The best time to visit the Oktoberfest
Over six million people come to the Wiesn every year. Although it is always quite sociable, there are times when it is a little quieter and cosier at the world's largest folk festival - and days when it is particularly busy. Our Oktoberfest barometer provides an overview of visitor numbers.
Important information for the long weekend
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the Wirtsbudenstraße can get crowded when reservations change. Please use the Schaustellerstraße, Matthias-Pschorr-Straße and the various side streets to stroll around the festival grounds. We recommend that you also use the side entrances to the festival grounds and not just the main entrance.
During the reservation change in the afternoon (around 4 to 6 pm), the main entrances to the large festival tents are usually closed. Visitors without reservations have little chance of getting into the tent during this time. It's not worth queuing!
The Oktoberfest barometer - how busy it is on the individual days
When it's green, it's relatively relaxed and cosy on the Wiesn, yellow means an average number of visitors and the darker the red, the more crowded it is on the Festwiese. 2025 Oktoberfest lasts 16 days, from 20 September to 5 October.
Oktoberfest lunches, Oktoberfest weekends and family days
Munich Oktoberfest-goers have their own Oktoberfest experience and know when they can go to the festival meadow for a relaxed chicken and a fresh beer without a reservation and take a leisurely stroll across it. For everyone else, we have summarised these experiences and figures in our Oktoberfest barometer.
The middle Wiesn weekend, for example, is particularly busy, and if the weather doesn't play ball, the tents can get crowded in the morning. The two Tuesdays, the family days, also tend to be busier in the afternoons, although less in the tents than at the stalls and rides for the little ones.
And of course the public holiday, 3 October, traditionally attracts a particularly large number of visitors.
