Little Oktoberfest

Goose Weber
Oct 25, 2019
5 min read

Little Oktoberfest— Everything you need to know

When people think of Oktoberfest, they generally think of the big one in Munich, Germany. Did you know there is another slightly smaller but just as festive? And by slightly smaller, I mean like 4 million visitors versus 6 million. This one is called Cannstatter Volkfest down in Stuttgart, Germany. This is the second largest beer festival in Europe and also known as Little Oktoberfest. It generally runs from September 27th to October 13th. So if you’re interested in learning how to book a table in a tent for next year’s fest, I will try to provide the best directions possible. Google Translate will be your best friend in this endeavor.

1. Start planning early!

Figure out the date(s) you want to go. Although this fest is later in the year, if you have any hopes of sitting in a tent, you better book early on! This year, I planned a group trip for about 10 of us to head down to the fest. I started the planning in January and booked the table by February 3rd. I checked the tables again in April and most were all booked already. The tentative dates for the fest in 2020 according to the website are from September 25th to October 11th. Below is a sample of the fest hours based on the 2019 schedule.

2. How are you going to get there?

Stuttgart does have an international airport but for me, the ticket prices were a bit too expensive. You also have the option of flying into Frankfurt and either driving, taking a bus, or a train down to Stuttgart. The bus is your cheapest option but can take about 3-3.5 hours. The train ride is roughly 2 hours. When we went, we rented a big van and drove down to Stuttgart. We had plans to drive down to Switzerland later in the trip, otherwise we would have taken the train.

3. Do you want to sit in a tent?

Just to be clear, it is not an actual tent. They are large buildings, each one sponsored by a major German beer. You have the option of just walking around the fest for free; it is very much like a fair. Well, like a giant fair. There are rides, food, drinks, games, booths, beer gardens, souvenir booths, and more. However, if you want to sit where there is a stage, the large picnic tables, giant liter beers, all around huge party, then you definitely want to sit in a tent. This year, we sat in Dinkelacker. Booking a table is a minimum of 5 or 10 seats. You will not be able to get in the tent without a wristband but more on that below.

4. Things to keep in mind

As far as transportation to and from the fest, I would suggest getting familiar with the intercity train routes. If you use an international plan on your phone, it should be able to tell you the specific train to take based on where you are staying. And speaking of accommodations, do not wait to book your hotel, AirBnB, apartments, etc. They will book up FAST. We went opening weekend and everything was either sold out or exponentially pricier. Also worth mentioning, because we went opening weekend, the crowd was INSANE. We waited a long time to get in our tent, even with the designated entry point. It took us a good 20-30 minutes just to get to our table. Then when we finally got to our table, we placed our order of beers and it took 45 MINUTES for us to get them. Many of the other tables around us had their beers and snacks meanwhile we just sat there and waited. I understand the servers were probably swamped but it was just unfortunate.

Post fest: everything was pretty much closed Sunday so if you need essentials, stock up the day before the fest. Have plenty of water, bring Ibuprofen or Advil, and snacks.

5. Booking the table

Below, I will include screenshots on how to book your table in the tent of your choice.

Once you get to the “landing page”, you can hover over the tent option and a list of beers will drop down.

I will choose the Dinkelacker option just for the purpose of these directions. The page will look like so:

From there, you can continue to the Reservations box and select the hyperlink provided.

You should be brought to this site:

If the site is not ready to accept reservations yet, you can visit this link instead https://www.klauss-und-klauss.de/wasen/

When the Fest is open for Reservations, you will be able to select the table in whichever selection you choose, should it not be taken already.

Open up the Seating Plan to get an idea of the table and section you would like to sit in.

We sat at table 175. Now that I know better, I would have chosen a table more directly in front of the stage versus off to the side.

When you go to select a table, you will first choose a date then choose a day time showing or evening time. We chose the evening with a show time of 6:00 PM. Of note, when booking a table, there is no option of booking just 1 seat, from what I found anyway, someone can correct me if I am wrong. The minimum it would let me book was 5 “seats”, the maximum for a table being 10. I opted for the 10. When I proceeded with the booking, I found that I had to pay for the reservation. The prices varied from I believe 39€ to 50€, depending on time and day. Because we chose a Saturday night, each seat was 50€. However, don’t be deterred by the price tag. The 50€ not only reserves your seat, but it also includes food and drink vouchers. After you pay (there is a PayPal option or directly from the site), it will ask for an address to mail you your purchases. It will ask for a German address but if you note that it is an international address to the United States, they will deliver there as well. I panicked so I asked my brother if I could mail the tickets to his house in Germany. I emailed the company and they told me that they do indeed ship to the United States though, so don’t freak out.

After you book, you will get an email with your “contract” which basically says you are allowed so many days to cancel your booking. The receipt also details what date you selected, area in the tent, table number, and what is included in your 50€.

Each seat came with 50€ of money “vouchers” (wertmarke) that they would accept at the table for your drinks and food. Keep in mind also that they do check for wristbands at the door. There were some people leaving the tent early and were giving away their wristbands but I would not depend on that. Get one ahead of time just to be safe.

Leading up to the fest, you will get an email telling you your entry time and location depending on the area you are seated in. Since we were in the main hall Mittelschiff, our entry time was 6:15 PM and later in entry point A & B.

Once you’re there, you’re there though! It can be a little daunting when trying to book a table if you aren’t familiar with the links but Google Translate will definitely come in handy. If you have any specifics questions or get stuck on any of the process, don’t hesitate to contact me and I will do what I can to help out. This is a fest I will definitely be going to again (this was my second time already). So get your lederhosen and dirndls ready and start planning your trip for next year's fest! Hope to see you there. Prost!

Goose, out.