go. so how do you go about planning a trip? picking a tent? is it located in munich or all around the city at different locations, fairgrounds, etc.? do you get tickets for all the days you want to go? i know there was another thread a year ago that had some helpful hints.

Thats a shame .. because Beerfest is to Germany, as Borat is to Kazakhstan .. so absolutely nothing at all to do with the actual country or event.

It is an the (Marie) Theresien Wiese, its a big park area in Muenchen, just like the Canstatter Wasen here in Stuttgart.

Its at one place, there are a bunch of beer tents and then carnival stuff. You can make reservations directly with the tents, but I figure as an American you would do it with some sort of money robbing travel service that offers packages.

Simply put, you reserve a hotel, you make a reservation at a tent or two (the more you offer to drink/eat and the more people you have, the better your chance is to get a reservation).

Then you get a 3 day or week pass for the train and drink yourself stupid.

In Stuttgart, I go to work on a Friday, then my department gets together after work, walk over to the Wasen, drink ourselves stupid and then wander to the train and go home, like a number of weekends :p Only this time I pay a lot more for the beer because its in a "beer tent".

ummm yyeaaahh...i was trying to be ironical with the Beerfest reference...can't get one past you....

quote:

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but I figure as an American you would do it with some sort of money robbing travel service that offers packages

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did your mom not love you as a child?

ps - thanks for the tips...i think...

True story you can believe this or not.

One of my brothers is in the tv, film, video business and worked on the movie "Supertroopers" with Broken Lizard (the movie's writers and directors).

We went to Oktoberfest in 2002 and my brother met up with the Broken Lizard guys in December and spent 3 hours telling them about our Oktoberfest exploits. They told him to write a script. He didnt and a few years later they come out with "Beerfest" (as inspired by our group, team Destruction).

Land in Zurich Sept 28 then off to Deutschland the 1st - 5th.

Anybody have any plans to catch the A&M/Ark game?

[This message has been edited by neomoon (edited 9/15/2009 1:00p).]

I'm working an hour and a half southwest of Munich for the next few weeks, so I'm going to try an make my way up there one weekend during the fest. Any recommendations on an affordable place to stay?

[This message has been edited by aggieforester05 (edited 9/16/2009 11:31a).]

Affordable place to stay that you didnt reserve like 9 months ago?

Im not sure that exists for the Wiesn.

Seriously, Muenchen has like 2 million people who live there. In one month, they are going to have 6 million tourists to the Wiesn, or about 200k extra people per day in their town, most of which will need a place to stay because they are not German. Also Id say that there are about 10k people (at least) who relocate to Muenchen just to work for the month (some of them dont work the entire rest of the year the earn so much) and they need somewhere to stay as well.

Maybe one of the guys from the thread can hook you up, but your best luck would probably be riding a train in and out on the same day.

[This message has been edited by Randy03 (edited 9/16/2009 11:55a).]

quote:

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Maybe one of the guys from the thread can hook you up, but your best luck would probably be riding a train in and out on the same day.

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Riding a rain into Oktoberfest ok, but being able get on a train out the same day that doesn't add up to me?

First train in, last train out.

I do it every time I go to Muenchen and its over 3 hours on the ICE from Stuttgart, each way.

Last regional train out probably isnt until midnight or so, he can get good and loaded by midnight and still sleep in his own bed that night.

Ya I understood your post, just saying I would be too boozed up to make it anywhere. Much less near anything involving traintracks

neomoon,
Post an email address and I will send info for a nice place to stay. $100/night per person roughly. 1 minute walk from the train station = 10-15 minute walk from the Oktoberfest grounds.

[This message has been edited by dcAg (edited 9/16/2009 11:10p).]

dcAg, could you send me that info too?

aggieforester05 at yahoo.com

Randy,

Any recommendations on stuff to do around the Lake Constance area (not Oktoberfest related)?

Thanks

Hrm .. Bodensee area, my wife is from down there, I will talk to her about it tonight.

OH! are you going to be there alone or with a wife? Because Insel Mainau (it belongs to Sweden somehow) is pretty darn nice, I took my mom there when she was here for my wedding.

Schloß Sigmaringen (Hohenzollern) in Sigmarigen might be something to see.


Sigmaringen is also near the Danube Valley area down there, which is very nice.


Ive been to Bodman, Konstanz and Kreuzlingen, this time of the year the apples should be nice, you missed strawberry time, we always go with my wife's grandma to get strawberries from the fields down by Bodman.

Hrm what else? Schaffhausen is nearby in Switzerland, you could cross the border quick and see the Rheinfels (Rhein waterfalls) in Schaffhausen.

Again, Ill ask my wife what she thinks, but it would be good if you also gave an idea what you want to see and in which direction you want to go. If you are coming from Bayern, then you probably dont want to drive another hour west to Switzerland, like I suggested, but driving north or east might not be bad.

[This message has been edited by Randy03 (edited 9/17/2009 7:42a).]

Oh also wow $100 per person per night is somewhat reasonable dcAg .. I didnt figure you could get a room at 68€ per person per night right now. Even the München Ibis Hotels cost like 70-150€ per room (max 2 people) at this time of year.

I usually recommend Ibis Hotels to everyone for being cheap and decent, but the one in Nürnburg was not very nice and the service was outright horrible .. and well my wife and I are very simple folks who arent annoyed by a lot of things.

Thanks Randy, I'm actually staying at the Ibis in Friedrichshafen right now and it is nice and clean but a little sparse on the amenities for a long stay. I'm here for work for about a month, so I do have another guy here with me. We'll definitely look into the places you mentioned.

Well wait until I get home in a few hours, Ill ask my wife what she thinks. But that you are in Friedrichshafen tells me that you could handle going a bit farther out. Sigmaringen isnt far, hell honestly Stuttgart isnt that far, probably 2.5 hours. Though there isnt much to see in Stuttgart either, other than the Daimler museum here at the factory and then the Porsche museum in Zuffenhausen, Esslingen is a nice old town. Stuttgart might be worth a day.

Yeah you could get from Friedrichshafen to Stuttgart with the train in 2:24. You and your buddy could buy a "Länder Karte" which would be like €29 and you can ride all over Baden-Württemberg the entire day on all trains, busses and subways (except the IC and ICE trains).

Just try it out for me today, go to the train station and go to one of the machines, then look for "Länder Ticket" or Baden-Württemberg Ticket, then Group .. up to 5 people can ride the train for the same price with the same ticket for an entire day, it is a very good deal.

Edit: I didnt mean buy the ticket today either, just go up to the machine and find the ticket. Also Heidelberg is only like 3 hours away as well and you could also get there with the Länder Ticket, Ulm is also not so far away, lots to see if you just are adventurous.

As I suggested for the guy going to München, first train in, last train out .. because you are going to burn 5 hours in the train.

[This message has been edited by Randy03 (edited 9/17/2009 8:44a).]

dcAg email is username sent to gmail, thanks for the heads up!

Okay Forester,

Talked to my wife. She suggested Meersburg, she said there is a nice castle there and its like 10km from you! She said there is also a winefest there but you missed it, it was the 11th through 13th.

Also we found this

27.-28. September: Konstanz Suserfest, Innenstadt

There should be Weinfests all over the place.

Further, she said that if you went to Konstanz you could walk over the train tracks as a pedestrian into Switzerland, but make sure to have your passport on you, because they arent part of the EU.

What else,

She suggested Beuron, there is a monastery there


Ive been there, it could be part of your Sigmaringen/Donautal day. Its located in the Danube Valley (Donautal).

My wife says that this weekend is the Esslinger Weinfest, it would be a good excuse if you were going to Stuttgart anyways. Esslingen is much nicer than Stuttgart itself and you can get there with the S-Bahn in like 30 minutes from the Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof.

Furthermore there are some other interesting stuff, Schloss Lichtenstein, Burg Hohenzollern etc etc

http://www.muensingen.de/servlet/PB/menu/1202465_l1/index.html

[This message has been edited by Randy03 (edited 9/17/2009 11:53a).]

Wow, thanks for all the info. I actually went to Stuttgart last Sunday and saw a few good sites, but didn't do enough research before I went there. We flew into Zurich, so it won't be my first time to go into Switzerland. We have also been to Berengz, Austria, and several towns surrounding Friedrichshafen. It seems that everywhere you go there is something to do and see. Small towns here have so much more to offer than small towns in the states. I'll definitely look into your suggestions. We have a rental car with company paid gas, so the train isn't much of a concern for us. We may use it to go to munchen for the weisen though.

Aggieforester, go to the Nurburgring!

I went to Octoberfest in Munchen in 2001 while I was backpacking Europe. I had a blast. I didn't make reservations ahead of time and by some miracle of God I ended up getting a room in a hostile. What's even crazier is I had the room to myself! I only went to the fairgrounds one night and ended up getting a spot on a table in the Paulaner tent. Please note I said ON the table and not at the table! I wish I could remember some of the songs they played and sang. Some were really fun!

Also...for you Ag engineers...if you're ever in Munchen...check out the Deutsche Museum...an awesome science and engineer museum there (somewhat comparable to the Air & Space Museum...only with tons of other stuff).

Oktoberfest kicked off today around 22 hours ago!

Had my Mass of Paulaner Festbier with my father in law yesterday at like 1pm

But I was not in Muenchen .. we will be at the Wasen in two weeks. The Wasen always opens a week after the Wiesn.

Randy03,
Why dont you actually go to the Oktoberfest then you can give an educated opinion about it instead of parroting others. There is no substitute for experience.

Survived Armbrustschützenzelt last night. Six liters. Good times.

Was at the Wiesn in 07, dont need to go again. Its like Neuschwanstein, you go once to say .. "okay off my list, saw it .. got the t-shirt" and then never ever do it again, just like all of Oberbayern. Franken and most specifically Nürnburg rocks! Would encourage people to visit there 10x. US/GB blew up 95% of Nürnburg and they built it back just like it was before, the Innenstadt/Altstadt was even impressive for my wife.

So dcAg you can really keep your mouth shut about stuff, "parroting" whatever.