Cannstatter Volksfest (the Wasen)

More than 4 million visitors, eight large beer tents and the Fruchtsäule, the fruit column that has crowned the fairgrounds since the beginning. Running since 1818, founded by King Wilhelm I as a harvest festival after a famine.

Dates and hours in 2026

The 179th Cannstatter Volksfest runs from September 25 through October 11, 2026, which makes it a 17-day festival. Opening day falls on a Friday, the final day on a Sunday. The first weekend traditionally carries the two big set pieces: the ceremonial tapping of the first keg on Saturday, and on Sunday morning the historic festival parade, which winds through the old town of Bad Cannstatt to the fairgrounds with costume groups, horse-drawn carriages and riders.

Rides and tents open at noon Monday through Thursday and close at 11pm. Friday runs until midnight, Saturday from 11am to midnight, Sunday from 11am to 11pm. The one exception is opening day, September 25, when the rides do not start turning until 3pm.

Saturday, October 3, 2026 is German Unity Day, a national holiday that lands squarely inside the festival. That Saturday and the weekend that follows are reliably the most crowded days of the entire run. If you want elbow room, come on a weekday around lunchtime.

The beer tents on the Wasen

For 2026 the organizer lists eight large tents on the Wasen. Each one has its own handwriting, from the plain Swabian tavern tent to a full alpine-lodge set piece. If you have seen photographs of Munich's Oktoberfest, the format will look familiar; the Wasen is its slightly less internationally besieged sibling.

Tables are booked directly with the individual tent operators, usually starting in spring, and weekend evenings sell out fast. Without a reservation you will almost always find a seat during the day and on weekdays; on Friday and Saturday nights from around 6pm it gets tight. Reservations run exclusively through the tent operators, never through the festival organizer.

• WELLER'S Klauss & Klauss Dinkelacker Festzelt
• Festzelt Sonja Merz
• Fürstenberg Festzelt
• Göckelesmaier Festzelt
• Beim BENZ
• SchwabenWelt
• Wasenwirt
• Almhütte Royal

Getting there by train and light rail

The Wasen sits in the Bad Cannstatt district of Stuttgart, and public transit is by far the fastest way in. The Stadtbahn light-rail stop Cannstatter Wasen is right at the fairground gates. During the festival it is served by the special U11 line, which shuttles between the main station and the Wasen on every festival day, plus the U19 Monday through Friday until 8pm.

The alternative is the Mercedesstraße stop at the König-Karls-Brücke bridge, served by lines U1, U2, U13 and U16. From there it is roughly a kilometer on foot, about six tenths of a mile, across the bridge to the grounds.

On the S-Bahn commuter rail, ride to Bad Cannstatt: lines S1, S2 and S3 stop there, as do several regional trains. From Bad Cannstatt station it is a walk of under ten minutes, and the route is signposted.

Driving and parking

There is parking directly at the Wasen and in the adjoining NeckarPark, but the number of spaces is limited. A car space costs 8 euros. On weekend evenings the lots regularly fill early, and the organizer explicitly recommends arriving by bus and train or using park-and-ride lots on the edge of the city.

Accessible parking is available right at the fairgrounds near the entrance. With a German disability ID carrying the mobility mark G, parking there is free.

What else runs on the Wasen

Alongside the Volksfest, the Landwirtschaftliches Hauptfest, the state agricultural show, takes place on the Cannstatter Wasen from September 27 to October 4, 2026. It traces back to the same origin as the Volksfest itself and puts farm machinery, livestock shows and regional producers on display. For families the combination works well: the agricultural show first, then the Ferris wheel.

The landmark of the festival is the Fruchtsäule, a column dressed in fruit, vegetables and grain that stands in the middle of the grounds. It points back to why the festival exists at all. King Wilhelm I endowed it in 1818 as an agricultural day of thanks, after a failed harvest had pushed the country into famine. The first column was designed by the Württemberg court architect Nikolaus Friedrich von Thouret.