If you’re looking for an excuse to OD on hot wurst and cold beer, head for an Oktoberfest. Yes, the “real deal” is in Munich, but dozens of U.S. and Canadian cities make a big deal out of Oktoberfest—some extended, some just a day or two, with varying dates. Here’s an update of the Oktoberfest season for 2024. It’s already too late to beat the crowd for hotel accommodations and event tickets, but if you have a fall hankering for a pint or two of cold beer and a hot wurst, you can still make it.
I see airfares from the United States to Munich available at about the same level as earlier September, but hotel prices are up sharply. If you’re looking for a deal, your best bet now is to wait and see if demand doesn’t meet expectations and hotels cut prices. Keep in mind also that, unless you really want to be there for the hoopla, Munich will not run out of beer earlier or later.
Of course, you don’t have to schlep thousands of miles for a cold beer and a hot wurst. You can also find Oktoberfest celebrations of varying authenticity much closer to home.
- Several sources cite Cincinnati’s Oktoberfest Zinzinnati (OktoberfestZinzinnati.com/) as the largest in the United States, operating this year the weekend of Sept. 19 to 22.
- New Braunfels, Texas, between Austin and San Antonio, makes a strong claim to German heritage. But its Nov. 1 to 10 bash is called “Wurstfest” (Wurstfest.com/) scheduled this year for Nov. 2 to 11. The festival runs a full eight days in dedicated festival grounds and features what you'd expect.
- In Canada, the top-rated Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest (Oktoberfest.ca/), about 70 miles west of Toronto and 90 miles northwest of Niagara Falls, runs Sept. 27 to Oct. 19 this year. The festival features six Festhallen in the city center, with the expected German food and drink.
The primary authenticity deficiency of Oktoberfest in the United States is that what they call “Wienerschnitzel” is most likely to be either pork or chicken rather than the authentic veal, overpounded and overbreaded. But pork-based “Schweinschnitzel” is a perfectly good dish, and getting decent veal for true Wienerschnitzel is almost impossible in most of the United States.
You can’t discuss Oktoberfest without starting at the real deal in Munich. But if you don’t mind missing some of the hokey entertainment, huge crowds, and high prices, Munich offers much of the Oktoberfest features all year, with great wurst, sauerbraten, schnitzel, and oom-pah-pah music. And you never need to worry that Munich will run out of beer. But you can also enjoy great beer, wurst, and gemutlichkeit at a much lower cost in New Braunfels, Cincinnati, Kitchener, or a German festival near you.
