Today, Saturday (September 19, 2026), the phrase “O'zapft is” will be launched again in Munich, which means in standard German that the first barrel of beer has been opened. The mayor's opening of the barrel every year marks the official start of this year's Oktoberfest, which continues until October 4th. This festival is considered the largest folk festival in the world.
Expanded security plan
The site is huge: Oktoberfest in Theresienwiese is spread over 34.5 hectares, the size of about 48 football fields. But the crowding is severe, especially on weekends, and sometimes it is too much. Last year, organizers had to temporarily close the entrances. The reason: In most of the 38 tents, celebrations are held in two or three reservation periods. When the tables are changed in the 14 large tents that accommodate several thousand people, a very large number of people arrive who want to enter and exit at the same time. On the afternoon of the middle Saturday of the festival last year, everything stopped temporarily. The crowding caused some people to panic.
To ensure that something like this does not happen again in the future, the city of Munich has revised its security plan for this year. 26 new cameras (in addition to 56 police cameras) film the site, while artificial intelligence technology analyzes visitor flows and raises an alarm if the place is overcrowded. A newly established coordination center will be responsible for ensuring the flow of information between the relevant security authorities and the event organizers. Organizers and police also prepared to repel drones over the site, without disclosing details about this. In addition, 600 police personnel are deployed on the ground.
A festival loved locally, regionally and internationally famous
Oktoberfest is known around the world and is an international tourist attraction. But where exactly do visitors come from? Last year the city of Munich conducted a study on this topic. Accordingly, the "Weisen" festival is still mostly regional in nature: in 2025, 41 percent of visitors came from Munich, a quarter from the surrounding areas, and 9 percent from the rest of Bavaria. Thus, three quarters of the approximately 6.5 million visitors were from Bavaria. About 4 percent came from the rest of Germany.
About 21 percent of the visitors, or approximately 1.35 million people, arrived from abroad. Visitors from the United States of America constituted the largest international group, accounting for approximately 20 percent of foreign visitors (more than 270,000 visitors), followed by Italy with a little more than 13 percent.
Slight increase in beer prices
The consumption of cannabis is prohibited throughout the festival but everyone is allowed to drink as much alcohol as they want and as much as they can afford. The cost of a beer “mas” (i.e. one liter of beer in a glass) this year is between €14.80 and €15.90, which represents only a slight increase on last year. A liter of bottled water costs 11 euros but there are also several drinking water dispensers on site.
Anyone wishing to ride the many rides must be as sober as possible. Tickets for these games range from approximately five euros to 14 euros. In 2026, Germany's popular festival culture was officially inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage List, a culture that is clearly evident at the 191st Oktoberfest, with the organizer noting that about 90 percent of the more than 130 participating entertainment facilities trace their roots back to the 19th century.
Payment methods are still very traditional in many places: many companies still only accept cash. Those who are not ready for this can withdraw some banknotes from the ATMs on site.
Traditional clothes
The question remains: what to wear when visiting the festival? People of Bavaria, who cherish their traditions, usually wear local folk costume.
For others, wearing leather pants (Lederhosen) and dirndl dresses is not mandatory, but an option. The city's Events Marketing Department advises new visitors to rent clothes first, and offers the following advice: "If you want to avoid looks, you should stay away from Seppl-Hüte hats, leather pants made of plain fabric, and mini-dirndl dresses of bright colors and made of plastic. Wearing jeans and a checked (striped) shirt will make you look more appropriate in "In all cases."
Prepared in Arabic by: M.A.M (A.J.M.)
