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Traveling from Paris... Any suggestions?
Peace.Love.Travel.
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This will be my first trip to Oktoberfest and I am so excited! I am going to be living in France next year so I will be traveling from Paris. Does anyone have any good, cheap suggestions for getting there?

luvbeers
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Two options depending on how easily you sleep:

1) Take the night train from Paris Est (leaving 8:20pm) to München Hbf. It’s a night train (11 hours) but it will put you in the center of Munich (no need for airport security, shuttles etc.) at 7am just enough time to check into (or leave your luggage) at your hotel and hit the fest around 11am.

2) Take the morning train leaving Paris Est at 7am, switch trains in Stuggart and you will be in Munich at 1:30pm. This is good if you might have problems sleeping for 11 hours on the night train.

If you get an SNCF discount card (not sure what they are called) this trip will probably pay for it in savings. If you are 26 or younger, then the card is even cheaper. Also if you book your train far in advance you will usually get very good deals. Check http://www.sncf.com/ for more info.

There is always an option of finding a cheap flight, but in my experience with cheap flights on reasonably short hauls like this is that after airport tax, snacks, airport transportation etc. plus waiting around terminals, the train can end up cheaper, quicker, and far less hassle. Especially when you are staggering drunk and the trains station is right there you can literally stumble back home to Paris if need be.

Don’t go on the weekend. Take a couple work days off and go during the week.

We will be there Sept. 20-22 if you want to join.

Peace & Love

Bigfoot
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You can look for a person who offers a ride on one of these boards:

www.mitfahrgelegenhe…

www.mitfahrzentrale….

This is usually done only a few feeks before the date itself. Lufthansa has also cheap tickets, from only 99,- euros roundtrip, see www.lufthansa.de

Kick-in-the-pants
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I just did Oktoberfest (Wiesn in German) in 2009 for the first time. It was something else. I always thought Germans were so orderly and well-behaved. We arrived at 7:00 to get in line for one of the more popular tents, Schuetzenzelt. The doors weren’t scheduled to open until 9am. Well, the pushing started around 8:30, and as the doors opened, it got so bad that a girl lost her footing and started to get trampled. Fortunately, the screaming from the front actually made everyone back off for a second and they got her out of the way. Getting there early is important, and take care of yourself.

By the way, AirBerlin.com is offering great deals. Book early, and you can save serious money.

Let me know if I can help with anything else.

I am leaving from Dallas with $2500 for 43 days
Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris, Pamplona, Hamburg, Rottenburg, Kiel
Requesting help with Itinerary, Nightlife, Sights