Oktoberfest halfway through: Is closure of the Wiesn back on the cards?
Oktoberfest reaches its halfway point as Italian weekend looms. Could the festival grounds be closed again, as they were in 2025?
The halfway point of this year's Oktoberfest is just around the corner, with the traditionally busy Italian weekend approaching on September 26 and 27. After the extreme overcrowding experienced last year, organizers are closely monitoring visitor flows in 2026. The festival grounds reached capacity limits on the middle Wiesn Saturday in 2025, leading to temporary closure of access to the Theresienwiese due to overcrowding.
In parts of Wirtsbudenstraße, a crush formed where visitors were unable to move forward or backward, with some describing the scene as a "nightmare" on the verge of mass panic.
The upcoming Italian weekend is known for its large influx of guests from neighboring Italy, with tens of thousands of visitors flocking to Munich. This mass influx is primarily facilitated by short journeys from northern Italy over the Brenner Pass by car, coach, or motorhome, as well as regional public holidays and long weekends in the Italian September calendar.
Munich daily newspapers often publish their front pages in both English and Italian during these days, and Italian Carabinieri and fire crews from Bolzano support Munich police with patrols and communication.
To prevent a recurrence of the overcrowding issues observed last year, the city is increasingly relying on a network of surveillance cameras and AI-based crowd-tracking software. Those who did make it to the Wiesn stayed longer on average, with an analysis of mobile phone data showing visitors remained on the festival grounds 15 minutes longer than in 2025. The peak period during the first week typically falls between 5:00 PM and 6:00 PM each day.
Written by urgent.news from Euronews's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
