Munich hotels are already sold out for the big party, but there still are rooms available in nearby towns such as Augsburg and Ingolstadt, each about 45 minutes away by high-speed commuter train. Or, you could head north to Stuttgart for that city’s version of Oktoberfest, called Canstatter.2010 is the 164th year for the Canstatter Wasn, the world’s second largest beer festival. This one is September 25 to October 11, shortly after the Stuttgart Wine Festival, from August 28 to September 5, which showcases more than 250 wines from the region.
It fascinates me that the world’s two largest beer festivals are in the cities that are home to three of the world’s top automobile manufacturers — Mercedes and Porsche in Stuttgart and BMW in Munich. Four if you add in Audi in nearby Ingolstadt (VW is headquartered in Wolfsberg, near Berlin). Perhaps that’s why German engineers are such leaders in safety technology such as lane-departure warning systems.
If you go:
Take time in Munich to visit BMW Welt and Museum, in Munich’s Olympic Park, and the Audi Forum (museum) in Ingolstadt, and the Mercedes Museum and the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart. All four are accessible by train, so you don’t even have to drive Germany’s famous fast-speed Autobahn. I’m a great fan of classic 1930s cars, and there’s lots of them in all four museums. Just promise me you won’t drool on “my” 1936 Mercedes 500K Roadster in Stuttgart or on the 1939 Horch 855 Roadster in the Audi museum in Ingolstadt,
Read more about Bavaria in the article I wrote for a recent issue of Contiental Airlines Magazine.
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