There is a bridge over the Spree directly at the Federal Chancellery in Berlin. If you walk across it, you will find yourself at the Zollpackhof, a Bavarian inn that has also been celebrating Oktoberfest for ten years. It’s Saturday afternoon and things are happy. Children run around in the small playground in one corner of the beer garden, while adults who stay in Berlin but still want to drink real Oktoberfest beer sit in the rest. And on a stage under a large chestnut tree, host Benjamin Groenewold beams as the brass band sings “Happy to Coziness.” “It couldn’t be more central in Berlin, but that’s Bavaria,” says Groenewold about his inn.
The dimensions at this Oktoberfest are of course different. Groenewold speaks of up to 2,000 guests on an Oktoberfest day, which is just that – a day. “We celebrate the tapping here, but not Oktoberfest every day. It should be the original,” says Groenewold.
Host Benjamin Groenewold, with a beer in his hand, conducts the brass band on Oktoberfest day in his Zollpackhof tavern.
(Photo: Robert Emanuel Laubach)
Some guests also notice this. “They’re making an effort here, but it’s not Bavaria. It’s more like a beer garden and music,” says Benjamin Hartwig, who is sitting at the table with three friends and drinking a beer. He also points out that almost no one wears traditional costumes. But that doesn’t bother him because he goes to various Oktoberfests in Berlin with his friends. “The offerings get bigger every year,” he says.
He’s right, the city portal berlin.de performs fifteen different Oktoberfests. However, the extent and dates differ fundamentally. Some – like the Zollpackhof – are limited to a single day. Others run from early September to late October. Which doesn’t mean that you party for eight weeks without a break. These long Oktoberfest festivals usually only open their doors to Oktoberfest fans on weekends. Even in the party-loving capital, more would hardly be possible.
For example, there is the Spreewiesn. Located directly at the Ostbahnhof, several organizers share the festival site. Every week there is the “Wilden Wiesn” (mind you: plural, not singular like the Bavarian original), every Thursday the “Wiesn Afterwork”, which is advertised with the addition “Don’t tell your boss”, and every Monday the “Gaywiesn “. The quota of traditional costumes there is significantly higher than in the Zollpackhof, as is the quota of men.
Instead of a brass band, the music is made by a DJ named Ronny. He plays a mixture of pop songs and hits from the past 20 years. After a set on the stage inside the tent, many visitors come to the covered outdoor area and relax from dancing. A drag queen named Cathrinsche struts past.
When asked about the timing of the celebration on Monday evening, she said: “Yes, many people have to go back to work tomorrow, but that also makes it more relaxed. People don’t overdo it.” You hear this point again and again at the various Berlin Oktoberfests. There are no pictures like those on the infamous Kotzhügel in Munich and there are almost never any fights. Nevertheless, security guards are also employed at the Berlin Oktoberfest to check bags and intervene if necessary.
The Wiesn imitators mentioned so far focus largely on the partying, the beer, the music and the outfits. But you won’t find the folk festival character of the original there. At least according to the name, the “October Folk Festival” in Potsdam promises something different. The Brandenburg state capital borders directly on the southwest of Berlin, and the festival site is not far from the main train station there. In contrast to most Berlin festivals, it opens daily from the end of September to late October.
There are rides and stalls at the Oktoberfest in Potsdam. But you won’t find any tents or traditional costumes here.
(Photo: Robert Emanuel Laubach)
There are smaller rides and the typical fair stalls here. Fathers try to win plush toys for their children during star shooting, but are usually unsuccessful. A boy who barely exceeds the age limit of six years buckles up to the ten-meter-high free-fall tower, and teenagers breakdancers get into Formula 1-style cars. The cars are modeled after teams like Jaguar and Benetton. With a total of eight rides and about twice as many other stalls, the festival in Potsdam is quite small. You won’t find any tents or beer mugs here, nor will you find visitors in traditional costumes.
To the “Capital Wiesn” at the Spinnerbrücke, always follow the noise
A few kilometers along the A9 – formerly the transit route from Munich to West Berlin – on the way back from Potsdam to Berlin you will also find the Spinnerbrücke, where the “Capital Wiesn” has been held for 15 years (here too: “Wiesn” in the plural) . If you leave the motorway there or arrive there by S-Bahn, you don’t need any signposts. On Saturday evening the music is unmistakable even from a distance. Up close you can see numerous guests – almost all of them in lederhosen or dirndls – making their way to a large wooden hut.
Every year, the waste wood comes from Pleiskirchen in Bavaria on six semi-trailers, says organizer Frank Wobeser, and then the hut is built over ten days. That’s not exactly cheap and explains the long opening times and prices. If you want to celebrate here on the weekend between September 9th and October 28th, you have to pay 20 euros. Seats are only available for those who book in advance.
This also leads to the first moment of frustration. Amy Kornetzki sits on a stool next to a table and complains. She reserved a place and didn’t get one. Organizer Wobeser shows his seating plan and emphasizes that he has not offered any seats for this evening for days. Everything is full.
At the “Capital Wiesn” at the Spinnerbrücke, guests celebrate in a huge wooden hut. The mood is exuberant, the smartwatch warns of hearing damage.
(Photo: Robert Emanuel Laubach)
Then later the band Kraxlhaxer, climbs the stage, Amy also seems to have forgotten the anger. She stands in the crowd on the dance floor and sings “Hey Baby.” The mood is exuberant, and after just two minutes in the hut, the smartwatch warns: At this volume, short-term hearing damage could occur after half an hour. But in the hut at the Spinner Bridge it’s far from over. “We turn off the music at 1:15 a.m. Most people have been there for almost seven hours, so that’s enough,” says Wobeser.
Even if none of the celebrations can replicate the original, Oktoberfest has arrived in Berlin and the surrounding area. If you visit several of them at the same time, you can take in different aspects: a cozy beer garden atmosphere, a trendy party or a fair. And it can be very small too. A gentleman on the S-Bahn towards an Oktoberfest makes this clear. He wears traditional costume because his regulars’ table meets in the evening. And he decided to set this meeting under the motto Oktoberfest.