My boyfriend and I jetted off to Munich last week in order to gain our first taste of the Oktoberfest celebrations.
After catching the train down to London on the Wednesday, we spent the evening watching 'The Book of Mormon' at the Prince of Wales Theatre - which was absolutely incredible - and then, after spending the night at The Regency Hotel in South Kensington, leisurely made our way to Heathrow on the Thursday afternoon.
After landing in Munich at around 5pm, we made what turned out to be the rather lengthy journey to our hotel (FYI, if you ever fly over there with Lufthansa, be sure to use the shuttle service to the city center that they put on rather than using the train. It actually costs less - around €10 - and eliminates (what turned out to be) the rather difficult task of having to decipher which sort of ticket it is you need to purchase).
Thankfully, when we did eventually arrive we were in no way disappointed. The Eurostars Book Hotel was perfect - spotless, great facilities, incredibly friendly staff and best of all, just a stones throw away from the Oktoberfest site itself. I can honestly say that everything considered, it is by far the best place that I have ever stayed at.
That evening we asked the lady at reception for a recommendation of somewhere traditional that we could go and eat. She suggested a place called Augustiner Keller - one of Munich's oldest and most popular beer halls. And so, with the help of trusty old Google Maps we made our way there and what a welcome we received! Both the atmosphere and the location were just indescribable. The beer garden itself was set under a sea of chestnut trees bathed in fairy lights, and inside, the rooms were lined with packed banquet tables, the inhabitants of which were belting out the words to the traditional German folk songs that were being played.
When we were eventually seated and had thrust upon us, a liter of Munich's finest, we took the time to order some food. I went for beef, with creamed spinach and fried potatoes and Dave stayed even more traditional and chose a bratwurst platter along with accompanying sauerkraut - both tasted delicious.
Over the next few days, we established somewhat of a routine in that once we were up, showered and had taken full advantage of the free breakfast buffet in order to ease our groggy heads, it was off to Oktoberfest itself. There we would find a spot within one of the many beer gardens situated next to the fourteen giant tents and sit there for three or four hours sipping away, taking great delight in the people watching opportunity that lay before us.
One thing I would say if you are planning to visit Oktoberfest and if it is your first time, is that the tents themselves can be incredibly intimidating when you first arrive. We were naive enough on our first day, to think that there would be a bar to order at, but in reality it is just a case of having to plonk yourself down wherever you can find a space (everywhere is jam packed by around 10am) and within five minutes someone will be there in full attire ready to bring you the "Zwei bier, bitte!" that you are after.
Likelyhood of finding a table within the tents themselves (especially if you are in a larger group) isn't great unless you are willing to queue from around 6am as most are reserved (or so we were told by a group of local guys we got chatting to), however, we were very lucky with the weather which meant that sitting outside in the beer gardens was in fact much preferable to being inside and as there were just the two of us, finding a seat did not prove to be too much of an issue (you just have to be cheeky sometimes and not be afraid of squeezing in!).
One of the highlights of the trip took place on our second evening when again, we were recommended a beer hall named Hofbrauhaus in the city center. Not only was the atmosphere and food served there fantastic, but we ended up sitting next to a group of lovely German guys who we spent all evening chatting away to. It was especially nice to do this as it allowed us to immerse ourselves in and learn more about the culture without feeling like we stuck out due to our embarrassingly poor accents and grasp on even the most basic of phrases (I definitely need to brush up on my GCSE German!).
The whole thing really was such a special experience and I enjoyed every minute of it. In fact we enjoyed it so much, we are half thinking of making it into a bit of a tradition. If you ever get the chance to go to Oktoberfest or even just Munich itself then I would seriously urge you to do so and if you are looking for somewhere to stay, the Eurostars Book Hotel along with it's giant memory foam mattresses and delicious desserts can be highly recommended!