When is Oktoberfest in Munich? Dates, length and the rule for the coming years

Oktoberfest 2026 is scheduled from 19 September 2026 to 4 October 2026, so 16 days on the Theresienwiese. The first barrel is tapped on the opening Saturday at noon.

If you are planning a trip from abroad, you need the dates of the following years too. None of the official pages reviewed gives them as of 28 September 2026. This page therefore works them out from the rule the city has applied for decades, and says clearly what is confirmed and what is not.

What rule does Munich use to set the dates?

The festival ends on the first Sunday in October. If that Sunday falls on 1 or 2 October, it is extended to 3 October, German Unity Day. It starts on the Saturday after 15 September.

That gives two lengths: 16 days in a normal year, 18 days in years with the extension. The last four editions follow the pattern without exception.

In 2028 the extension applies: the first Sunday in October is 1 October, so the festival would run until Tuesday 3 October. If you book for 2027 or 2028, choose free cancellation until the city publishes the dates.

How long does Oktoberfest last, overall and each day?

Overall, the Wiesn (the locals' name for the festival) lasts 16 or 18 days, depending on the calendar. Each day the grounds open Monday to Thursday from 10am to 11:30pm, on Fridays from 10am to midnight and on Saturdays from 9am to midnight.

The big tents serve until 10:30pm, an hour before closing. On opening day, only soft drinks and snacks are served before the tapping. All times by day and area are on the page about Oktoberfest opening hours.

Which days of the Wiesn have a fixed programme?

• First Saturday: the parade of the tent landlords in the morning, then the tapping at noon in the Schottenhamel tent.
• First Sunday: the costume and riflemen's parade through the city centre to the Theresienwiese. Grandstand seats cost money, the view from the kerb does not.
• Tuesdays: family day, with reduced prices on rides and at stalls until 7pm.
• Oktoberfest church service: in 2026 on 24 September in the Marstall tent.
• 3 October: public holiday, Sunday opening hours, Saturday-sized crowds.
• Last Sunday: the closing gun salute at the Bavaria statue at noon, after which the festival carries on into the evening.

Why do two official pages give different end dates?

An events page on oktoberfest.de gives the end as 5 October 2026. The opening hours, FAQ and home page on the same site give 4 October 2026, and only that date fits the rule.

The numbering differs too: the home page calls it the 191st Wiesn, the English opening hours page the 190th edition. The count skips cancelled years, and neither page explains the gap. We show both figures and plan around 4 October.

Which days are the busiest?

The official crowd barometer rates three Saturdays in 2026 as very busy: 19 September, 26 September and 3 October. Monday to Thursday mornings are quiet; at weekends the big tents often close their doors in the 4pm to 6pm window.

At the halfway point of 2026, the festival management estimated 3.8 million visitors, against 3.5 million at the same point in 2025. The city publishes no curve by hour or by day. If you want to plan your day around the crowds, the method is on the page about the Wiesn with a day plan.

What do the visitor numbers say about the dates?

The city reports 7.2 million for 2023, 6.7 million for 2024 and around 6.5 million for 2025. The comparison is uneven: 2023 lasted 18 days, the two following years 16 each.

For 2024, a second city document gives 6.8 million without explaining the difference. In 2025 the grounds stayed closed on the second Wednesday because of a bomb threat, which lowered the total. All the figures are estimates by the festival management, not counted entries.

Further reading

Prices, reservations and visitor numbers for the current edition: Oktoberfest Munich 2026 at a glance. What a day at the Wiesn costs: Oktoberfest prices. Where to sleep on those dates: the districts compared.

Sources

Sources: oktoberfest.de (visitor FAQ, opening hours, events, crowd barometer, as of 22 to 25 September 2026), City of Munich (Oktoberfest in figures 2024, provisional final report 2025, halfway report 2026), muenchen.de (Numbers and records, Top events 2026).

The 2027 and 2028 dates are calculated from the calendar rule and are not confirmed in any of these sources, as of 28 September 2026. The city publishes no hourly visitor count.