The Best European Beer Festivals You Won’t Have Heard Of
The largest beer festival in the world, Oktoberfest might be a lot of fun, but the high prices and jostling crowds can be a little much for some visitors to swallow. If you’d like to experience a European beer festival that’s authentic as well as affordable, here are some great ones whose names are less familiar, but where the beer is just as good.
Czech Beer Festival, Prague – 17th May – 2nd June
At just five years old the Czech Beer Festival in Prague’s Vystaviste Praha Holesovice Park is still relatively new on the beer festival scene, but it’s quickly become one of Europe’s greats with over 80 beers from large and microbreweries all over the country.
Servers in the beer tents all don traditional Czech costume, while live music and plenty of home-cooked food give you plenty to do whilst you sip. What’s more, a plethora of cheap flights to Prague from airlines like Jet2.com will get you there with plenty of cash left over to enjoy those famously low-priced beers.
Berlin Beer Festival – 3rd-5th August
No matter where you are in Germany you’re never too far from a beer festival and Berlin’s contribution takes over the entire two kilometres of the Karl Marx Alee, also known as the ‘Berliner Beer Mile’, for one boozy weekend.
Over 180 breweries from 85 countries will have their finest produce on offer for you to enjoy, served in steins by bar maids in full traditional costume that seem all the more kitsch with Communist-era housing blocks as their backdrop. However whether you make the Berlin Beer Festival the sole reason for your trip, or part of a chic Berlin break, it’s easy to find affordable flights to Berlin that won’t soak up your booze budget.
Stuttgart Beer Festival – 28th September – 14th October
When years of hunger finally came to an end in 1818 King Wilhelm decided that a public celebration was in order, which in true German fashion involved lots and lots of beer – and thus the Stuttgart Beer Festival was born
Now the second largest beer festival in Germany after Oktoberfest, the Stuttgart Beer Festival showcases over 70 brands of beer that you can enjoy whilst strolling around the open air markets, or between turns on the fairground rides. It’s also held one week after Oktoberfest making it the ideal alternative, although its popularity is growing more and more every year.