Oktoberfest 2020

Here is a link that covers booking seating in the tents from the beer vendors: https://www.oktoberfesttours.travel/oktoberfest-munich/tickets/

RS and folks on the site have mentioned that if the tents are booked you can stand in line when they first open and may be seated at a table that is open at the time, but will have to leave when the reservation time & folks show up.

Enjoy your trip.

Table reservations would be anywhere between 25-40 euros per person. You must book the entire table which is 8-10 people. The reservation cost would include the chicken dinner. Reservations are almost impossible to obtain.
Each tent is required to keep a certain amount of tables unreserved, usually about 1/3.

Reservations directly with the tents are for entire tables (10 ppl) and cost up to 40€ per person. We reserved a lunch table during the week last year for 40€ per person (1 chicken plate couple plus 2 Maß per person).

If you are looking for less than a whole table, it is possible to get one through a travel agent reselling seats they have bought but expect to pay 70€ to 100€ per person (more if opening day or a weekend night).

DJ

How many people will you be with? Are you looking at weekday, weekend, both?
Options can vary greatly.

Thank you all for your responses and great information. The plan is that 7 of us would go to Oktoberfest on opening day, 9/19. Three in the group will be in Munich on the GAS tour, leaving on the 20th. The other four (two couples) are traveling independently. I have a contact in Munich that gets seat reservations, but I've discovered that it's impossible for opening day. Because the 4 of us traveling independently have some flexibility I was able to arrange our schedule to allow the possibility of us going on the 19th, 20th or 21st. The contact in Munich said she can get us 8 seats on the 20th or 6 seats on the 21st. I don't know the cost. I'm waiting to ask until I can get more information. Ideally we can figure out how to make this work on opening day afternoon for the 7 of us. My second choice would be during the day on the 20th for 4 people. In 2010 my husband and I went on a weekday afternoon and after a lot of searching we found a table to sit at. Maybe we would have some luck with that again. I will have to discuss with the others and see what their comfort level is. Our trip was planned around this event. I personally am okay with winging it because I don't drink beer and would prefer to not be forced to buy tickets for something I won't partake in.

We did Oktoberfest three times, in 1988, 89 and 90. Didn't need reservations then.

Not sure about today. I know crowds were lighter if you went to the beer tents at lunch instead of waiting until evening.

Love the Spatenbrau beer.

I spoke to the friends we will be traveling with and the decision was that we will pass on the reservations offered to us and take our chances. I'm hoping that if we go the day after opening day and are there before opening we might have a shot at seats. The other possibility, outside of getting lucky on opening day, would be to go first thing on the Monday morning. That's my least favorite choice. It's our 35th wedding anniversary and I'd like to spend it somewhere other than Oktoberfest. On the other hand if that's what we have to do, so be it. My husband will just owe me big time. 😉

We are looking for seats for 6 people on 9/19 Opening Day. If anyone knows any way to get this please let me know. We are all on the RS tour. Thanks!

sahahn076 -- sounds like we may be on the same tour (GAS091220). If so, look forward to meeting you and your group in Trier!

-Matt