As Oktoberfest kicks off in Munich this weekend (fun fact: it begins in September and ends the first weekend of October), I feel nostalgic for the time I was living in Germany and my brother flew over to visit.
Donning a dirndl and drinking biers with my brother in the tents was one of those surreal once-in-a-lifetime moments that I’ll cherish forever.
But one of my other treasured memories of Germany was a much more chill bier celebration. A friend and I hiked the locally beloved Fünf Seidla Stieg – a bier hike between five different biergartens in Fränkische Schweiz. There were far fewer intoxicated crowds but we drank bier at all five stops, got joyfully lost navigating the country trail and made it to the end to buy our Seidla beer mug and eat some amazing food.
If you’re heading to Germany, by all means, go to the touristy places like Neuschwanstein that you’ve dreamed of seeing. But when you’re ready to break free of the crowds, check out these recommendations from our three writers in Germany who show you where locals go to enjoy the wonderful things the country has to offer.
– Melissa Yeager, Senior Editor
