The picture turned out uneven: the price of some classic dishes stayed at last year’s level, while others rose by 10-23 percent. And the price of the same dish, Kaiserschmarrn, differs by as much as ten euros between tents, and this spread is not always explained by portion size. What’s going on? Let’s try to find out.
This year the autumn festival will take place for the 191st time – from 19 September to 4 October, in the traditional location on Theresienwiese. For many guests, the question of prices comes up well before the festival opens. That is precisely why the menus of all the tents are published in advance, since the cost of food and drink at Oktoberfest has long been a serious matter for family budgets, not merely a subject of curiosity.
Beer prices up by 2.38 percent
The price of beer at Oktoberfest remains one of Munich‘s most discussed topics every year, and at times even becomes a subject of debate in the city council. Munich authorities announced the prices for a one-litre mug at Oktoberfest 2026 back on 2 June. On average, beer has become 2.38 percent more expensive compared with last year, when the price ranged from 14.50 to 15.80 euros.
This year, the large tents will charge between 14.90 and 15.90 euros for beer. The cheapest beer can still be found at the Augustiner tent, while the most expensive, at 15.90 euros, is at the Loewenbraeu, Braeurosl and Armbrustschuetzen tents. As a reminder, six Munich breweries pour their products at the autumn festival: Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbraeu, Loewenbraeu, Paulaner and Spaten, and each large tent is affiliated with one of them.
The price increase looks modest only compared with last year. Looking back over a longer period, a litre of festival beer at Oktoberfest cost less than 10 euros back in 2014, and stood at around 12 euros in 2019. Since then, a mug of beer has passed the 15-euro mark and is starting to approach 16, meaning that over the decade a mug of beer has nearly doubled in price – and this has statistically happened faster than the average rise in beer prices across Germany.
It is worth noting that the prices for drinks offered at the festival are not set by the city but by the restaurateurs themselves. The city administration, as festival organiser, only checks that they are proportionate, comparing them with prices at ordinary Munich beer halls, where a litre of export beer currently costs between 7.70 and 13.40 euros.
Non-alcoholic drinks have also become more expensive:
- Mineral water – from 10.95 to 11.13 euros,
- Spezi – from 12.48 to 12.84 euros,
- Lemonade – up to 12.47 euros from 12.11.
At the same time, free drinking water from fountains on the festival grounds remains available to everyone.
As a reminder: Oktoberfest will run from 19 September to 4 October, and the organisers expect around 6 million visitors.
Price increases have also affected tents in the historical part of the festival – the Oide Wiesn. At the Festzelt Tradition tent, a litre of beer costs 15.80 euros this year instead of 15.35, at the Musikantenzelt – 15.30 euros instead of 14.80, and at the Museumszelt – 14.80 euros instead of 14.60.
The most notable price increases
Prices rose the most at the Kuffler wine tent and at the Hacker tent. Braised wild boar cheeks with a dumpling and red cabbage at Kuffler went up from 19.50 to 24 euros – a 23 percent increase, the largest jump among all the Oktoberfest 2026 dishes analysed. A quarter duck at the same tent rose in price from 21 to 24 euros (plus 14 percent), and Obatzda – from 18.40 to 19.50 euros (plus 6 percent).
At the Hacker tent, the most noticeable increase was for Kaesespaetzle – from 19.90 to 22.50 euros, that is, by 13 percent. Munich sausage salad rose from 12.90 to 14.50 euros (plus 12 percent), Swiss sausage salad – from 14.90 to 16.50 euros (plus 11 percent), and a portion of homemade Spaetzle as a side dish – from 5.90 to 6.50 euros (plus 10 percent). Half a Vienna-style chicken at this tent, meanwhile, still costs 17.50 euros – the price rises here have affected side dishes and starters more noticeably than the main courses.
Particularly striking among all the dishes that have gone up in price is the offering at the Kaefer tent, which also prepares genuinely expensive dishes for gourmets and large groups – including some priced at more than a thousand euros per portion. Such price offerings remain rare and do not reflect the typical bill of an average festival guest. But they show just how wide the price range of the Oktoberfest menu is overall: from a modest portion of French fries to restaurant-level delicacies.
What has stayed the same
Not all tents have raised their prices. Prices at the Loewenbraeu tent were fixed at last year’s level. For example: half a chicken costs 17.20 euros, a pork knuckle 29.20 euros, Kaesespaetzle 20.50 euros, and Kaiserschmarrn 19.80 euros. Only the portion of French fries there rose, to 9.70 euros. By comparison: that is more than half the cost of an entire half-chicken dish at 17.20 euros, which shows that even a small side dish can noticeably affect the final bill.
At the Braeurosl tent, prices have also not changed. Chicken costs 17.50 euros, pork knuckle – 24.90 euros, Kaesespaetzle – 20.90 euros. Kaiserschmarrn there costs 27.50 euros, which is the highest price for this dish among all the festival menus analysed, and it too has not risen.
Kaiserschmarrn and Kaesespaetzle: one dish, different prices
The difference in price for identical dishes between tents will be especially noticeable this year in the category of starters, vegetarian dishes and desserts. Kaiserschmarrn – a sweet omelette with raisins that is torn into pieces at the end of frying and dusted with powdered sugar – costs in 2026:
- Hofbraeu – 17.50 euros;
- Hacker – 18.50 euros;
- Loewenbraeu – 19.80 euros;
- Fischer-Vroni – 19.90 euros;
- Braeurosl – 27.50 euros.
The difference between the lowest and highest price for this dish at the festival reaches ten euros. A similar, though less pronounced, spread in pricing exists for Kaesespaetzle – homemade flour noodles with melted cheese and fried onions, served in the Bavarian tents both as a side dish and as a standalone dish:
- Kuffler – 19.50 euros;
- Hofbraeu – 19.90 euros;
- Loewenbraeu – 20.50 euros;
- Braeurosl – 20.90 euros;
- Hacker – 22.50 euros.
Chicken prices, meanwhile, vary much less: without a side dish, half a chicken at the large tents costs from 17.20 euros at Augustiner to 17.60 euros at Hofbraeu, while at Hacker and Braeurosl it is 17.50 euros at each. This spread suggests that desserts and side dishes shape the final cost of a visit more than the choice of main course does.
What this means
The final cost of a meal at Oktoberfest is usually determined not so much by the main course as by the side dishes and desserts. The price spread for chicken between tents does not exceed 40 cents, whereas for Kaiserschmarrn it reaches ten euros. Potato salad and other additions to main courses are often listed as a separate line on the menu and charged separately, which also affects the final bill.
This year, the rise in food prices at Oktoberfest is distributed unevenly and inconsistently. Some tents have kept their prices at last year’s level. Others have raised prices on individual items by 10-23 percent.
For families budgeting for a visit to the festival, the difference between tents for the same dish can noticeably affect the final amount paid – especially if several people in the group order a dessert or a side dish.
The publication of menus by all the beer tents of the autumn festival is still ongoing, and the full picture of prices will only take shape closer to its opening on 19 September. And in the meantime, we eagerly await the next scandals. Where would we be without them?
