Octoberfest 2018

Public transportation in Germany is very good. You should have little trouble staying out of town and visiting for the Fest. I find this to be a good template on DB for checking trains:

https://reiseauskunft.bahn.de//bin/query.exe/en

I have stayed in Landsberg (not for Oktoberfest) and liked it. I think I prefer Augsburg for restaurant and hotel choices. Plus I think it has a little better transportation connections. Landshut is also a nice small town with good connections (less than an hour from Munich) and good tourist services.

This is actually a fairly common tactic, I and many others have done it since even with reservations far ahead, Munich hotel prices skyrocket for opening weekend. We stayed in Tegernsee, about a half hour or so on the BOB train from Munich. It is nice for getting a bit of the Alps, some hiking, beer, scenery, and a bath house; but maybe not as handy for daytripping to places other than Munich.

Many people mention Augsburg in addition to Landshut, both are well located for rail service. For a smaller town Freising is nice, couple good breweries, not sure of hotel prices though, it is closer to Munich and near the airport, so it may see more people.

We lived in Augsburg for four years and did Oktoberfest three times. It is a short train ride.
Augsburg is a great city to visit as well.

Hotels book up very early, so not sure anything is available even now in Munich.

The opening day has a great parade, but the crowds are huge.

Oberammergau is a great place to visit, but I doubt if transport is that super.
Fussen is some distance away as well.

Bad Tolz, not sure if that is on the rail line from Munich to Salzburg. Check it out.
I have been to all these places and would recommend Augsburg over then for quick transport.

One thing to remember, after a few liters of great beer, do you want transport to be that complicated? We had one German in our group that got on the wrong train on the way to Salzburg instead of back to Augsburg, after a few liters.

Bad Tölz is not the train line to Salzburg.

It is near the end of a BOB branch line from Munich, one stop from the end of the line at Lenggries.

Like Paul, I’ve also stated on the Tegernsee for opening weekend of Oktoberfest. We usually stayed in Bad Wiessee side of the lake as the hotels are very reasonably priced and don’t seem to be affected by Oktoberfest. Last year we stayed at Hotel Setzberg zum See and paid 114€ per night for a double room. I’ve also stayed at Hotel Garni am Kureck, Pension Bergsee, and Hotel Bellevue. There is a lot of hotels in this area and they are all pretty similar.

Your hotel in Tegernsee will give you a card you can use to ride the bus around the lake for free. To get to and from Munich there is a combo BOB-MVV group ticket for 37€ good for the munich inner zone and all BOB trains. For 4 people this is a better deal than a Bayern Ticket.

I’ll add that there is a half marathon around the lake the first Sunday of Oktoberfest so getting out of the area that morning can be hectic, or just do what I do and participate in the race!

DJ

When I was there for Octoberfest couple years ago, I stayed at a Holiday Inn in Munich. It wasn't very expensive even for the opening weekend compared to other hotels (€140 a night, I booked it 6 weeks before the stay) and was located directly on top of a subway stop only a couple stops from the Octoberfest grounds. OK, so the hotel didn't have any real German flair, but I wasn't there for the hotel. The hotel did have a nice selection of Octoberfest beers which came in handy as it was so crowded inside Octoberfest after the parade of the wagons I could not get into a tent to get a beer! I was able to get beers on Monday.

Thanks everyone! We ended up booking a place in Augsburg. Looks like a great hub to do all we want to do. I knew I could count on the Rick Steves community to come through!!

Hi Chris- several points to add, the parade the first Sunday morning is more of a traditional parade (marching bands and drumcorps, etc) than the Saturday parade. I have used Augsburg and Ingolstadt as a base and commuted to the 'Fest.

And you might want to get the free info at this URL-

http://www.oktoberfest-insider.com/oktoberfestinsider2018.pdf

especially if this is your first 'Fest.

And be careful about getting on the right train back to Augsburg- My first time experience was similar to that mentioned by geovagriffith, even with an Augsburg native we got on the wrong train leaving Munich and had to backtrack.

Have a great trip and save a few Biers for me!

Thanks everyone for the help. I'm reviving this post because I was wondering if anyone had some pointers on things to do in Augsburg. We'll be staying for a few days and I think that we'll spend some time in Munich and at Oktoberfest, but we'll also have some time where we'd like to explore what Augsburg has to offer.

The main attractions in Augsburg are

• the Renaissance Town Hall by Elias Holl, one of the most important Renaissance buildings north of the Alps. See the Golden Hall (tickets in the shop on the right Town Hall entrance; you can pick a map there as well)

• the cathedral (core dating back to the 11th century) and the former episcopal residence

• the renaissance / baroque basilica of St. Ulrich & Afra

• if you are interested in the history of the Reformation: the Church of St. Anna, where Luther lived at the Diet of 1518. A curiosity: the church is today half Protestant, half Catholic.

• the Mozarthaus - the birthplace of Leopold Mozart, which was owned by the Mozart family before they moved to Salzburg

• the synagogue (early 20th century), which has survived, in contrast to many other synagogues in large cities, the pogrom of 1938 and was faithfully renovated (closed on Mondays).

• Finally, unlike Munich, Augsburg is a city already founded by the Romans - it was the civil capital of the Roman province of Rhaaetia, the military one being Regensburg - and therefore has a (small) Roman museum.

BTW, please note that the Augsburg station is a huge construction site presently. Access to the trains is through the leftmost door only - no escalators or elevators available; if you have people with mobility issues in your company you can book help through DB's mobility center (+49 180 6 512 512).