Oktoberfest Tents: All 14 Big Tents, the Small Ones and the Oide Wiesn, Compared

Fourteen tents sounds manageable right up until you are standing on the Theresienwiese, boxed in by crowds hauling pretzels the size of steering wheels, and every tent entrance looks exactly like the last one. This is part of my complete guide to Oktoberfest in Munich, and it exists so you pick a tent before you arrive, rather than duck into whichever one has a gap in the fence.

The 14 big tents, compared

Oktoberfest’s own site puts the count plainly: 14 large tents and 21 small ones on the main grounds, with three more at the Oide Wiesn¹. Every big tent pours one brewery’s beer exclusively, and every one has its own personality, built up over a century or more of the same families running it⁶. Seat counts below come from each tent’s own page on oktoberfest.de unless noted.

Source: each tent’s own page on oktoberfest.de, accessed 2026-09-24²³⁴⁹–¹⁹.

Resi says “Biggest” depends on what you count, and I would rather admit that than hand you a tidy lie. Hacker-Festzelt has the largest indoor-plus-outdoor total among the tents that publish a clean breakdown, but Pschorr-Festzelt Bräurosl quotes a combined 8,250 across its loggia and beer garden without ever splitting out the main hall, which is less a number than a shrug in tent form. If you need a single answer to win a bet, take Hacker-Festzelt and buy the next round with your winnings.

A few tents, in more detail

Festhalle Schottenhamel is where the festival itself opens. At noon on the first Saturday, the mayor of Munich taps the first keg “with as few strokes as possible” and declares “Ozapft is!” before any other tent may serve beer. It started in 1867 as a wooden structure with 50 seats and now seats thousands, laid out so people sit “around the corner” from each other rather than only face to face⁴.

Hacker-Festzelt, nicknamed the “Heaven of the Bavarians,” has a sky ceiling with stars designed by an Oscar-winning production designer, a revolving stage, and a section of roof that opens over the gallery. It is the one I would pick first, purely for the ceiling².

Augustiner-Festhalle is one of the few tents still served from wooden kegs rather than steel, which the tent says makes the beer “milder and more palatable” thanks to lower carbonation. Its history goes back to 1898, when innkeeper Georg Lang built an oversized hall on a five-pub plot to get around Munich’s residency rules for running a tent¹⁰.

Kufflers Weinzelt is worth knowing about if a Maß at ten in the morning does not appeal to you: it is the one big tent that serves wine and sparkling wine rather than festival beer, open until 12:30 a.m.¹³. I never needed a whole tent to make that case; my own answer at the Wiesn was a Radler, half beer and half lemon soda, which looks exactly like the Maß next to it and argues considerably less with you the next morning.

If a reserved table in a specific big tent matters more to you than picking one on the day, tour operators sell that certainty, and I have checked what one of them charges²⁰.

Resi says One I have actually checked, rather than taken on faith, is the Munich Oktoberfest Guided Experience with Beer and Food, by the operator Taste the City, which offers a seven-hour version with reserved seats in the Hofbräu tent from $231.88 per person as of September 24, 2026, and a reserved chair on a Saturday is worth more than the beer that comes with it. My tours and tent packages page compares that option against booking a reservation directly, which my reservations page explains.

The 21 small tents

Alongside the big tents, 21 smaller tents fill in the food and drink the big ones do not cover: coffee, cake, wine, game, dumplings and more, most without the long communal benches or the bands. They include Ammer Hühner- und Entenbraterei (poultry, over 130 years at the festival), Bodo’s Cafézelt (doughnuts and coffee, no beer), Rischart’s Café Kaiserschmarrn, Café Theres’ (the oldest coffee tent), Feisingers Kas- und Weinstubn (alpine cheese and wine), Fisch-Bäda (fish specialties), Glöckle Wirt (a Weißwurst breakfast tent), Goldener Hahn (poultry, mountain-lodge style), Heimer Enten- und Hühnerbraterei (skewer-grilled duck), Hochreiters Haxnbraterei (grilled ham hock), Kalbsbraterei (veal), Münchner Knödelei (dumplings), Hühnerbraterei Poschner, Schiebl’s Kaffeehaferl, Vinzenzmurr Metzger Stubn, Wiesn Guglhupf (cakes), Wildstuben (game, forester’s-lodge style), Wirtshaus im Schichtl (theatre-stage entertainment and organic snacks), Bartls Flößerstadl, Hochreiter’s Zur Bratwurst, and Heinz Wurst- und Hühnerbraterei¹²¹.

That last one is a small case study in why I check two sources before I trust a date: muenchen.de dates Heinz Wurst- und Hühnerbraterei to 1906, while oktoberfest.de dates it to 1926. I could not resolve which year is right from the two official pages, so take “one of the older poultry stalls” as the safe version of that fact rather than either exact year¹²¹.

The Oide Wiesn

Behind its own fence at the south end of the grounds, the Oide Wiesn, “old Wiesn,” is the historic, lower-key half of the festival: brass bands, vintage rides and three tents rather than 14⁵. Admission costs €4 per person for anyone 15 or older, is free for children under 14 and for disabled visitors with a valid pass, and becomes free for everyone after 9 p.m.; individual rides cost €1.50. Its three tents are Festzelt Tradition (brass band music and costume performances), Schützenlisl (a folk-singer tent built around sing-along culture) and Boandlkramerei (a musicians’ tent with Bavarian specialties), plus a Museum Tent with children’s programs. The rides include the Kettenflieger Kalb, a 1919 chain flyer, and Fahrt ins Paradies, a 1939 roller coaster, alongside the strength-test game Dicke Berta.

The Oide Wiesn drew 373,083 paying visitors in 2025, down from 447,356 in 2024⁷⁸. If the big tents are full and you would rather sit somewhere quieter with a beer that is cheaper than most of the main grounds, this is the section to head for.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many tents are at Oktoberfest?

14 large tents and 21 small tents on the main grounds, plus three more at the Oide Wiesn.

Which Oktoberfest tent is the biggest?

By total indoor and outdoor seats, Hacker-Festzelt is the largest of the tents that publish a full breakdown, with 6,830 indoor seats and 2,520 outdoor.

Which tent hosts the opening ceremony?

Festhalle Schottenhamel, the oldest of the big tents, dating to 1867.

Is there a tent that does not serve beer?

Kufflers Weinzelt serves wine and sparkling wine instead of festival beer.

What is the Oide Wiesn?

The historic corner of the festival, with vintage rides, brass bands and three tents, charging €4 admission for visitors 15 and over.

Do tents take reservations?

Yes, each tent handles its own reservations directly; my reservations page covers minimum spend and timing.

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