© München Tourismus, Werner Boehm The 190th Munich Oktoberfest
from Saturday, Septenber 20, 2025 – Sunday, October 5, 2025
The biggest festival in the world, now in its 190th year, takes place on the Theresienwiese. The 190th Oktoberfest will be celebrated for 16 days this year. It kicks off with the traditional barrel tapping by Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter on 20 September at 12 noon in the Schottenhamel Festhalle.
Wiesn for families
The two family days, which take place on the first two Tuesdays, are a good opportunity for a stroll around the Wiesn at reduced ticket, admission and sales prices.
The origin
Four years after Bavaria became a kingdom, Crown Prince Ludwig, later King Ludwig I, married Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen on October 12, 1810. The official wedding celebrations lasted five days. The festivities in the city centre, which were already called a “folk fair” at the time, ended on October 17 with a horse race on the grasslands outside the gates of Munich. Children in traditional Bavarian costumes paid homage to the attending members of the royal family with poems, flowers and fruits of the land. In honour of the bride, the fairground was named “Theresens- Wiese”. This is still the name of the Oktoberfest grounds today: “Theresienwiese” – in Munich parlance called the “Wiesn” for short.
Oktoberfest Location: Theresienwiese, München
Opening hours
Oktoberfest
- Monday – Thursday: 10 am – 11:30 pm
- Fridays and Thursday, 2 October: 10 a.m. to midnight
- Saturday: 9 am to midnight
- Sunday: 9 am to 11.30 pm
Oide Wiesn:
- Sunday to Thursday: 10 am to 11.30 pm
- Fridays and Saturdays: 10 am to midnight
Carnival and Rides
The Oktoberfest fun of the rides and showmen such as the Ferris wheel, Toboggan, Hau den Lukas or Teufelsrad:
- On the opening day, the rides are open from 12 noon until midnight.
- On Mondays to Thursdays (except public holidays), you can ride the rollercoaster from 10 a.m. until 11.30 p.m., enjoy the view from the Ferris wheel or get a scare on the ghost train
- Fridays and Thursday 2 October are open from 10 am to midnight.
- Saturdays from 9 am to midnight
- On Sundays and public holidays from 9 a.m. to 11.30 p.m.
For more information: www.oktoberfest.de/en
All about beer…
Among the many attractions, the “liquid gold” is probably the most important thing at the Oktoberfest. As usual, over 6 million liters of beer will be drunk this year.
Price: The beer price for Oktoberfest 2025 is between 14.50 euros and 15.80 euros, an average of 3.52 percent more than in the previous year 2024. Last year, the price range was between 13.60 euros and 15.30 euros.
Serving times: Beer will be sold in the tents from 10.00 to 22.30 on weekdays and from 9.00 to 22.30 on saturdays, sundays and holidays.
The Bavarian Purity Requirements:
It’s no coincidence that Bavaria has the best beer in the world: Since the 16th century there have been strong regulations about brewing beer and how to keep up the high quality of the final product by choosing the ingredients very carefully. One of the oldest laws concerning food and drink is the Bavarian Purity Requirements, decreed by Duke William IV in 1516: Only water, hops and barley should be used to brew Bavarian beer.
The Schottenhamel tent
One of the most important tents of the Wiesn, as everything starts inside this tent.
On the opening day of the Wiesn, at 12 pm on the dot, the mayor of Munich will tap the first keg and call out “O’zapft is!” confirming that the tapping was successful. It is only after this that all other tents may begin to serve beer.
The Schottenhamel tent, which in 1867 was just a small beer booth with 50 seats, has become the largest Wiesn tent with circa 10,000 seats. The Schottenhamel is the favorite amongst Munich’s young people who meet there to drink and party.