Where to celebrate Oktoberfest outside of Munich
Channel the spirit of Bavaria’s blockbuster beer festival at an alternative event — whether that’s sipping craft ales in Japan’s buzziest port or partying in alpine Argentina
Few cultural experiences compare to your first Oktoberfest. Dating back to 1810 and now the world's largest folk festival, it transforms the southern German city of Munich every autumn with dozens of festzelte (beer tents). Inside, visitors will find a high-spirited cacophony — oompah bands, whose rousing pop, polka and waltz renditions soundtrack a blur of dancing and drinking; revellers wearing dirndls and lederhosen sinking litres of beer; and waiters whizzing trays of roast chicken and giant pretzels between tables.
Around seven million people are expected to attend this year’s event, which runs between 20 September and 5 October, but the celebrations now extend far beyond the Bavarian capital. Over the years, Oktoberfest’s unique traditions have been adopted and translated by various destinations around the world. Whether you’re a beer drinker, a polka-lover or simply in search of an unforgettable night out, here are eight events worth travelling for.
1. Cannstatter Volksfest, Stuttgart, Germany
26 September to 12 October
Starting life as a harvest festival two centuries ago, this is the world’s largest beer festival after the original Oktoberfest it shares many similarities with its Munich sibling. Taking place in Cannstatter Wasen, a 90-acre fairground northeast of Stuttgart’s city centre, it brings in up to four million visitors each year, with the first Sunday of the event marked by a two-and-a-half-mile parade featuring military and historical bands. Eight tents, each seating between 2,000 to 6,000 people, ensure beer remains at the heart of the celebration, but its agricultural origins are also honoured by a grocers’ market and fruchtsäule: a 85ft column decorated with fruits, vegetables and grains that serves as a festival landmark.
2. Oktoberfest Blumenau, Brazil
8-26 October 2025
The southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina may seem an unlikely setting for the world’s third-largest Oktoberfest, but Blumenau retains strong cultural connections with Deutschland. The city was founded by a German chemist and pharmacist in 1850 and settled by fellow migrants over subsequent decades. The handsome half-timbered buildings on XV de Novembro Street and the Alpine-influenced Parque Vila Germânica come alive during its three-week Oktoberfest, going strong since 1984. Crowds upwards of 700,000 gather to see a series of parades, beauty pageants and a charismatic whirlwind of folk dancing, plus shooting showdowns and Chope em Metro contests, where competitors drink beer from metre-high glasses. Spectators dine on goulash and spatzle noodles, paired with Spaten and Löwenbräu lagers — swing by Blumenau’s Beer Museum to delve deeper into the city’s strong brewing heritage.
3. Oktoberfest Zinzinnati, US
18-21 October 2025
America’s largest Oktoberfest takes place in Cincinnati, Ohio. The high-energy celebration is underpinned by a beer brewing heritage that dates back 200 years, when German immigrants first settled the city neighbourhood of Over-the-Rhine. Fast forward to today and Oktoberfest Zinzinnati — affectionately titled to reflect how new arrivals from Europe pronounced the city’s name — now attracts up to 800,000 visitors. Last year it relocating to a new venue at Sawyer Point &Yeatman’s Cove, and added a new 1,000-seater tent. Standout annual events include the Running of the Wieners, a race between up to 100 dachshunds dressed as hotdogs, and the world’s largest recorded chicken dance, accompanied by an oompah band.
4. Oktoberfest Pretoria, South Africa
11-13 September 2025
South Africa’s longest-running Oktoberfest doubles as a fundraiser for its hosts, the capital city’s German International School, the Deutsche Internationale Schule. Drawing up to 10,000 visitors, authenticity remains front and centre and, this year, German oompah band Die Frankenräuber will be among the artists performing as part of the three-day celebration. Party-goers bounce between the biergarten (beer garden) and funfair, while food tents serve traditional German dishes including pork knuckle, schnitzel and bockwurst (sausage made with pork and veal). The revelry often continues late into the night, but Saturday is known as family day, with rides, games and live music from 10am.
5. Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest, Canada
26 September to 18 October 2025
Ontario’s conjoined twin cities of Kitchener and Waterloo are home to some of the world’s largest Oktoberfest celebrations outside Germany. Both communities were settled by the descendants of migrants — the former was known as Berlin until 1916 — who have long-championed their Teutonic roots; this Munich-inspired event has been running for more than half a century. A keg tapping at Carl Zehr Square in Downtown Kitchener is the kick-off for extensive cross-cultural celebrations that draw up to 700,000 people to the region. Highlights include a Thanksgiving Day parade in Kitchener, the larger of the two cities, with floats, costumed bands and inflatables making their way down Weber Street; hockey tournaments; and a standalone children’s event — but there’s also live music, sizzling schnitzels and free-flowing beer across six distinct festhallen (festival halls).
6. Denver Oktoberfest, US
19-21 & 26-28 September 2025
Rising against the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains, Colorado’s Mile High City has a reputation for craft breweries. Its annual Oktoberfest — among the country’s longest-running — is timed to coincide with Denver Beer Week. Taking place over two weekends in the lively Ballpark District at 21st and Larimer Street, all the big-hitting Bavarian elements are present and correct. The ample entertainments include oompah bands, chicken dances and late-night silent discos, while a vibrant events schedule features stein-hoisting, keg bowling and various talent contests.
7. Fiesta Nacional de la Cerveza, Villa General Belgrano, Argentina
14-16 & 21-24 November 2025
Up in the mountains, about 55 miles south of the central Argentine city of Córdoba, Villa General Belgrano hosts one of the world’s most picturesque beer festivals. The village was founded by German prospectors in 1930 and its aesthetic remains charmingly alpine, with red gabled roofs and manicured gardens a fitting setting for its fully fledged Oktoberfest, now 60 years old. The action plays out against the rugged backdrop of the Calamuchita Valley over two weekends each November — head to Parque Cervecero for a rousing spectacle of beer tapping, live music and crowds clad in traditional dress, sampling locally brewed beers that speak of the village’s Bavarian heritage.
8. Yokohama Oktoberfest, Yokohama, Japan
26 September to 13 October 2025
Japan's largest Oktoberfest celebration is also among the world's most authentic, thanks to its roster of official festival beers imported from Bavaria, as well as music played by traditional German orchestras. Launched at the turn of the millennium and based at the Red Brick Warehouse, a historic former customs house on the port city’s waterfront, this vibrant event welcomed 130,000 people through its doors last year, to explore its cavernous tents and three beer gardens. Sustenance comes in the form of goulash, pretzels and sausage, served alongside a broad range of Japanese craft beers, highball cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks.
