The Bavarian Year: Fasching to Christkindlmarkt, Month by Month

If you are trying to time a trip to Bavaria around something more specific than “good weather,” this is the shape of the year you are working with. Some of it is fixed by the church calendar, some of it by a brewery’s own schedule, and one very large piece of it by the city of Munich. None of these dates were invented for tourists, which is exactly why they are worth planning around: they are the dates Bavarians themselves keep. This page is the map; my Trachten and Customs pillar is where the outfits and the manners that go with all of it live, and each season below hands off to its own guide.

The year at a glance

Source: oktoberfest.de, muenchen.de, paulaner-nockherberg.com, allgaeu.de, christkindlesmarkt.de, berchtesgaden.de, schulferien.org^123456789.

Winter into Lent: Fasching and Starkbierzeit

Fasching is Bavaria’s carnival season, and it runs on the church calendar rather than the tourist one: the final days before Ash Wednesday move every year with Easter, which lands on March 28 in 2027, putting Rosenmontag on February 8 and Faschingsdienstag on February 9¹.

Munich marks the turn from carnival to Lent with its own small civic ceremony, Geldbeutelwaschen, where the mayor washes the city’s ceremonial purse in the Fischbrunnen at Marienplatz on Ash Wednesday, a tradition revived in the 1950s that has run most years since 1976. My Fasching in Bavaria page covers what actually happens in the streets.

Lent itself is not exactly abstinence in Munich: it opens Starkbierzeit, when Paulaner taps its strong “Salvator” Doppelbock at the Nockherberg and hands the first liter to the Bavarian minister-president, a tradition that “holds to this day” by the brewery’s own account, with the 2027 festival running February 26 to March 21 and single admission from €22.50².

Spring: the Maibaum

Bavarian villages raise a decorated Maibaum, a maypole, around May 1 each year, and neighboring villages have long tried to steal an unguarded one before it goes up. I could not source the specific rules for how a stolen Maibaum is redeemed from an official page this session, so I am not going to invent them here; my Maibaum page is where that gets sorted out properly once it is.

Late spring and early summer: a public holiday and a dance floor at dawn

Fronleichnam, Corpus Christi, is a public holiday across Bavaria, falling on Thursday, May 27, 2027; some villages mark it with processions, though I was not able to source the route or flower-carpet details of any specific one this session, so treat that part as local color rather than something to plan a trip around¹.

Munich’s own contribution to early summer is stranger and better: the Kocherlball, a free folk-dance gathering at the Chinese Tower beer garden in the Englischer Garten, held on Sunday, July 18, 2027, from six to ten in the morning. It began in the 1880s as domestic servants’ one chance to dance before their workday started, drew crowds of up to 5,000 before being banned in 1904 “for lack of propriety,” and was revived in 1989; it has run most years since, still starting at 6 a.m. in deliberate homage to the servants who started it⁹. A dance floor at six in the morning sounds like a joke until you remember whose free time it was built around, back to back, before anyone else’s Sunday had even started.

Late summer: the cattle come down

From the beginning of September to the beginning of October, roughly thirty Allgäu villages hold their Almabtrieb, also called Viehscheid: cattle that spent the summer on alpine pasture are driven back down to the valley, decorated with flowers and bells for the walk. The 2026 dates run from Bad Hindelang, Schöllang, Balderschwang and Oberstaufen on September 11 through villages into October, with Heimhofen closing the season on October 10, 2026³.

It is a working custom with a festival built around it, not a show staged for visitors, and my Almabtrieb and Viehscheid page has the specific villages and dates.

Fall: Oktoberfest

Munich’s own description calls 2026 the “191st Oktoberfest,” running September 19 to October 4, 2026, on the Theresienwiese, and there is no dress code, dirndl and lederhosen sitting next to ordinary street clothes in every tent⁴. It is the single event most visitors build a Bavaria trip around, and it has its own complete guide: mine is Oktoberfest in Munich, covering the tents, the reservations, what it costs and how to get a seat without one.

Winter again: Christkindlmarkt season

The year closes the way it opened, with a season rather than a single day. Munich’s Marienplatz Christkindlmarkt runs November 20 to December 24, 2026, open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. most days and shorter on Christmas Eve, and Munich’s Tollwood Winterfestival runs alongside it at the Theresienwiese, November 24 to December 23, as the city’s arts-and-market alternative to the traditional stalls⁵⁷.

Nuremberg’s Christkindlesmarkt, which calls itself one of the oldest and most famous Christmas markets in the world, opens with a ceremony on November 27 at 5:30 p.m. and runs to December 24⁶.

Then, just as the markets are closing, Berchtesgaden’s Buttnmandl-Laufen brings costumed figures through town on Nikolaustag, December 5 and 6⁸. My Christmas markets guide and Krampus, Nikolaus and the Perchten page cover both in full.

Resi says If you can only pick one season, Oktoberfest gets the crowds but the Christkindlmarkt gets my vote: it is the one Bavarian tradition that survives being popular, mulled wine in hand, without anyone needing to queue since dawn for a bench.

Where to stay for any of it

Whichever season you are building a trip around, book your base near the event itself rather than assuming all of Munich is a short walk from anything: the Theresienwiese sits west of the city center in Westend and Ludwigsvorstadt, while the Christkindlmarkt is downtown at Marienplatz, a different part of the city entirely, connected by U-Bahn rather than on foot. Areas that border the event you came for save you a transfer at the end of a long night; everywhere else is a fine base for seeing the rest of Munich in between.

Resi says Book close to whichever event is the reason for your trip, and treat everything else as a subway ride, not a walk. Trying to split the difference between Oktoberfest and the Christmas markets in one hotel booking is how you end up close to neither.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the first big event of the Bavarian year?

Fasching, Bavaria’s carnival season, running up to Ash Wednesday, which falls on February 10 in 2027.

When does Oktoberfest happen?

The 2026 Wiesn runs September 19 to October 4 in Munich, on the Theresienwiese.

Is Starkbierzeit open to visitors?

Yes. Paulaner’s Nockherberg strong-beer festival sells tickets, with the 2027 edition running February 26 to March 21 and single admission from €22.50.

What is Almabtrieb?

The autumn cattle drive down from alpine summer pasture to the valley, celebrated with decorated cows and a village festival, mainly across the Allgäu region from September into October.

When do the Christmas markets open in Munich?

The Marienplatz Christkindlmarkt runs November 20 to December 24, 2026, alongside the Tollwood Winterfestival from November 24 to December 23.

Is there one Bavarian festival calendar I can rely on for exact dates every year?

No single calendar covers everything; church-calendar events like Fasching and Starkbierzeit move with Easter each year, while Oktoberfest and the Christmas markets are set separately by the city and the market organizers.

What happens between Oktoberfest and the Christmas markets?

Relatively little of note is built for visitors; it is the quietest stretch of the Bavarian year, between early October and late November.

What is the Kocherlball?

A free early-morning folk-dance gathering at the Chinese Tower beer garden in Munich’s Englischer Garten, held from six to ten on a Sunday morning in July, revived in 1989 after a 1904 ban.

Is Fronleichnam a public holiday in Bavaria?

Yes. Fronleichnam, Corpus Christi, is a statewide public holiday, falling on Thursday, May 27 in 2027.

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