Also special this year is the "Historical Wiesn", a small camp set up on the southern edge of the grounds.

BBC: Oktoberfest turns 200

Munich hosts one of the world's most famous municipal celebrations, known globally as Oktoberfest (although it is in fact held at the end of September) and known to locals as Wiesn (from the grassy expanse where it is held called Theresienwiese).

BBC: Living in: Munich

For the next 17 days, more than six million normally prim and sober citizens from every country in the world will descend upon the Theresienwiese festival grounds (Wiesn, for short) to guzzle towering mugs of beer and engage in good cheer and outright debauchery.

BBC: Oktoberfest turns 200