The place to have fun Oktoberfest outdoors of Munich

Few cultural experiences evaluate to your first Oktoberfest. Dating again to 1810 and now the world’s largest people pageant, it transforms the southern German metropolis of Munich each autumn with dozens of festzelte (beer tents). Inside, guests will discover a high-spirited cacophony — oompah bands, whose rousing pop, polka and waltz renditions soundtrack a blur of dancing and consuming; revellers sporting dirndls and lederhosen sinking litres of beer; and waiters whizzing trays of roast hen and large pretzels between tables.
Around seven million persons are anticipated to attend this year’s event, which runs between 20 September and 5 October, however the celebrations now lengthen far past the Bavarian capital. Over the years, Oktoberfest’s distinctive traditions have been adopted and translated by numerous locations around the globe. Whether you’re a beer drinker, a polka-lover or just seeking an unforgettable night time out, listed here are eight occasions value travelling for.

26 September to 12 October
Starting life as a harvest pageant two centuries in the past, that is the world’s largest beer pageant after the unique Oktoberfest it shares many similarities with its Munich sibling. Taking place in Cannstatter Wasen, a 90-acre fairground northeast of Stuttgart’s metropolis centre, it brings in as much as 4 million guests every year, with the primary Sunday of the occasion marked by a two-and-a-half-mile parade that includes navy and historic bands. Eight tents, every seating between 2,000 to six,000 folks, guarantee beer stays on the coronary heart of the celebration, however its agricultural origins are additionally honoured by a grocers’ market and fruchtsäule: a 85ft column embellished with fruits, greens and grains that serves as a pageant landmark.

8-26 October 2025
The southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina could seem an unlikely setting for the world’s third-largest Oktoberfest, however Blumenau retains sturdy cultural connections with Deutschland. The metropolis was based by a German chemist and pharmacist in 1850 and settled by fellow migrants over subsequent a long time. The good-looking half-timbered buildings on XV de Novembro Street and the Alpine-influenced Parque Vila Germânica come alive throughout its three-week Oktoberfest, going sturdy since 1984. Crowds upwards of 700,000 collect to see a sequence of parades, magnificence pageants and a charismatic whirlwind of people dancing, plus capturing showdowns and Chope em Metro contests, the place rivals drink beer from metre-high glasses. Spectators dine on goulash and spatzle noodles, paired with Spaten and Löwenbräu lagers — swing by Blumenau’s Beer Museum to delve deeper into town’s sturdy brewing heritage.

18-21 October 2025
America’s largest Oktoberfest takes place in Cincinnati, Ohio. The high-energy celebration is underpinned by a beer brewing heritage that dates again 200 years, when German immigrants first settled town neighbourhood of Over-the-Rhine. Fast ahead to in the present day and Oktoberfest Zinzinnati — affectionately titled to replicate how new arrivals from Europe pronounced town’s identify — now attracts as much as 800,000 guests. Last 12 months it relocating to a brand new venue at Sawyer Point &Yeatman’s Cove, and added a brand new 1,000-seater tent. Standout annual occasions embrace the Running of the Wieners, a race between as much as 100 dachshunds dressed as hotdogs, and the world’s largest recorded hen dance, accompanied by an oompah band.

11-13 September 2025
South Africa’s longest-running Oktoberfest doubles as a fundraiser for its hosts, the capital metropolis’s German International School, the Deutsche Internationale Schule. Drawing as much as 10,000 guests, authenticity stays entrance and centre and, this 12 months, German oompah band Die Frankenräuber will likely be among the many artists performing as a part of the three-day celebration. Party-goers bounce between the biergarten (beer backyard) and funfair, whereas meals tents serve conventional German dishes together with pork knuckle, schnitzel and bockwurst (sausage made with pork and veal). The revelry usually continues late into the night time, however Saturday is called household day, with rides, video games and reside music from 10am.

26 September to 18 October 2025
Ontario’s conjoined twin cities of Kitchener and Waterloo are residence to a number of the world’s largest Oktoberfest celebrations outdoors Germany. Both communities had been settled by the descendants of migrants — the previous was referred to as Berlin till 1916 — who’ve long-championed their Teutonic roots; this Munich-inspired occasion has been operating for greater than half a century. A keg tapping at Carl Zehr Square in Downtown Kitchener is the kick-off for in depth cross-cultural celebrations that draw as much as 700,000 folks to the area. Highlights embrace a Thanksgiving Day parade in Kitchener, the bigger of the 2 cities, with floats, costumed bands and inflatables making their means down Weber Street; hockey tournaments; and a standalone youngsters’s occasion — however there’s additionally reside music, scorching schnitzels and free-flowing beer throughout six distinct festhallen (pageant halls).

19-21 & 26-28 September 2025
Rising in opposition to the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains, Colorado’s Mile High City has a repute for craft breweries. Its annual Oktoberfest — among the many nation’s longest-running — is timed to coincide with Denver Beer Week. Taking place over two weekends within the energetic Ballpark District at twenty first and Larimer Street, all of the big-hitting Bavarian parts are current and proper. The ample entertainments embrace oompah bands, hen dances and late-night silent discos, whereas a vibrant occasions schedule options stein-hoisting, keg bowling and numerous expertise contests.

14-16 & 21-24 November 2025
Up within the mountains, about 55 miles south of the central Argentine metropolis of Córdoba, Villa General Belgrano hosts one of many world’s most picturesque beer festivals. The village was based by German prospectors in 1930 and its aesthetic stays charmingly alpine, with crimson gabled roofs and manicured gardens a becoming setting for its totally fledged Oktoberfest, now 60 years previous. The motion performs out in opposition to the rugged backdrop of the Calamuchita Valley over two weekends every November — head to Parque Cervecero for a rousing spectacle of beer tapping, reside music and crowds clad in conventional gown, sampling regionally brewed beers that talk of the village’s Bavarian heritage.

26 September to 13 October 2025
Japan’s largest Oktoberfest celebration can be among the many world’s most genuine, because of its roster of official pageant beers imported from Bavaria, in addition to music performed by conventional German orchestras. Launched on the flip of the millennium and based mostly on the Red Brick Warehouse, a historic former customs home on the port metropolis’s waterfront, this vibrant occasion welcomed 130,000 folks by means of its doorways final 12 months, to discover its cavernous tents and three beer gardens. Sustenance comes within the type of goulash, pretzels and sausage, served alongside a broad vary of Japanese craft beers, highball cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks.