Hofbräu-Festzelt

The former royal and now state-owned Hofbräuhaus has been present at Oktoberfest with a tent for a surprisingly short period of time. Even more remarkable, the first Hofbräu beer was not served at the Hofbräu tent, but at Schottenhamel in the early 50s. Finally, in 1952, Hofbräu opened its own beer tent for the very first time, which today is the largest at the Wiesn with 7,018 seats inside.

Unsurprisingly, the Wienerwald family Steinberg took over a sure-fire success in 1980. The fact that the most famous tavern in the world, the Hofbräuhaus am Platzl, also has a branch at the Wiesn is, of course, well known to the many tourists, especially Anglo-Saxons, who stop there. The crowd is so international that in the 1980s, in line with the drinking habits of many nationalities, the only standing area without a bar, with a capacity of 1,000 people, was set up directly in front of the bandstand. Incidentally, the crowd there refers to this area tellingly as the “pig pen.” If you don't qualify as a drinking tourist, you should probably stay away from this rowdy area.

The Hofbräuzelt is decorated with 12 hundredweight of hop vines. Among all the hops, the angel Aloisius hovers above the visitors. In Ludwig Thoma's satire “Ein Münchner im Himmel,” (A Municher in Heaven) Aloisius failed in his mission to deliver divine advice to the Bavarian state government because he got bogged down in the Hofbräuhaus. Incidentally, the state government has its seats – you guessed it – in the Hofbräuzelt.

After decades in which generations of foreigenrs were unsure whether the famous Hofbräuhaus was located on Platzl in the old town or only at the Oktoberfest for a maximum of 18 days a year, the brewery have been causing additional confusion since 2005 by replacing the previously much-criticized modern façade with one based on the Hofbräuhaus am Platzl.

The changing lunch specials, which are among the cheapest at the Wiesn, and the children's specials, which used to be available only on family days, are a welcome addition.

Atmosphere and Music

The atmosphere in the Hofbräuzelt is very different from that at the Platzl. While the Hofbräuhaus has established itself as a bastion of Bavarian pub culture in recent years with consistently traditional brass band music in the beer hall and numerous cultural events, the branch at the Oktoberfest is simply an Oktoberfest tent – and a very international one at that. Although this means that there is Bavarian music and more Hey Baby blaring out of the tent, even more down-to-earth audiences can still have a good time there – just maybe not in the standing area.

Especially at a time when other large tents are equipped with special effects lighting and stage fog, and five-piece wedding bands stray onto the music stages in the evening, it is fair to say that the tent's bad reputation is somewhat outdated.

However, the frequency of Ein Prosit can be extremely annoying. At times, there are only four minutes of other sounds between two renditions of this precious piece.

If you’re looking to party with fellow English speakers, the standing area of the Hofbräuzelt is the place to go.

Reservations 2025

The tent started accepting reservation requests in their reservation form on March 27. They at least included the Sundays and the last Saturday afternoon.