XXL Bavarian beer fest tour (Rosenheim) by Oktoberfest-Beds.com

Tour Itinerary

Tour starts and ends at the Munich central station!

Meeting point: In front of the Starbucks coffee shop next to platform 11

Meeting time: 10 am

Return: 10 pm

The Rosenheim Herbstfest, or Rosenheim Fall Festival (known locally as the "Wiesn" because it takes place on the Loretowiese), is the largest festival in southwestern Upper Bavaria (with over a million visitors annually) and is organized by the Wirtschaftlichen Verband Rosenheim every year. It always starts on the last Saturday in August with a traditional opening ceremony in the two beer tents and lasts 16 days. The festival is open from Monday to Saturday from midday to 11.30 p.m. and on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 11.30 p.m. The bar closes at 11 p.m. every day.

In contrast to the Munich Oktoberfest, which has been an established tradition for many years, the Rosenheim Herbstfest has developed from a regional agricultural festival with an industrial slant into a modern festival. The Loretowiese, which used to be a public meadow in front of the Rosenheim city gates, seems to have been made for this purpose. In medieval times, it was a venue for fairs, public entertainment and executions. Today, the central location of the Loretowiese means that it is mainly used as a car park, as well as an exhibition center e.g. for the Rosenheim Neue Messe.

From 1861, the agricultural shows that took place every five years were complemented with shooting and singing competitions, making them into folk festivals in the true sense of the phrase. In the ensuing years, the festival carried on growing, which was in part due to the fact that Rosenheim wanted to become a "beer town". In the 1890s, Rosenheim had eleven breweries for a population of 10,000 people, and over 400 hectoliters of beer was already being consumed.

However, the folk festival did not take place regularly. In 1873, there was a cholera endemic in the area surrounding Rosenheim, which meant that - as in the war years of 1914 to 1918 - the Herbstfest did not take place. The festival returned for the first time in 1925, with three huge beer tents, a wine tent and 19 entertainers.

During the post-war years 1946 to 1949, the Association of Bavarian Entertainers organized annual spring festivals on the Loretowiese until the Wirtschaftliche Verband Rosenheim took over as organizer and renamed the folk festival the "Rosenheimer Herbstfest" (Rosenheim Fall Festival).