Beer tents, Bavarian food, live music, Dirndls and Lederhosen, fairground rides and a great night out – all in one of Germany’s most historic cities. If you have always fancied Oktoberfest but never quite made it, Augsburg’s Plärrer could be the Bavarian festival you didn’t know you were looking for.

The lights have only just gone out on Augsburg’s Herbstplärrer 2026.

For just over two weeks, the fairground glowed after dark, beer tents filled with music and conversation, glasses clinked across long wooden tables, Dirndls and Lederhosen appeared in their thousands and some decidedly brave visitors allowed themselves to be spun, dropped and turned upside down on the rides.

Around 360,000 people came along to join in.

And if you are sitting in Britain wondering why you have never heard of it, you are probably not alone.

Munich has Oktoberfest. Stuttgart has the Cannstatter Volksfest. Augsburg has the Plärrer – the largest Volksfest in Bavarian Swabia.

A Volksfest is a traditional German festival and fair: part beer festival, part funfair, part social gathering and, once the music gets going, often quite a party.

And Augsburg gives you two chances to experience it every year.

In 2027, the spring Plärrer begins on Easter Sunday, 28 March, and continues until 11 April. Then it all happens again from 27 August to 12 September 2027 for the Herbstplärrer.

So if Easter in Bavaria takes your fancy, you can go in spring.

Miss that one? There is always late summer.

Think Bavarian beer festival means oompah music all night? Think again.

Traditional Bavarian brass music is certainly part of the Plärrer – and it would be a shame if it weren’t.

But that is only part of the soundtrack.

As the day develops, the atmosphere changes. Recent Plärrer programmes have included rock classics, chart music and 80s and 90s favourites alongside Bavarian music.

And really, what better way to get an entire beer tent onto its feet than a song from the eighties that everybody suddenly discovers they know every word to?

One minute you may be listening to traditional Bavarian music over lunch. A few hours later, half the tent could be singing along to a familiar party anthem.

That is part of the fun.

The long tables also make the Plärrer wonderfully sociable. Arrive with friends and you may well find yourself talking to the people sitting next to you before the evening is over.

And if you know a little German, this is the perfect place to use it.

Nobody is going to be marking your grammar.

You might even go home knowing a few more words than when you arrived.

Come for the beer – but you don’t have to drink it

Of course there is beer.

This is Bavaria.

But the Plärrer is certainly not restricted to dedicated beer drinkers. Wine and wine spritzers are available too, alongside soft drinks and alcohol-free choices.

So one person can enjoy a Maß of Bavarian beer while somebody else opts for a glass of wine and still be very much part of the same evening.

And then there is the food.

Roast chicken, sausages, pretzels, hearty Bavarian dishes, sweet treats from the fairground – this is not the occasion to turn up expecting a delicate little canapé.

It is food designed to be eaten at a festival, preferably surrounded by friends, music and the sound of several hundred other people having a very good time.

And then there are the rides…

The Ferris wheel offers the civilised option.

Sit back, enjoy the lights and take in the view over the festival ground.

Then there are the other rides.

The ones designed to shoot you upwards, spin you around and make your stomach question whether that second helping of Bavarian food was really such a good idea.

You do not have to go on them.

But someone in your group will.

And watching your friends attempt to walk in a straight line afterwards may turn out to be entertainment in itself.

Do you need Lederhosen or a Dirndl?

Absolutely not.

Come in jeans if you want.

But then again – when else are you going to do it?

Traditional Bavarian dress is genuinely worn at festivals like the Plärrer. It is not simply fancy dress put on for tourists, and plenty of local visitors embrace the opportunity to wear a Dirndl or Lederhosen.

So why not join them?

Even England’s Harry Kane has embraced the Lederhosen since moving to Bavaria.

If he can do it, surely the rest of us can manage one weekend.

For a birthday celebration, a trip with friends, a stag weekend or hen party, getting the whole group into traditional dress could be half the fun.

Consider it temporary permission to be Bavarian for the weekend.

A different idea for a stag, hen or friends’ weekend

Munich hardly needs introducing.

Augsburg is another matter.

And that is precisely part of its appeal.

You still have the beer tents, music, traditional dress, food, fairground and lively evenings, but in a smaller historic city which remains far less familiar to British visitors.

Augsburg can also be rather kinder to the wallet, leaving a little more of the weekend budget available for both somewhere to stay and those all-important drinks.

And there is plenty to do beyond the festival.

Augsburg has a beautiful historic centre, the Fuggerei, UNESCO-listed water heritage, restaurants, cafés and centuries of history waiting outside the beer tent. Discover more about Augsburg.

So yes, technically, you can tell everyone you are going on a cultural city break.

What happens after that is entirely up to you.

Football, beer and the Plärrer?

Now things get interesting.

FC Augsburg play in the Bundesliga, Germany’s top football division, and the club itself has developed its own Plärrer tradition.

Its Rot-Grün-Weiße Nacht brings together FC Augsburg players, staff and supporters in one of the festival tents – another indication of just how firmly the Plärrer belongs to Augsburg life.

Could you combine a Bundesliga match with the festival?

Potentially.

It depends entirely on the fixture calendar and whether FC Augsburg happen to be playing at home during your chosen weekend, so it is not something that can be guaranteed in advance.

But if the dates do fall into place, Bundesliga football followed by an evening at the Plärrer makes a pretty compelling weekend for a group of football-loving friends.

And if anyone knows how to try to piece the two together, it is Travel without Borders.

Not only for the party crowd

The Plärrer does not have to mean dancing until closing time or testing every ride on the fairground.

It works equally well at a gentler pace.

Come during the daytime. Settle down over lunch. Enjoy a beer or glass of wine. Listen to the music. Wander around the fairground and simply watch Augsburg enjoying one of its great local traditions.

There are quieter sessions as well as lively evenings, and the festival attracts different generations.

So whether your idea of the perfect Plärrer experience is an eighties anthem and a packed beer tent or a leisurely lunch and a glass of wine, there is room for both.

So why Augsburg rather than Oktoberfest?

Oktoberfest is famous for a reason.

If it has always been on your bucket list, go.

But perhaps what you really want is not necessarily the biggest beer festival in the world.

Perhaps what you want is the experience:

the music, the Bavarian food, the long tables, the traditional dress, the beer, the laughter, the rides and that unmistakable atmosphere when several hundred people decide at the same time that they know the next song.

The Plärrer gives you all of that in a city that still feels very much like itself.

Big enough to feel like a proper Bavarian festival. Small enough to still feel like Augsburg.

And there is one other important difference.

You may arrive in Augsburg because of the Plärrer and discover that there is considerably more reason to stay.

Two chances in 2027

The Frühjahrsplärrer runs from 28 March to 11 April 2027, beginning on Easter Sunday.

So why not swap the usual Easter break for Easter in Bavaria?

If spring does not work, the Herbstplärrer returns from 27 August to 12 September 2027, giving you another opportunity for a late-summer festival break.

Augsburg has a broad range of accommodation and excellent transport connections, making it possible to enjoy the city as a short break in its own right or incorporate the Plärrer into a longer journey through Bavaria and southern Germany.

Travel without Borders specialises in bespoke Germany travel planning, helping independent travellers turn ideas into practical, personalised holidays.

So whether you are thinking about a weekend with friends, a birthday celebration, a stag or hen trip, football and beer, an Easter escape or simply doing something in Bavaria that your friends probably haven’t done yet, perhaps it is time to put Augsburg on the list.

Come in jeans.

Come in a Dirndl.

Come in Lederhosen.

Come for the beer, the wine, the music, the football or the stomach-churning rides.

Come with friends – and perhaps make a few more while you are there.

Just come.

Find out more about the Augsburg Plärrer Volksfest, or get in touch with Travel without Borders and tell us what you have in mind.