How Much Does Oktoberfest Cost? Is It Worth It?

Oktoberfest » Stokepedia

Oktoberfest is the world’s biggest beer festival, and the original beer fest and so it rightfully has a cemented position on almost everybody’s travel bucket list. We all want to go there, sometime, somehow, but as young travellers we do have to know how much does Munich’s Oktoberfest cost, is Oktoberfest expensive, and overall is it worth it?  There’s no denying that the world’s biggest beer festival is most certainly attractive, but is it worth dropping your hard earned, even harder saved, pennies on?

Short answer: abso-goddamn-lutely.

But if you’re still not convinced, let’s break it down for you.

How much will I spend at Oktoberfest? Our guide to doing the beer fest on A budget

This is just a guide, but after 15 years of Oktoberfest we’re in a pretty good position to know how much money you’ll have to put aside for an Oktoberfest budget. Also remember that when it comes to budgets, where you stay for Oktoberfest can have a big bearing on your fortunes.

Entry to the Oktoberfest: €0

This is by far the best value you’ll find on your travels. Entry to the Therenweisse, where Oktoberfest is held, is absolutely, completely free. From there you can walk the festival’s streets, eyeballing the proud horses that pull the kegs of beer around the grounds, visit the funfair which has rides that are almost Disneyland in quality, and of course enter all the beer halls you want to. The vibe is spectacular, the spectacle is stunning, the place is steeped in history and you can laugh at all the drunks.

Oktoberfest beer: let’s say €12 with a tip

So this is a little expensive. The beers themselves come in around €10, or a little over, but you really want to tip your server so they return to your table as often as you need them. The Oktoberfest is huge, with beer halls hosting around 10,000 people, so you’ve got to make sure that your Bavarian beer wench knows you, likes you, and wants to keep on serving you. For €12 what you get is a litre (33oz) of perhaps the most delicious beer you’ll ever taste, that is not only bullshit free (German purity law allows only water, barley, hops and malt to be added to beer), but damn strong too, coming in at 6% and up. One of these beers will have you nicely buzzed, two will see you dancing on tables, and anything after three, but before five, is where the magic happens – magic that you probably won’t remember.

Beer drinking food: pretzels €3, main €10-20

You won’t have to worry about breakfast or dinner, more about that later, but you will want to buy something delicious to soak up the beer, and just to bloody enjoy the experience. The pretzels are huge and salty, so you can share them between a few of you and scrape some of the salt off. For the mains, well you’ve never seen an array of food better suited to beer drinking. German sausages, sauerkraut, dumplings, roast chicken and the crowd pleasing pork knuckle. These meals are all huge, hearty, and something every visitor to Oktoberfest should consider trying at least once.

Your Oktoberfest stay: €65

This is almost as good a deal as the free entry to the festival. Your stay with Stoke Travel will set you back €65 a day, and will include twin share tent accommodation with mats and sleeping bags, cooked breakfasts and dinners, and Stoke Travel’s famous off-Oktoberfest parties with bands, DJs, games, shennanigans and our infamous €10 per-day all-you-can-drink beer and sangria bar. Staying with Stoke you’re guaranteed to be with a group of 100s, if not 1000s on the weekends, of like-minded travellers, all there to meet new people, have fun and, most of all, drink beer. Stoke create the perfect environment for you to start your day with something filling, hearty and warm, have some pre-beer hall beers, and find new crew to drink with by playing beer pong, spinning the Wheel of Misfortune, doing beer bongs, or simply sitting around in our shaded areas and chatting. Then when you return from the beer halls we’ll be serving you a chef-prepared dinner, have live bands, DJs and acts playing and you’ll find yourself in an environment where you can do absolutely whatever you want and be whomever you want to be. There’s no better way to finish up your day at Oktoberfest.

In total, you’re Oktoberfest stay will cost you around €110-130 per day, depending on how many beers you drink in the beer halls, and how much food you fall victim to. This is the biggest beer festival in the world, the biggest folk festival too, and the original Oktoberfest. It is steeped in tradition, has the most people by far, and the tastiest beers. It’s something that everybody has to do at least once in their lives; you can’t have more fun with a beer in your hand.

Also, when you consider that hostels in Munich during Oktoberfest go up to at least €50, plus breakfast, lunch, dinner and beers, you’ll realise that travelling with Stoke is the most cost effective way to travel. There’s so much included! And you’re guaranteed to meet new, cool, maybe cute, people. What kind of price can you put on that?? (We’ve worked it out and the price you can put on that is €65).

If you’re still not convinced then you need to sort out your priorities! The world’s biggest beer fest! It’s so, so worth it. Stoke Travel has plenty of space, but we do sell out on the weekends, so you’d better consider booking sooner rather than later.