Oktoberfest Reservations 2023: what are the odds to get one?
Although evening reservations are almost unavailable to non-regulars, there are some exceptions.
Oktoberfest reservations are available to first-timers in vast numbers - for lunchtime, weekdays. Reservations for those time slots may be valuable for very large groups but aren't recommendable for most visitors. Evening and weekend reservations, which are actually valuable, are, in general, only available to regulars and are being renewed each year.
But luckily, there are exceptions to that rule. Each year, many of our reservation alarm subscribers score very valuable reservations for evenings and weekends. In this article, we want to show what you can expect based from each tent based on our experience from past years.
As it's, in most tents, still unlikely to get an evening reservation, don't forget about our Facebook group, where many seats are offered each year, especially on short notice.
Armbrustschützenzelt
The Armbrustschützenzelt is one of the most newbie-friendly tents of the Oktoberfest. In the last years, there were several weekend afternoon reservation slots available for anyone in the regular reservation form - even for the opening.
Additionally, you could even get your hands on a couple of evening reservations. Some of those, however, required a written justification of your reservation request. Also, there were very interesting last-minute reservations in 2019 - even for Saturday evenings. Those were, however, gone in a couple of minutes each time they were released.
Augustiner-Festhalle
The Augustiner tent is totally different. Reservations are almost all renewed by regulars over and over again. Before 2019, even lunchtime reservations haven't been publicly available for several years in a row. However, the tent offered left-over reservations only a couple of weeks before the Oktoberfest in their reservation office in the city.
The Augustiner Tent has a huge amount of regulars.
Bräurosl
After being taken over by its new host, Peter Reichert, the Bräurosl transforms from one of the least interesting tents for newbies into one of the most interesting ones. Reservation requests for 2022 have been accepted since May 2021.
As only smaller numbers of regulars from the Bräurosl or Reichert's former tent Schönheitskönigin were taken over, many reservations were already given to non-regulars.
Fischer-Vroni
Fischer-Vroni not only has many regulars but also a terribly user-unfriendly reservation system. At least, availabilities are publicly available. Some Sunday afternoons could be reserved by non-regular in the last couple of years.
Last-minute reservations were available in two-hour shifts for groups as small as two people.
Käfer Wiesnschänke
Although the Wiesnschänke isn't even full on Saturday afternoons, only the most unattractive reservation slots are available in the reservation form. Well, its host probably has too many good friends...
Hacker-Festzelt
Despite being one of the most popular tents, the Hacker tent is known to release some valuable reservation slots in the regular reservation form, especially Sunday nights. It's also one of the most transparent ones concerning availabilities.
Nonetheless, even lunchtime reservations are usually almost all gone by the beginning of the Oktoberfest.
The Hacker Tent is one of the two most popular Oktoberfest tents.
Hofbräu-Festzelt
In past years, Sunday afternoons were the most exciting slots in Hofbräu tent's reservation form. However, in 2022, the tent started with Sunday and Monday night shifts and, in 2023, even offered evening reservations for a whopping four different days.
Löwenbräu-Festzelt
Only reservations for lunchtime from Monday through Thursday are offered publicly. There's no information about the availability of valuable time slots.
Marstall-Festzelt
We're used to seeing mildly attractive three-hour shifts for weekend afternoons in the reservation form. However, you're also asked to preorder manus, champagne, and even water as part of the reservation process. Of course, only for logistic reasons...
Ochsenbraterei
The oxen grill has the most extensive offering of last-minute reservations. Each day, they would release evening reservations. The availability of regular reservations is announced publicly. Sunday afternoons may sometimes show up in the reservation form.
The Ochsenbraterei has the most last-minute reservations.
Schottenhamel-Festhalle
Modestly interesting three-hour (fore-) noon and afternoon shifts are often even available for weekends. The Schottenhamel tent is usually one of the first to accept reservation requests.
Schützenfestzelt
The Schützenzelt is usually not publicly offering reservations. Just very uninteresting lunchtime slots from Monday through Wednesday can be expected to be available.
Weinzelt
The wine tent usually is the only one that offers evening reservations long before the beginning of the Oktoberfest and not only leftovers.
Winzerer Fähndl (Paulaner Festzelt)
Paulaner's hosts collected reservation requests for very attractive spots over several weeks. Our test reservations confirmed what many of our readers suspected: requests including more vouchers than the minimum consumption were favoured.
Oide Wiesn
The four tents of the Oide Wiesn usually offer reservations for any time slot. However, you better be fast to get the best reservation slots for the Schönheitskönigin.