Munich's 191st Oktoberfest closed on Sunday with the biggest crowd in its history. The city put attendance at 7.4 million over the 16 days on the Theresienwiese, past the previous high of 7.2 million set in 2023, which ran two days longer.
Festival director Christian Scharpf called it "the most-visited Wiesn in its long history". The pace was set early: by the halfway point the count already stood at about 3.8 million. Last year's edition, by contrast, had to shut its gates twice for overcrowding.
Consumption rose with the crowds. The city reported 6.7 million litres of beer served, 2.7 per cent up on 2025, and the tent landlords put food sales up two to three per cent.
The record came with a run of accidents. A 52-year-old security worker died on the third day after being trapped under the gondola of a free-fall tower, and investigators are still working out why he was in a restricted area. On the final day a 47-year-old ride worker was badly hurt at a swing-boat ride and had to be resuscitated. A woman over 90 died in hospital after her wheelchair caught in a carriage horse's harness, and two people were killed when a coach carrying a group to the festival overturned on the A96 motorway in the Allgäu.
Source
Original summary by Proventier.