Get me drunk in Munich!

August 3, 2005 2:09 PM

Oktoberfest! I'm going to be in Munich on 9/17, and I can't wait to hit the Weisn! Just one problem -- I'm lazy, and I didn't book space in a tent. How early do I need to get there (on opening weekend, no less!), and what tent should I aim for to have a good chance of getting seats for four people? Favorite tents, anyone?
posted by gurple to Food & Drink (3 answers total)

Response by poster: BTW, I've checked out the official info here about when to get into tents, but I want to get some more empirically-based advice.
posted by gurple at 2:20 PM on August 3, 2005

It gets crazy fast. Beer starts to flow at 9am on weekends. Augustiner tastes best. I'd say before noon and you'll be okay, though they might give you the boot when folks with reserved tables show up.
posted by subpixel at 3:33 PM on August 3, 2005

I was there in 2002 and also didn't have reservations. I wandered around for a couple of hours, frustrated because they won't serve you beer unless you're sitting down.

If you're not picky about who you sit next to, finding space for four in the late afternoon won't be impossible, but it'll be a workout and by the time you do sit down you'll have really deserved that Stein.

We ended up sweet-talking an Italian bouncer at the upstairs portion of the Hofbrau tent. Once we were in there, we were golden.

Oh, and if you want to take your mugs home, put them in a backpack or something - when we left at midnight, the police were stealing everyone's mugs and we were too drunk to protest.
posted by cactus at 6:52 PM on August 3, 2005