Where to head on the grounds
- Its own enclosed fairground of historic rides, at EUR 1.50 a go.
- Three tents, a museum tent and the Munich marionette theatre, with children’s activities that cost nothing.
- Open 10:00 to 23:30, and to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.
Best on the two family Tuesdays, 22 and 29 September, when children’s prices are cut until 19:00.
- Fourteen large tents and twenty-one small ones, and you can walk into any of them.
- A quarter of the seats can never be reserved. At weekends and on public holidays half are held back until 15:00.
- Reservations are made directly with each tent, never through an agency.
A weekday between 10:00 and mid-afternoon is the only realistic time to walk in and sit down.
- More than a hundred rides and stalls spread over the 42-hectare site.
- Open 10:00 to 23:30 on weekdays, 09:00 to midnight on Saturdays and 09:00 to 23:30 on Sundays.
- The oldest attractions sit over in the Oide Wiesn rather than here.
Weekday mornings are the emptiest the fairground ever gets.
- Gingerbread hearts, roast almonds, pretzels and grilled fish, sold from stalls rather than tents.
- No table, no reservation and no waiting for a seat.
- The stalls keep the same hours as the grounds around them.
Any day at all. This is the one part of the Wiesn that a crowd does not shut you out of.
- A spiral staircase inside the bronze figure reaches a viewing platform in her head, looking out over the whole festival ground.
- Open 09:00 to 18:00, so it shuts long before the tents do.
- The Hall of Fame colonnade behind her stays open through the festival.
The festival closes at her feet: the gun salute on Sunday 4 October is fired from the steps below.
Oktoberfest 2026 runs 19 September to 4 October. Entry to the Theresienwiese and every tent is free. The two Tuesdays, 22 and 29 September, are the official family days. The one Saturday to avoid is 3 October, when a German public holiday lands inside the festival.
Worked out what kind of day you want? Munich is flown to from most of Europe, the Gulf and South Asia.
Getting to the grounds
| Coming from | Take this |
|---|---|
| Munich Airport (MUC) | S-Bahn S1 or S8 to Hauptbahnhof, about 40 minutes, then U4 or U5 one stop to Theresienwiese. |
| Munich Hauptbahnhof (where the Augsburg and Nuremberg trains arrive) | U4 or U5, one stop, straight to Theresienwiese. |
| Anywhere else in Munich | U4 or U5 to Theresienwiese, right at the gates. If that station is too crowded, Goetheplatz or Poccistraße on U3 or U6, and Schwanthalerhöhe on U4 or U5, are quieter alternatives a short walk from the grounds. |
What it costs to fly in
What matters more
From Europe the cheapest fare is usually a trap. Dublin’s goes via Zurich in twelve hours, on a route that flies direct in under three. Paris and Amsterdam are the exceptions. Tap Shortest flight before you book.
Wego runs an Oktoberfest page carrying flight and hotel offers for the festival, with promo codes that only work from there.
Where to stay
Where you sleep moves the cost of this trip far more than the flight does. Augsburg is the one to look at first: it is half the commute of Nuremberg for almost the same money, with trains every fifteen minutes.
Rooms inside Munich go first and the rate climbs as the festival gets closer.
Questions
When is Oktoberfest 2026?
The 191st Oktoberfest runs from Saturday 19 September to Sunday 4 October 2026 on the Theresienwiese in Munich. It is sixteen days. The first keg is tapped at noon on the opening Saturday and the festival closes with a gun salute at the Bavaria statue.
Do I need a ticket, and what does it cost to get in?
There is no ticket and no entry fee, for the grounds or for any of the tents. You pay only for what you order and for the fairground rides. A litre of festival beer is officially priced between EUR 14.80 and EUR 15.90 in 2026.
Do I have to reserve a table?
No. A quarter of the seats in every tent can never be reserved, and at weekends and on public holidays half of all seats are held back from reservations until 15:00. Reservations are made directly with each tent, not through any central agency.
Which days are quietest?
Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, before mid-afternoon. The two Tuesdays, 22 and 29 September, are family days with reduced prices for children until 19:00. Avoid the opening Saturday and Saturday 3 October, which is German Unity Day.
Is it cheaper to stay outside Munich?
Substantially. On the nights sampled for this guide the typical Munich room within walking distance of the grounds ran about three times the typical room in Augsburg, which is roughly thirty minutes away by train and runs services every fifteen minutes.
What can I bring onto the grounds?
Very little. Bags and backpacks are capped at three litres and 20 by 15 by 10 centimetres, and larger ones have to go into paid storage. Security checks every bag at the entrances to the Theresienwiese.
Sources
- Oktoberfest.de, official arrival guide, U-Bahn and S-Bahn stations serving the grounds, retrieved 14 September 2026.
- Munich Airport, public transport page, the S1 and S8 journey time to Hauptbahnhof, retrieved 14 September 2026.
- muenchen.de, the City of Munich, festival dates, keg tapping, family days, tent hours and reservation rules, retrieved 14 September 2026.
- oktoberfest.de, the official festival site, the 191st edition and its dates, retrieved 14 September 2026.
- Oktoberfest visitor FAQs, unreservable seat quotas, opening hours and the bag limit, retrieved 14 September 2026.
- Oktoberfest beer prices 2026, the official EUR 14.80 to 15.90 range, retrieved 14 September 2026.
- Wego Oktoberfest 2026, festival flight and hotel offers, retrieved 14 September 2026.
- Wego flight and hotel searches, sampled 14 September 2026 in USD.
- Photograph of Oide Wiesn: Oktoberfest 2015 – Impression 7.JPG by Martin Falbisoner, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
- Photograph of the beer tents: München, Oktoberfest 2022, Fischer-Vroni v S, 1.jpeg by Renardo la vulpo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
- Photograph of the fairground: München, Oktoberfest 2023, Höllenblitz, 1.jpeg by Renardo la vulpo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
- Photograph of the stalls: Lebkuchenherzenverkauf am Oktoberfest Muenchen.jpg by Usien, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
- Photograph of the Bavaria statue: Wiesn.jpg by Wikiolo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
How these figures were produced
- Fares are one adult, economy, returning 25 to 29 September 2026, a Friday to Tuesday spanning the festival’s middle weekend. Each city keeps its own number and nothing is averaged across cities.
- The shortest-flight option is chosen on outbound leg time, with the cheaper fare taken where two options tie. A trip’s own duration field covers both legs, so it is not the number a traveller means by how long the flight is.
- Rooms are two adults in one room for four nights, 25 to 29 September 2026. Cheapest is the lowest rate at three stars or better with at least 200 reviews and a guest score of 7.5. Step up and Best reviewed both require four stars and a score of 8.0 or better.
- Distances are straight-line from each property’s own coordinates to the Theresienwiese at 48.1309, 11.5509, not a walking route. Property links open undated, so pick your own nights on the page.
- The five photographs of the grounds come from Wikimedia Commons and are reused under the licence each one carries, credited in Sources. Two were cropped to remove recognisable faces, and none has been altered otherwise.
- Every price is a from price at the moment of sampling and will have moved. Munich star ratings were checked for credibility before being used: 20 of 200 properties sat at zero or one star, which is normal.
Disclaimer: We’ve worked hard to make sure the information in this article is as accurate and up to date as possible at the time of publishing. Travel details such as prices, schedules, visa rules, and entry requirements can change at short notice, so it remains your responsibility to verify the current details with official sources before you book or travel. Wego accepts no liability for any loss or inconvenience arising from the use of this content.
