Skip the tents for an hour at Oktoberfest 2026 and you’ll find one of the largest traveling funfairs in the world, around 80 rides, games, and attractions spread across the Theresienwiese, none of which require squeezing into a crowded beer tent to enjoy. This guide covers what’s actually out there, what it costs, and when the fairground is at its best.

Oktoberfest 2026 runs from Saturday, September 19 to Sunday, October 4. Rides generally follow the same operating hours as the festival grounds; see our opening hours guide for the full daily schedule.

The Fairground at a Glance

Detail	What to Know
Number of rides and attractions	Around 80
Ride payment	Pay-per-ride in cash at each booth, no all-day wristband
Typical ride price	€5 to €12, big coasters at the top of that range
Games and shooting galleries	€1 to €2 per go
Ferris wheel height	50 meters
Best time to visit	Weekday afternoon into evening, when the lights come on

Good to know: There’s no wristband or ride pass at Oktoberfest. Every ride is paid for individually in cash at the booth, so budget separately for rides beyond your food and beer money, and keep small notes and coins on hand to avoid holding up the queue.

The Big Rides

The fairground’s headline attraction is the Olympia-Looping, the world’s largest transportable roller coaster. Riders cover 1,250 meters of track through five Olympic-ring-shaped loops at speeds reaching 100 km/h, and despite being assembled and disassembled multiple times a year for different European festivals, it runs with the smoothness of a permanent installation.

Ride	What It Is	Typical Price
Olympia-Looping	World’s largest transportable roller coaster, five loops, up to 100 km/h	Toward the top of the €5–€12 range
Skyfall	An 80-meter-high drop tower	€9 adults, €7 children
Break Dancer	Classic spinning, swinging thrill ride	€6
Crazy Outback	Spinning fairground ride	€5
Achterbahn	Figure-eight coaster, accelerates to 80 km/h	Similar to other mid-size coasters

Prices above are indicative and can shift year to year, so treat them as a planning guide rather than a fixed menu, and check the price posted at each booth before you queue.

The Ferris Wheel: Your Best Photo Opportunity

The Riesenrad, Oktoberfest’s giant Ferris wheel, has turned above the festival since the 1880s and remains the single best vantage point on the grounds. The current wheel, run by the Willenborg family since 1979, stands 50 meters tall with 40 gondolas holding around 400 people at once. On a clear day, the view stretches well beyond the Theresienwiese toward the Alps.

Ride it at dusk if you can. That’s when the fairground’s lights switch on below you, and the whole Wiesn glitters beneath the wheel, widely considered the signature Oktoberfest photo. Unlike most Ferris wheels that spin slowly for boarding, this one moves at a genuinely quick pace once loaded, so you’ll get several full rotations and plenty of angles in a single ride.

Historic and Traditional Attractions

Not everything on the fairground is a modern thrill ride. Several attractions have been part of Oktoberfest for well over a century and are worth seeking out specifically for the novelty.

Attraction	What It Is	Since
Teufelsrad (Devil’s Wheel)	A spinning wooden disc; riders try to stay on longest while it accelerates and tilts	1907
Hexenschaukel (Witch Swing)	The oldest ride on the fairground	1894
Krinoline	An ornate platform carousel with a live brass band playing beside it	Historic, a longtime fairground fixture
Schichtl	A vaudeville-style theater with a comedic “guillotine” act	A longstanding Oktoberfest tradition

The Teufelsrad in particular is a genuine spectacle even if you don’t ride it yourself. Riders are called up onto the platform by category, ages, groups of women, groups of men, and the wheel spins and tilts beneath them until only one person remains upright, with a crowd cheering the whole thing on. It requires no technical skill or thrill-seeking nerve to enjoy, just a willingness to watch or take part.

Fun Houses and Sideshows

Alongside the rides, the fairground includes several walk-through fun houses and novelty attractions, a jungle-themed fun house, ghost trains, and even a virtual-reality attraction called Dr. Archibald, one of the more modern additions to a fairground otherwise built on more than a century of tradition. These are typically lower cost than the major rides and make a good option if you want variety without a long queue.

For Families and Younger Children

Gentler carousels, small roller coasters, and water rides are spread throughout the grounds for younger visitors, and prices are generally lower than the big-ticket attractions, the Teufelsrad, for instance, charges just €1 for children. Two Family Days fall on select Tuesdays during the 2026 festival, with discounted prices on many rides specifically aimed at families. The Oide Wiesn section, in the festival’s southern area, is worth a specific mention here too: its vintage carousels and historic rides give a genuinely different, more nostalgic feel than the main fairground’s modern coasters.

Getting Around: Wide, Accessible Avenues

The Theresienwiese’s fairground sits along the Schaustellerstraße, or Showmen’s Street, on the eastern side of the grounds, opposite the row of large beer tents on the Wirtsbudenstraße to the west. The two areas are connected by several cross-streets, the largest running in front of the Bavaria statue. The avenues themselves are wide and flat, making the fairground reasonably manageable for wheelchairs and pushchairs, with first-aid and information points posted throughout.

When to Visit the Fairground

Priority	Best Time
Shortest queues	Weekday mornings
Best photos and atmosphere	Evening, once the lights come on
Avoiding sensory overload	Weekday morning, before the fairground gets loud and busy
Discounted rides for kids	Family Days (select Tuesdays)

The fairground is genuinely a different experience by time of day. During the day it’s colorful and family-friendly; after dark, every ride blazes with neon and the whole Wiesn hums with energy in a way daytime photos simply don’t capture. If you’re combining a fairground visit with a tent session, doing the rides first in the afternoon and saving the tents for evening avoids trying to operate machinery-adjacent rides after a few Maß.

For more on how to time your whole visit around crowd levels, see our weekday vs weekend guide, and for the full festival map showing where the fairground sits relative to the tents, see our Oktoberfest map.

Budgeting for the Fairground

Since there’s no wristband or day pass, ride costs add up individually. A rough estimate for a few hours on the fairground:

Activity Level	Estimated Spend
A couple of rides and a game or two	€15 to €25
A full afternoon, several rides including a big coaster	€40 to €60
A family with kids on the smaller rides	Varies, generally lower per ride than adult attractions

For the fuller picture of what a full day at Oktoberfest costs including beer, food, and rides together, see our Oktoberfest cost guide.

FAQ’s