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 Oktoberfest in Munich is so popular that hotels start to fill up more than a year in advance. -- Photos by Camay Sungu, CP |
Q: I would like to surprise my husband for our 15th anniversary with a trip to Munich for Oktoberfest in 2006. Unfortunately, the hotels are already booking fast and the moderate hotels are very expensive! I was wondering if you had any recommendations. No hostels or shared bathrooms please! Thanks.
-- Name withheld, Burlington
A: As you have found, Munich accommodations are in peak demand during Oktoberfest. Ulla Henning-Pfau, director for the German National Tourist Office in Toronto, suggests that visitors on a budget stay in nearby towns and make daytrips into Munich for festival events.
According to Hennings-Pfau, the medieval city of Landshut or Augsburg, which are roughly a 1 hour train ride from Munich, are good bets.
"The train connections are very good and the train service is frequent," says Henning-Pfau. For details on hotel accommodations in those towns, check the following websites: Regio-augsburg.de, which is the Augsburg Tourism Office and landshut.de, which is the Landshut Tourism Office. Both sites provide information in English and have sublinks on hotels and accommodations.
For instance the Landshut Tourism Office lists the 30-room Hotel Park-Cafe from 52 euros for a double room -- a bargain compared to Munich. Another resource worth considering is the Germany Hotel website at hotellerie.de.
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Wherever you stay, you are sure to enjoy the annual beer extravaganza. Besides hearing the familiar strains of Roll Out The Barrel and watching polka dancing revellers stomp to the um-pa-pa beat, you'll be bound to see lots of lederhosen and eat plenty of sausages to go with that pint.
The annual Oktoberfest, which dates back to 1810, is today the world's largest folk festival that is celebrated at the same location as it was when King Ludwig I and his bride, Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen, married there. The royal pair invited the citizens of Munich to attend the festivities held on the fields in front of the city gates to celebrate the happy royal event.
Today, the meadows are still referred to as Theresienwiese ("Theresa's fields") although the locals have since shortened the term to "Wies'n."
For more on travel to Germany, contact GNTO at cometogermany.com or 416-968-1685. For more on Munich, log on to muenchen.de.