Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest 2009 Logistics

The following are the basic details you'll need to make it to this year's version of the greatest festival on earth.

Location:
Munich (duh). The following Google Map is marked with the center of the Oktoberfest festival grounds. To the northeast you will see the Munich Hauptbahnhof (main train station), just a ten-minute walk from Oktoberfest.



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Dates:
September 19th – October 4th

Hours:
Weekdays: 10:00am – 11:30pm (last call at 10:30pm)
Saturdays, Sundays and holidays: 9:00am – 11:30pm (last call at 10:30pm)
Nearly all tents close at 11:30pm. The lone exceptions are the Käfer Wiesn-Schänke and the Weinzelt tents, which are open until 1:00am (last call at 12:15am). When the other tents close, there is a mad rush to these two, so try to beat the crowd and get there earlier in the evening.

Required Reading:
Download the official map of Oktoberfest from the city of Munich's website here.


Download the official map of Munich's train system here.

The "Theresienwiese" train station on this map is the closest stop to the Oktoberfest grounds. It is located just south of Hauptbahnhof (central train station) in the center of the map. Both the U4 and U5 U-bahn lines stop here.


Admission:
Nothing! Oktoberfest is free for all ages.


Drinking age?
Technically, the drinking in Germany is 16. However, unless you look like you're twelve years old, no one's going to ask to see identification to prove your age.