In the latter half of the year, besides Christmas, the most popular event in Germany is Oktoberfest in Munich. Every year at the end of September, the air in Germany is filled with the intoxicating aroma of beer. Germans are known for their love of beer, with over 1,350 wineries producing more than 5,000 types of beer. “Beer gardens” are ubiquitous on the streets. This beer lover’s carnival not only attracts the people of Bavaria, but also brings in 6 million tourists every year to experience the fervent atmosphere of “drinking heavily and eating lots of meat.” Here, you will see Germans, who are known for their meticulousness and seriousness, raising their large beer mugs, shouting “Prost!”, and draining their drinks before dancing in their traditional costumes.
Also known as the October Beer Festival, it takes place from the first Saturday after September 15 to the first Sunday in October every year. This year’s Oktoberfest will be held from September 22 to October 7, which conveniently falls between the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day. Don’t miss out on this joyful event!
Location and Transportation
Address: Theresienwiese
There is a lot of traffic during the festival, so it is recommended to take public transportation.
Traffic Routes
From the central train station → Walk to the destination
Take subway line 3 → Get off at Goetheplatz station
Subway lines 4 and 5 → Get off at Theresienwiese station
Take line 6 → Get off at Poccistrasse station
During the festival, the venue is open from 10:00 to 24:00, giving you plenty of time to revel in the festivities. The open-air beer festival is best enjoyed with the tents! Tents come in two sizes and are available for booking on the official website: http://www.oktoberfest.de. There are also a limited number of tents available on site, first come first served, so get there early to line up. Of course, you can also choose hotels in the surrounding towns. Munich has a well-developed public transportation system, so don’t worry about sleeping on the streets.
What to Do
Saturday, 9.22
10:45 Opening of the festival
12:00 The mayor announces the opening ceremony amidst 12 cannon shots, and taps a metal tap with a hammer. If he doesn’t tap it in with one hammer blow, he’ll be mocked by the crowd! The first mug of beer is poured into a special large beer mug and drained, officially marking the start of the beer festival. This ceremony is called “the opening of the first barrel of beer”.
Sunday, 9.23
10:00 Traditional costume parade
There will be two parade floats during the event. Beer suppliers and performers from all over Germany wear traditional Bavarian costumes, ride in carriages, and travel through the 7 km long Munich city center to Theresienwiese.
Thursday, 9.27
10:00 Beer tent baptism
Sunday, 9.30
11:00 Concert. Hundreds of musicians will bring a grand open-air concert to tourists. To accommodate foreign visitors to Munich, large beer tents, called “Bierzelten” in German, are set up before the opening ceremony. The tents are large and luxurious, accommodating 3-4,000 people, with a temporary stage on one end. Folk artists sing and play music there, making for a lively atmosphere!
Sunday, 10.7
12:00 Firecracker shooting. According to tradition, it takes place at 12:00 on the last day of the beer festival every year.
If the beer festival is not enough, you can continue to play on the rides at Theresienwiese. This year, the square has added 6 new rides. Whether you are with friends or family, you can enjoy the fun of childhood here.
It is easy to get a Bavarian folk costume at the beer festival, but it is not cheap. A three-piece ladies’ waistcoat dress usually costs around 100 euros, and a men’s leather trousers also costs about the same.
What to Eat
When it comes to the city of food, Munich might be excluded from the minds of most people. This city, known for its pork knuckle and sausage, still has some must-try dishes. In terms of food portions, Germans and Northeast Chinese are neck and neck, and you will definitely be stuffed.
Munich pork knuckle
In Germany, eating lots of meat is the right way to do things! Crispy on the outside, tender on the inside pork knuckle, with potato dumplings and sauerkraut to cut through the richness, is definitely a meat-lover’s dream! Combine it with Munich’s home-brewed beer. The hearty Germans never eat slowly or sip their drinks. For girls, one portion is usually enough for two people.
White sausage
When in Munich, be sure to find an open-air beer garden before 12:00 pm to enjoy the Bavarian white sausage.
Of course, there’s the famous Bavarian white sausage at the beer festival. This sausage gets its name from its white exterior. It is said that the white sausage’s birth was a happy accident. In the 19th century, a restaurant owner was about to fry sausages but accidentally ran out of casing, so he used pig intestines instead. To prevent the sausages from bursting during frying, he boiled them instead. This forced innovation soon became popular all over the world. You don’t eat the casing, it is usually cut open and dipped in mustard.
Pretzel
As the white sausage’s soulmate, you will definitely find pretzel at the tent selling white sausage. This lye bread, known as “Brezel” in the local dialect, is ubiquitous in Germany and is considered the national bread. There’s a saying about Germans: potatoes are the body, beer is the spirit, and thick bread represents the German soul. Unlike the soft and fluffy bread we usually like, the basic ingredients of German bread are only yeast, flour, salt and water. This eight-shaped pretzel comes in both sweet and salty flavors. Sweet pretzel is often eaten on special occasions, while the salty pretzel you see at the bakery every day is sprinkled with pepper and salt.
Munich residents like to eat pretzel with butter. When you come here, don’t miss this local way of eating. Also, this alkaline bread can neutralize the acidity of beer and has the effect of sobering up. This pretzel, bigger than your face, can only be found during the beer festival and in summer beer gardens!
Heart-shaped gingerbread
At the beer festival, you will see many people wearing heart-shaped gingerbread around their necks. The decorations on the heart are all kinds of things, with all kinds of “cheesy pick-up lines” – direct ones like “Ichliebedich” (I love you), or more literary ones like “IchhabemeinHerzandichverloren (I lost my heart to you). Who says Germans aren’t romantic, they can talk about love in a way that is smooth and sweet.
Beer
Of course, the main event at the beer festival is beer!
Germans are proud of their beer, with only water, barley and hops as ingredients. This strict standard of beer quality has continued for 500 years. There are specific types of beer for the Munich Oktoberfest, called Oktoberfestbier. Only six breweries can produce it. This beer is brewed in March and fermented for several months, just in time to be enjoyed in September at the beer festival.
Besides the beer festival, what else is fun to do in Munich?
Neuschwanstein Castle
That’s right, it’s where Jay Chou had his wedding photos taken. This dreamlike castle is located in Füssen, and is the inspiration for the Disney castle. The love life of King Ludwig II was full of tragedy. He spent his whole life trying to create a secluded fairy tale, but the castle wasn’t finished until shortly before his death. When you stand on Marienbrücke and see Neuschwanstein Castle in its entirety, you will be amazed by it.
Füssen has a bit of the flavor of a town in the Jiangnan region of China, with green mountains and waters surrounding it, and flocks of swans swimming leisurely in the lake.
There are three ways to get to the top of the mountain:
1. Take a carriage. If you can stomach the “aristocratic” smell and the slightly higher cost, it’s definitely an experience.
2. Take the bus. It’s time-saving and worry-free, but sometimes the line is long and you have to wait.
3. Hike up. Follow the signs and slowly approach Neuschwanstein Castle, enjoying the scenery along the way.
Munich City Hall
Munich’s new city hall is located in Marienplatz, a landmark building in the square. This tall Gothic building took 40 years to build, starting in 1867. The most prominent feature of the new city hall is the 85-meter tall clock tower, which houses Germany’s largest wooden puppet clock. Every time the clock chimes, the puppets inside come out in a row to perform a 10-minute clock-chime show, singing and playing music. This is a must-see sight for visitors to Munich.
The city hall tower is open to the public, and you can climb to the top to get a panoramic view of Munich.
Opening hours of the tower
October to next April: Monday to Friday 10:00-17:00, closed on Saturday, Sunday and holidays;
May to September: 10:00-19:00 daily.
Transportation
S1/S2/S3/S4/S6/S7/S8/U3/U6 lines, Marienplatz station, take tram lines 2, 8, 9 to Neues Rathaus.
Viktualienmarkt
A 2-minute walk from Marienplatz, you’ll see a patch of green awnings and a bustling crowd, and you’ll know you’ve arrived at Viktualienmarkt. Munich’s Viktualienmarkt has a long history. In the early 19th century, today’s Marienplatz, the central square in Munich, was originally a farmers market. Because the area was too small, the king ordered the expansion of the market area. The nearest area was opened up to create a new farmers market, which is where Viktualienmarkt was born. At today’s Viktualienmarkt, you can find flowers, vegetables, fruits, spices, coffee, tea… everything you can imagine, it’s all here.
The best way to get to know a city is to immerse yourself in the lives of its residents. Here, you can feel the Germans’ respect for life. People buy the goods they need at the open-air market, and when it’s mealtime, the market turns into a grand party for the locals. Everyone is drinking coffee, drinking beer, enjoying delicacies…
BMW Museum
When you come to Munich, don’t miss out on Munich’s other specialty – BMW. The BMW Museum is located at the BMW brand experience center at BMW’s global headquarters in Munich. It’s the core component of the BMW brand experience center. The museum is shaped like a bowl. Through various audio-visual materials, it displays the historical changes of BMW. From bicycles to motorcycles to racing cars, as well as a series of concept cars, it’s enough to make you fall in love with BMW.
Opening hours
10:00-18:00, closed on Mondays.
Tickets
Adults €9, concessions (children and young people under 18, students, young people in military service, elderly people with limited mobility and people with disabilities) €6, 5 or more people (per person): €8; Family ticket (2 adults + 3 children under 18): €18.
Transportation
Take subway line 3 to Olympiazentrum station.
Allianz Arena
Germans’ fanaticism for football is world-famous. Walking through the streets and train stations of Munich at night, you’ll see groups of fans cheering and shouting, celebrating their team’s victory. If you happen to be a Bayern Munich fan, then Allianz Arena is a must-visit. From afar, Allianz Arena looks like a giant rubber dinghy, with a white ellipse surrounded by a number of air-bag-like structures. It’s the venue for the Bundesliga, the European Champions League and international matches. The museum inside the venue houses a collection of players from the club’s founding in 1900 to the present day, as well as all the honors they have won.
There’s also a gift shop at the venue. Whether you’re a true fan or a fake fan, you can buy your favorite merchandise here.
If you’re lucky enough to catch a game, don’t miss the chance to experience the game live. Tens of thousands of fans cheering together, feeling the charm that football brings to the entire stadium and the city, is an unforgettable experience!
Opening hours
On match days, open according to the match schedule. On non-match days, opening hours are April to October, daily from 10:00 to 17:00, November to March, daily from 11:00 to 17:00. Closed on event days.
Transportation
Take subway line 6 (U6) to Frötmanning station, then walk about 10 minutes along the signs to reach the venue.
Tickets
Adult ticket price €10, concession ticket €9. Match tickets can be booked at the following website: http://www.allianz-arena.de
Munich is a vibrant city. During the day, Munich residents live by the “German spirit” and work diligently. As night falls, there is no shortage of cheering fans, beer and revelry, and they spread their joy. The tranquility of Neuschwanstein Castle, the solemnity of the Frauenkirche, the bustling crowds in Marienplatz… all combine to create a classical yet modern Munich. The markets and beer gardens that are everywhere on the streets will make you feel their love of life.
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