Oktoberfest is a family festival with rides and attractions for all ages. Classic Ferris wheel, costume parade, Devil's wheel, and pretzels are the major highlights. Just like Oktoberfest has games for adults and kids, the attractions and roller coaster rides are for both kids and adults. https://lederhosens.com/blogs/blog/oktoberfest-games
Oktoberfest transforms Munich into the world's largest playground every fall, with millions of visitors who come to experience more than just beer halls. The festival spreads across 420,000 square meters with 80 thrilling rides, 14 massive beer tents, traditional Bavarian parades, and unique attractions ranging from the Devil's Wheel to Europe's largest transportable roller coaster.
Oktoberfest Tents and Their Unique Characters
Each of the beer tents offers a distinct personality that shapes your festival experience. Understanding these differences helps you choose where to spend your precious time at the festival.
The Giant Party Tents
The Hofbräu Festzelt stands as the largest Oktoberfest tent. It creates an international party atmosphere which is unmatched anywhere else. Standing room for more than a thousand people makes this the only tent where you can join the festivities without a seat reservation. American visitors particularly love this tent, where country roads become an unofficial anthem sung multiple times each night.
The Löwenbräu is another major Oktoberfest tent with a massive mechanical lion that roars from 37 meters above the crowd. Italian visitors have claimed this tent as their unofficial headquarters, creating a uniquely European party atmosphere.
Traditional Bavarian Experience Tents
The Augustiner Festhalle preserves old world charm by serving beer from wooden barrels. This is the only tent maintaining this 200 year old tradition. Local families favor this friendliest tent for its authentic atmosphere and special Tuesday family days with reduced prices.
Oktoberfest Rides and Roller Coasters
The rides at Oktoberfest combine German engineering excellence with pure adrenaline, creating experiences you won't find at typical amusement parks.
Olympia Looping
The world's largest transportable roller coaster dominates the fairground skyline with its five Olympic ring shaped loops. This steel monster sends riders through 1,250 meters of track at speeds reaching 100 kilometers per hour.
What makes Olympia Looping special isn't just its size but its smoothness. The ride operates with the precision of a permanent installation, despite being assembled and disassembled multiple times yearly.
The Classic Ferris Wheel
The Ferris wheel offers breathtaking views extending to the Alps on clear days as it stands 50 meters tall with 40 gondolas.
The Willenborg family has operated this landmark since 1979, making it an essential photo opportunity and a peaceful escape from the crowds below. Evening rides reveal the festival illuminated by millions of lights, a sight that captures the magical atmosphere perfectly.
Teufelsrad
Teufelsrad, also known as the Devil’s Wheel, is a classic Bavarian attraction. Participants sit on a spinning wooden wheel while it gains speed, and the last person remaining in the center wins.
The crowd cheers and laughs as riders try to stay balanced. This simple yet exciting attraction brings together local tradition and entertainment.
Sky Lift Observation Tower
The Sky Lift is one of the newest attractions at Oktoberfest and gives panoramic views of Munich and the entire festival. Its modern glass cabins rise high above the fairgrounds.
It offers a calm break from the noise and lets visitors enjoy sweeping city views. This ride appeals to families, photographers, and anyone who enjoys scenic moments.
Traditional Bavarian Parades & Tourist Attractions
The parades showcase Bavarian culture in its purest form, featuring thousands of participants who maintain old traditions.
The Costume and Riflemen's Parade
On the first Sunday, over 9,000 participants march seven kilometers through Munich in the world's largest traditional costume parade. Groups from across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and even Poland display Bavarian dresses passed down through generations. The Münchner Kindl leads the procession on horseback, followed by brewery carriages decorated entirely with fresh flowers.
Musicians play traditional brass instruments while Schuhplattler dancers perform the distinctive Bavarian thigh slapping dance that originated in the Alps as a courtship ritual.
The Oide Wiesn
The Oide Wiesn (Old Oktoberfest) recreates the festival atmosphere from the 19th century, complete with vintage rides and traditional entertainment. This separate three hectare area charges a modest 4 Euro entrance fee but rewards visitors with significantly calmer crowds and rides costing only 1.50 Euros each.
Nostalgic Attractions That Time Forgot
The 1919 Kettenflieger carousel still operates with its original mechanical parts, while the Fahrt ins Paradies wooden carousel lay dormant for 60 years. These attractions move more slowly than modern rides but offer something contemporary thrills can't match.
The Museum Tent displays Oktoberfest memorabilia dating to 1810, including original posters, vintage beer steins, and a functioning 1905 shooting gallery. Visitors can also enjoy beer served in traditional Keferloher clay mugs instead of modern glass steins, experiencing exactly how their grandparents celebrated.
The Bavaria Statue
Most visitors never realize they can climb inside the Bavaria statue overlooking the festival grounds. This bronze colossus, completed in 1850, contains a spiral staircase leading to an observation platform in her head. The small admission fee grants access to panoramic views unavailable from any ride, plus the surreal experience of standing inside a monument that predates German unification.
Culinary Attractions at Oktoberfest
Oktoberfest food scene extends far beyond basic festival fare. You can enjoy authentic Bavarian specialties prepared using recipes unchanged for centuries.
Must Try Festival Foods
Half a million roast chickens rotate on massive spits throughout the festival, their skin crackling to golden perfection. The pork knuckle arrives as a monument to meat, a whole roasted joint with crispy skin hiding succulent flesh beneath.
The Fischer Vroni tent operates an open grill dedicated to Stecklerfisch. Despite the pungent aroma that some find challenging, these mackerel and trout represent Bavaria's Catholic tradition of observing Friday as a day of fish consumption.
Hidden Culinary Gems
Smart visitors seek out the Ochsenbraterei tent's specialty. It is an entire oxen roasted on rotating spits. The meat, marbled and tender, comes with a special wine based sauce unavailable anywhere else in Munich.
The Münchner Knödelei serves creative dumpling variations including square pretzel dumplings infused with roast pork and Paulaner beer at the Oide Wiesn.
Timing Your Visit for Maximum Impact
Opening day's ceremony sees Munich's mayor tap the first keg with the traditional cry O'Zapft is! (It's tapped!), but the real spectacle happens during the second Sunday's Landlords' Concert.
All festival bands unite at the Bavaria statue's base, creating a wall of sound with 400 musicians playing simultaneously while the mayor conducts. This free event captures the community spirit without requiring a beer tent reservation.
Conclusion
Oktoberfest draws visitors because it offers a blend of excitement, culture, history, food, and community. The famous tents deliver lively celebrations. The rides add energy and entertainment. The historic areas and parades showcase Bavarian tradition. The food highlights local flavor. The family zones and accessibility improvements make the festival welcoming for everyone. These attractions together create the atmosphere that convinces people from around the world to visit Oktoberfest and return again.