New in 2026

Also, less than ideal is the large number of tables reserved for eleven guests for the first time. At Winzerer, there are continuous benches along the divider walls that you can find in the entire tent, creating an eleventh seat at the end of the table. Anyone who has ever sat at a fully occupied beer table knows, however, that even ten hungry stomachs can only be filled simultaneously by employing room-saving eating techniques due to the lack of available space.

Those sitting at the end of the table don’t even have room for a plate, yet they must still buy their food vouchers. The fact that menu orders are to be enforced at the same time leaves a doubly unpleasant aftertaste.

Musically, the tent is again reinventing itself. Rainer Herneks and the Ludwig-Thoma-Musikanten are returning to the Oktoberfest for the first time since the pandemic hiatus. The Dachau-based group, known from the Bäurosl, will thus be able to celebrate their 50th Oktoberfest anniversary right at the Paulaner premiere. In the evening, however, the new landlord is using two party bands, Tetrapack and Nachtstark, which is an entirely new concept. Let's see how many songs you'll hear two or three times per night.

Outside, the tent is set to get a fresh coat of paint. However, this is expected to involve only repainting the figures on the tower. The heiress of Emil Kneiß, the artist who painted the work, has noticed that the Paulaner Group does not pay any royalties for the use of the motif. The beverage company apparently intends to continue this practice in the future.

New Owners for the Schützenlisl

The folk singer tent at the Oide Wiesn has been a hot topic of conversation about the Oktoberfest ever since the pandemic-induced hiatus. This year, the spot became available again because the previous owner, Lorenz Stiftl—who had only purchased the tent in 2022—has already been promoted. The former owner of the historic Kegelbahn, Michael Bietsch,will take over the tent together with the managing directors of the Munich Soup Kitchen, Florian Fendtz and Manfred Kneifel, and will continue to operate it as the Schützenlisl.

Flößerstadl Replaces Münchner Stubn

Given the tremendous effort the Münchner-Stubn owner puts into securing a large Oktoberfest tent, it was extremely surprising that he did not sign his contract with the state capital in July to operate the Münchner Stubn. Now, Klaus Bartl is stepping into the breach with his Flößerstadl.

Extension of Music Hours

In 2026, for the first time, the large festival tents will be allowed to play music on weekdays starting at 11 a.m. and on weekends starting at 10 a.m.—with the exception of opening day, of course. The reasoning behind this, however, is quite curious: Fortunately, it was determined that the overcrowding situation last year was largely caused by a large number of visitors—apparently from out of town—waiting in front of the closed beer garden entrances. The sharp increase in the proportion of tourists on weekends is therefore to be counteracted by extending the music hours, which, however, also apply to weekends. In principle, however, we are glad that this cause of overcrowding is being addressed at all. Security personnel could quite easily counteract it by preventing anyone from waiting in front of closed entrances in the first place.

It is also interesting that the regulation specifies that only traditional brass band music may be played until noon. For decades now, there has been a rule that no high-energy music may be played until 6:00 p.m. The final report for Oktoberfest 2025 merely states, “This year, too, it was observed on multiple occasions that music was deliberately played even before 6:00 p.m.—in some cases as early as the early afternoon—to lure visitors to the benches.”

However, this repeated violation of the rules has no consequences. Furthermore, last year the Hofbräuhaus tent, the Armbrustschützenzelt, the Augustiner Festhalle, the Löwenbräu tent, the Ochsenbraterei, and the Bräurosl committed to playing only traditional brass band music until 6:00 p.m. Hardly any Oktoberfest visitor would agree with the RAW’s assertion that bands “generally” adhere to this rule. The Ochsenbraterei, for example, advertises at its main entrance that brass band music will be played until 3 p.m.

Hopefully, bringing the start of the music forward won’t lead to a reduction in brass band music in the afternoon. We wouldn’t be particularly surprised if some bands interpreted the new rule to mean that the Schlager disco kicks off at noon. Surprisingly, the Paulaner Festzelt has announced that it will start playing music as early as 10 a.m., even on weekdays. However, we expect the new landlord to read through the city's guidelines again.

Adjustment to the Minimum Consumption Requirement

Another very interesting change is the adjustment to the minimum consumption requirement at the Oide Wiesn. The tent hosts are no longer allowed to demand the additional food and drink voucher in the “boxes”—a practice that has become standard in the boxes and on the galleries, amounting to 18 €. Why, however, does this welcome change only affect the already less profitable tents at the Oide Wiesn?

We simply cannot understand why a higher minimum spending requirement is permitted in these areas at all. Several tents have rather arbitrarily designated parts of their central aisles as “boxes” simply to be able to charge this higher minimum food and drink purchase. How does this benefit the Oktoberfest?

In the Hacker tent, for example, the rear six rows of the central aisle are merely fenced off and have signs reading “Boxe” above them—and suddenly the higher minimum purchase is possible. This situation becomes even more frustrating when combined with very short reservation slots, which more and more tent operators are introducing for box seats and galleries. Within three hours, visitors are expected to consume two Maß, a fried chicken, and a second meal—or a third Maß to use the additional voucher.

Optimizations and Volume Discounts for the Oide Wiesn

The Oide Wiesn still hasn’t recovered from the effects of the pandemic and remains far below the visitor numbers of pre-pandemic years (2019: 556,920); the 372,001 visitors in 2025 are significantly lower than the 447,356 in 2024. This decline is to be countered with organizational and programmatic measures. On the organizational side, this will begin this year with an optimization of the admission process. Congestion at the entrance is to be prevented by replacing admission wristbands with QR codes. Re-entry will be facilitated by stamps. In addition, the entrance closest to the actual Oktoberfest grounds will also be available for initial entry. Previously, this entrance was reserved for re-entry only. Without delays caused by putting on admission wristbands, it is no longer necessary to distinguish between initial entry and re-entry.

While there will still be no season pass, for the first time, twelve admission tickets will be sold for the price of ten. According to the city council motion, this will not be a single ticket allowing twelve entries, but rather twelve individual, transferable tickets.

Changes to the requirements for the music programs, however, will not take effect until 2027. The officials responsible for admission decisions will surely recall that, during its heyday, two of the three large tents at the Oide Wiesn were allocated for other purposes than has been the case in the recent past.

More News from the Festival Tents

The Bodos Café Tent is being completely rebuilt from wood.

Fischer-Vroni received a new crest sign. In addition, the roof truss of the street sale was replaced, and the west side will be fitted with a transparent gable awning.

The excellent Fliesendischmusi has been extended by two days at Fisch-Bäda and is now playing there every weekday—though, unfortunately, only at lunchtime.

Weinzelt replaces the Styrian band Sunnseitn with the Styrian band Die jungen Wilden on weekdays.

New Rides

This year, The Fisherman's Place is a new fun house featuring water effects. Shake & Roll also marks the return of a ride type that most Oktoberfest visitors are likely to remember from Insider.

We believed the return of the Munich Zugspitzbahn to be certain. It has changed owners and, freshly renovated, was expected to delight us again this year on Schaustellerstraße. However, its restoration wasn't finished in time, and the new owner couldn't sign his contract. The ride will therefore be replaced by the returnee Chaos Pendel.

Oide Wiesn will, unfortunately, lose the wall of death without any replacement. Also, Calypso will not return for another year.

For the first time, Oktoberfest visitors can experience intangible cultural heritage. The Schichtl has been honored with inclusion in the Bavarian State Register of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Lost & Found Hast To Move

Because the city needs space for a coordination office and a security control center in response to last year’s overcrowding, the lost-and-found office must relocate. It will no longer be located on the festival grounds but at the German Museum’s Transportation Center, Am Bavariapark 5. The office’s hours have also been adjusted as a result. Instead of staying open until 10 p.m., it will now close at 8 p.m.

The Oktoberfest Poster 2026

It’s a Munich law of nature that people will grumble about the choice of the Oktoberfest poster. Rarely, perhaps never before, has the criticism been as intense as this year. In addition to the perpetually outraged, who actually manage to take offense at the use of primary colors, there were loud doubts from Munich’s graphic design community regarding the integrity of the competition winner, Florian Huber.

The accusation is that he used an AI generator, even though such tools were expressly excluded from the competition. The infallible Economic Affairs Department, with its lack of interest in clarifying the matter, did little to calm the situation.

Music Competition 2026

The band Troglauer won the second round of the music competition "A Liad für d'Wiesn." Their song Bierzeltlegende received 22,000 of the 72,000 votes cast. The song must now be played daily by the festival bands during Oktoberfest.