In Germany, the world’s largest Oktoberfest celebration will pack Munich’s beer halls from Sept. 20 through Oct. 5. But in the Bay Area, the celebrations go on for weeks, running right up to Halloween. (Really. You can skip the trick-or-treaters this year and spend the evening with the lederhosen crowd at Teske’s in San Jose if you’d prefer.)
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Check out our roundup below of events large and small; in most cases, you would be well-advised to buy tickets in advance. If you know of other events and restaurant specials, email [email protected] and we’ll add them to the online roundup.
Festivals are in chronological order with restaurant events below those:
FESTIVALS
Oktoberfest Downtown Redwood City: Sept.19-21, Sept. 23-28
For nine days, Courthouse Square will be transformed into a “German wunderland” with tons of family-style bench seating and a Munich-inspired celebration tent. The event is split between cheaper weekday “happy hours” and the bigger weekend bashes, Entertainment includes bands like the Golden Gate Bavarian Club, dance contests, yodeling competitions and endless renditions of the chicken dance. There are pretzels, bratwursts and other Bavarian bites, and to wash it down, ice-cold beer or root beer.
Details: Various times from Sept. 19-21 and Sept. 23–28 at 2200 Broadway, Redwood City. Non-drinker tickets are $10-$15 Tuesday-Thursday and $15-$25 Friday-Sunday, drinking tickets are $16-$20 Tuesday-Thursday and $22-$35 Friday-Sunday. Tickets include a commemorative stein and drink voucher, redwoodcity.org/residents/redwood-city-events/oktoberfest
Oktoberfest on Front: Sept. 19
After a successful debut last year, the celebration is back for a second round as a larger iteration of Schroeder’s annual block party on 240 Front St. in San Francisco. This year, it’s being billed as California’s first-ever “entertainment zone,” which allows brick-and-mortar restaurants to sell alcoholic beverages for outdoor consumption on the street during special events. Schroeder’s, Harrington’s and Royal Exchange will each be celebrating with beer specials, bratwursts, pretzels and cocktails. Axe throwing, beer pong, beer chugging and other games will be on display, as well as live entertainment on an outdoor stage. Among those performing will be Ladyhosen and Pop Rocks.
Details; 2-10 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19. Admission is free, downtownsf.org
Benicia Oktoberfest & Marketplace: Sept. 20
The little city on the banks of the Carquinez Strait is pulling out all the stops this fall. First, get your early holiday shopping on at a market with 25-plus local vendors offering unusual crafts and gifts. Then load up on bratwurst and schnitzel from the family-run Lockeford Sausage and Stockton’s German Guys restaurant. The beer is imported from the oldest brewery on earth, Bavaria’s Weihenstephan Monastery Brewery, and there will be masskrugstemmen aka stein-holding contests. For tots, the fest has a free Mega Kid Zone, and then for everyone there’s a great lineup of live bands, including the irrepressible Soviet-surf rock of Igor & the Red Elvises from 4-6 p.m.
Details: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 20, at the Benicia Marina Green (First and East B streets). $10 general admission, or $35 Oktoberfest package that includes entry, two drink tickets and a stein, beniciaoktoberfest.com
Walnut Creek Oktoberfest: Sept. 26-27
Last year’s event drew more than 20,000 attendees at Civic Park East in downtown Walnut Creek. The town has yet to share the vendors for this year’s celebration, but Headlands Brewery has announced that it will be one of them. Come for the beer and wine and celebrate with live entertainment, music, dancing, local food and craft vendors as well as the kids carnival, which will include inflatable games, a giant slide, live animals, mini golf, train rides, face painting and balloon artists.
Details: 5-10 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26, and noon-9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27. Entry is free; drink tickets and kids carnival tickets available to purchase, walnutcreekdowntown.com/events/oktoberfest
Oaktoberfest: Oct. 4-5
This annual bash in Oakland’s Dimond District has something that might get Tim Gunn’s attention: a dirndl fashion show. (It’s being judged by the artist who fabricated Brittany Spears’ famous “nude bodysuit,” of all things.) The family-friendly entertainment continues at a Kids’ Play Zone, with lawn games, youth bands and root-beer floats with Loard’s ice cream. Meanwhile, adults can hang at a Parents’ Chill Zone and enjoy the 300-plus beers and wines the festival is offering, plus food from vendors like Evergood Sausage Co., Smokin Woods BBQ, Jollof Kitchen and pineappleWHIPS. Five music stages — hosting everything from dance battles to polkas — round out the fun.
Details: 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Oct. 4 and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Oct. 5. Fruitvale Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard, Oakland. Free admission, and drink packages for adults start at $36 for four pours, oaktoberfest.org
Clayton Oktoberfest, Oct. 4-5
For the 21st year, the Clayton Business and Community Association is putting on one of the longest-running Oktoberfests in the Bay Area. It features a full-sized carnival for kids of all ages beginning on Friday night, Oct. 3, with Oktoberfest celebrations starting Saturday. The opening ceremony and keg tap are scheduled for noon. Soon after, The Internationals will be providing live music in the biergarten with Bavarian dancers set to join them. There will be no shortage of local vendors or guests; more than 16,000 people attended last year’s event.
Details: 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Oct 4 and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Oct 5 (though the carnival starts Friday night, Oct. 4), claytonoktoberfest.com.
Mountain View Oktoberfest, Oct. 11-12
“Come for the beer, stay for the culture,” says the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce, which is hosting the city’s 10th annual Oktoberfest. If you’re feeling competitive, the festival test along Castro Street will offer nonstop contests, from a pretzel eating contests for kids to yodeling, beer belly, costume and stein holding contests, culminating each day in a quest to find the best chicken dancer in attendance. Music will be provided by the Deutscher MusikVerein and BlowMusik! bands
Details: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day at 590 Castro St., Mountain View, with public transit stops nearby. www.mvoktoberfest.com/
Downtown Campbell Oktoberfest, Oct. 18-19
Campbell’s venerable event — the 30th annual — combines the German food, beer and music of an Oktoberfest with the arts and crafts of a traditional street festival. Vendors, 100-plus, will cover several blocks of Campbell Avenue. Music fans will find five stages of entertainment, including one with nonstop German music from the Zicke Zacke Band. The beer and food will be located at the Biersch Garden and along the avenue. Sausage fans know this event as Lockeford’s annual South Bay stop, so hit that booth early. For families, the Kinderplatz will feature a magician, arts and crafts, sports activities and nearby, the Campbell Fire Department’s touch-a truck. New this year is a $25 OktoberFAST pass that gives attendees front-of-line privileges at all festival booths.
Details: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 19. Admission, parking are free; some fee-only Kinderplatz activities. www.downtowncampbell.com.
RESTAURANTS, BREWERIES
Teske’s Germania: In San Jose, this historic restaurant-beer hall amps up its year-round German fare — think schnitzel and sauerbraten — with Oktoberfest music on several nights from now through the end of October. The Internationals band — fan favorites for years — will take the stage in the biergarten Oct. 3, 10, 17-18, 24-25 and 31 (yes, for the first time on Halloween). Seating is first come, first served. Once you’ve seen the show, you can come back on a quiet night this fall or winter to appreciate chef Scott Baumann’s terrific Kassler Ripchen (smoked pork chop) or Schweinshaxe (pork shank).
Details: For Oktoberfest, doors open at 4 p.m.; entertainment starts at 6 and runs till 11 p.m. at 255 N. First St., San Jose. If you can’t arrive early, try swinging by at 8 or 9 p.m. after the first wave of patrons. On non-Oktoberfest nights, the restaurant, bar and biergarten are open Tuesday-Saturday for dinner, with lunch hours on Thursday and Friday. www.teskes-germania.com.
Speisekammer: This legendary German restaurant is throwing three Oktoberfest bashes. On Sept. 21, Sept. 28 and Oct. 5, Speisekammer will have a festive lineup including live music, beer games and contests, raffles and special menus that include a family-sized platter of German bratwurst, bock, kleine nurnbergers, leberkase, Bavarian bratwurst and a smoked pork chop served over sauerkraut. It’s a literal sausage party! There’s also a loaded raft of imported beers: Radeberger, Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier, Paulaner Oktoberfest Bier, Schofferhofer and Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest.
Details: First come, first served. Noon-6 p.m. at 2424 Lincoln Ave., Alameda; speisekammer.com
SideTrack Bar & Grill: This spot for American fare is throwing down for Oktoberfest on Oct. 17-18, with guaranteed seating if booked ahead on the website. (Note that it’s 21-plus after 7 p.m. in outdoor areas.) There’s live music from Polkageist West on Friday and the AlpenBand on Saturday, both from 6-9 p.m., and food like the “Za German Plate” with sausages, potato salad and red cabbage and beer like Hofbräu München and Paulaner Oktoberfest Märzen. Plus, Pleasanton’s Primrose Bakery will sell its German cookies and cakes throughout the weekend. Lederhosen or dirndl dresses are “highly encouraged.”
Details: From 5-10 p.m. Oct. 17 and 3-10 p.m. Oct. 18. Free admission, and $40 for food-and-drink tickets, with online reservations for guaranteed seating, 30 West Angela St., Pleasanton; sidetrackeats.com
SideTrack Bar & Grill will host a 2025 Oktoberfest celebration over one mid-Oct. weekend in Pleasanton, Calif. (SideTrack Bar & Grill)
Trumer Pils Brewery: On Sept. 27, the domestic headquarters of Austria’s Trumer, which strictly adheres to the 500-year old “Reinheitsgebot” (German Beer Purity Law), is holding a party with “cold Trumer, live music and full steins.” At 12:30 p.m., brewmaster Lars Larson will tap a traditional Bavarian keg, then at 1 p.m. the band Polkageist West takes the stage. At 2:45 p.m. there will be a stein-holding contest with Trumer gift certificates going to the winner. Also, traditional Bavarian food (smoked chicken plates, pork or vegan sausages, pretzels from Berkeley’s Squabisch) and beers like Doppelgänger Oktoberfest. Noon-6 p.m., free entry with RSVP, at the Trumer Taproom at 1404 Fourth St., Berkeley; details on Eventbrite or instagram.com/trumerusa
The Lake Chalet Seafood Bar & Grill is holding an Oktoberfest Beer Festival on Sept. 21, 2025, in Oakland, Calif. (Courtesy Lake Chalet)
Lake Chalet Seafood Bar & Grill: Celebrate the arrival of autumn with cool breezes and happy ducks coasting on Oakland’s Lake Merritt at the Lake Chalet. During the afternoon of Sept. 21, the restaurant is having an Oktoberfest Beer Festival that stretches the length of the dock. There will be high-energy music from the Alpine Sound Band and best-dressed and stein-holding contests. Bavarian-inspired dishes will be on the menu, and to drink there’s wine and beer – some of the latter coming from the Beach Chalet in San Francisco. Guests receive a limited-edition keepsake stein filled with a liter of first-pour fresh-brewed Oktoberfest beer. Details: From 1-4 p.m., general admission tickets $40, 1520 Lakeside Drive, Oakland; thelakechalet.com
Brotzeit Lokal Biergarten: Sited on the Estuary aka the “Oakland Riviera,” this eatery is once again diving into Oktoberfest with a blow-out on Sept. 21. Patrons are encouraged to “wear your lederhosen and dirndls” while enjoying the music of Polkageist West. Brotzeit’s kitchen will serve its Bavaria-meets-California cuisine, from house-made sausages (including game-meat options) to truffle spaetzle with mixed mushrooms. Draft beers highlight small German and Austrian family breweries and monastery microbrews. Details: From 1 p.m.-late at 1000 Embarcadero, Oakland; brotzeitbiergarten.com
Fieldwork Brewing: The brewery that’s expanded to all corners of the Bay Area is taking it back to where it began – West Berkeley. On Sept. 20, Fieldwork will claim the block in front of its flagship for a “proper fest celebration” with German-inspired cooking, street games and a Germanic costume contest. After that, the brewery is throwing Oktoberfest parties at several of its other locations, from San Mateo (Sept. 21) to San Leandro (Sept. 27), Napa (Sept. 28) and San Ramon (Oct. 5). All events, including Berkeley’s, will have music in the afternoon from Bill Likens and the Oktober Schlager Band (except for Napa, which features the Schwabenland German band). Expect seasonal beers like the annual Fest & Last Oktoberfest Lager, special food menus and the chance to grab a commemorative stein. Hours, addresses and other details at fieldworkbrewing.com/oktoberfest