Germany’s Best Beer Fest Is Hidden In a Forest

I dragged my parents 4,000 miles to a beer festival in the woods… and when we arrived, it looked completely abandoned.

No music. No crowds. No lederhosen. Just a rainy forest outside a village north of Nuremberg. I had promised everyone a better Oktoberfest.  

But while plotting my apologies, the sun broke through.

Suddenly, the bands started up, and thousands of locals seemed to appear from nowhere, filling the tables beneath ancient chestnut trees.

We spent the day hopping between the two dozen kellers, drinking unfiltered Annafest lagers, and hiding from a downpour inside a 600-year-old shooting club. What we learned from the locals is that the Kellerwald isn’t just there for a festival—it’s a way of life.

One group told us they come every single day.

I was there for just one—and it ended up being one of the best of my life.