Oktoberfest

well as for hostels. you could try the wombat. they have 2 more in vienna that i stayed at and they were great. they are super safe and clean. but do make sure to book a few months ahead. the closer it gets to oktoberfest the busier it'll get. if you want to look up more choices you can go to hostels .com and there you can get reviews on lots of hostels and hotel. anything under 80% rating you might not want to go. also make ure you pick a hostel with 24 hr open doors. otherwise you could get locked out.

Even if you are not a beer drinker (like me) "Oktoberfest" is a fascinating experience.
It is the world's biggest fair. Takes place on the so called "Theresienwiese" ("Wiesn") in late September and early Oktober. The unavoidable "Oktoberfest beer" is being served in huge glasses called "mass" (one litre). In addition to that many Bavarian delicacies like "pretzels", Lewakaas (liver cheese) or "Obazda" (Bavarian cheese speciality with Camembert, onion, paprika, caraway, butter) are being offered at the so called 14 "Bierzelte" (beer tents). These tents are actually solid structures with enogh space for many thousand visitors. Typical Bavarian music + "Schlager" and pop is being played.

Lots of thrill rides including a huge rollercoaster are also part of the fair.

Please note:
You will notice many traditional dressed Bavrians (Lederhosn, Dirndl) at the "Wies'n". Neither their clothing nor the food is typical for Germany as a whole. Not everybody in Germany likes "Weisswurst mit Sauerkraut". :-D

Oktoberfest in Munich is great. Lot's of huge stien's of beer's,and ale's. Lot's of music,Sing alongs,dancing,food,rides. So much to do and see you have to get there early and stay late. You will meet lots of people. The atmospher is very friendly. The food is great,be prepared to gain a few pounds. But most of all relax,and enjoy and take lots of pictures.

I went to Oktoberfest last year and had a blast!!

The costs were very reasonable (comparable to US) judging by the size of the beer and the alcohol content!!

I never waited in line to get into a tent nor ever saw one. We typically arrived at the tents during the day and were able to sit inside until 5PM or until the time came for a reservation to be filled. After that, it was easy to move to tables outside of the tent. When we did arrive at night, we had no trouble finding a table to stand on and service was also easy to find.

The tents were definitely crowded but everyone was unbelievably friendly. I only saw one "security" issue with one man being a little too rambunctious. Police escorted him out of the tent peacefully. I was also stopped by police outside of the tents for not having proof that I purchased a mug I was carrying.

Oktoberfest originally began as the celebration of the marriage of Prince Ludwig to Therese. As I understand it, the citizens had so much fun, they asked that it be held every year. It is essentially a large state fair with carnival rides, games, and tons of food stands. And, of course, the beer tents. It is held at the Theresienwiese festival grounds not far from Marienplatz.

Our weather was terrific with only one gloomy day with very light rain.

While you are there, I would suggest a bicycle tour of the city (www.mikesbiketours.com), a visit to Dachau, and a visit to Neuschwanstein. Enjoy!!!

I've been wanting to go since 5 years..now its the time, i'llbe attending 2007 Oktoberfest!!

Oktoberfest was amazing! At first I thought it would just be like a giant, drunken, dirty international frat party (which I would have happily passed on), but my experience was much different than that. There are 14 beer tents, each sponsored by a different beer company. The word "tent" is a bit of a misnomer because these structures are huge, each containing hundreds of tables and capable of fitting thousands of people. Each tent generally has a different vibe and theme too. There were tents filled with predominantly local, German familes and others (like Hofbrau) which consisted almost soley of drunken American and Australian tourists.

The thing that struck me the most about Oktoberfest was how friendly everyone was. Maybe it was because everyone was drinking, or maybe it's because people from Munich are extraordinarily friendly, but the entire atmosphere felt warm and inviting. We didn't know that we had to reserve tables at the different beer tents (literally every table was booked), but often it was no problem because friendly German familes would invite us over to eat, drink, and be merry with them. You could easily tell that all the locals were proud of their traditions and celebrations and that they wanted everyone else to feel just as comfortable as they were. Overall, Oktoberfest feels like a giant family gathering rather than a giant, wild party.

In addition to the beer tents, the festival grounds also contained a ton of amusement park type rides, many which would have probably been banned in the States because of safety code violations. For example, there was a giant, flat, saucer-type contraption with seats along the outside that just spun around and tilted at crazy angles. None of the seats had any restraining harnesses and often times people could be seen grabbing onto the side rails with their legs flailing in the air. Definitely not recommended after having a few steins of beer and a hearty slab of pork dripping in gravy.