Visit Whiteface Mountain During Oktoberfest

Visit Whiteface Mountain during Oktoberfest, where each fall locals and guests alike dust off their lederhosen and enjoy a tall mug of German beer! The weekend-long, Bavarian-style celebration is filled with authentic music, dancing, food and beer. It’s also rated one of the 5 Must-Visit Oktoberfests in North America by SKI Magazine! This is a family-friendly event with activities for all ages including craft vendors, pumpkin painting, bounce houses, scenic gondola rides, and more!

Keep reading to learn more about Oktoberfest at Whiteface.

The Drinks

What’s Oktoberfest without the beer?! 

You have a couple of options when you get to Oktoberfest. One, you can head to the third floor of the Base Lodge and go to the Cloudspin Bar & Grill. Here you can go to the bar and order a drink of your choice, or have a seat at one of the many tables and order food. They have entertainment inside as well. There is also a large deck outside with picnic tables so you can enjoy the weather and take in the fall foliage while you drink. There are also games on the deck like cornhole and giant Jenga.

Your other option is to get in line for the ticket tent. Here you can purchase tickets for food and beer. The tickets can then be used at the outdoor tents where you can fill your stein and get German food like kielbasa, bratwurst, schnitzel, pretzels, and waffles.

For 2023, tickets were $5 and all food and beverage items outside were in increments of $5. Cash and credit could not be used at food and beverage locations outside. 

Visit Whiteface Mountain during Oktoberfest and enjoy a German beer!

Some feedback from our Saturday visit. The event started at 11 am. When we arrived around 11:45 am, the ticket line was already extremely long. Some people were saying it was taking 45 minutes to get through the line. We decided to head up to the Cloudspin bar and grab a drink while we waited to see if the line got smaller. The bar was still pretty quite at that point, so we got in and out quickly. It was nice to sit outside on the deck and just people-watch. The ticket line never seemed to shorten. I did pick someone out of the line and track to see how long it took them to get into the tent to actually purchase tickets. It was about 13 minutes.

As it got later in the day, we decided we didn’t want to wait in line to get tickets and then wait in line again to get food and more beer. We tried to eat inside, but there were only two servers working for the entire restaurant, so we ended up passing on food and left early to head back into Lake Placid. 

This was the first year they’ve implemented the tickets for food, so it will hopefully be better next year. The food looked really good, so we were kind of bummed we didn’t get any. 

Visit Whiteface Mountain during Oktoberfest and listen to the Alphorn Trio

The Entertainment

As we were walking into the venue from the parking lot, we saw The Alphorn Trio. An Alphorn (or Alpine horn) is the giant wooden horn you might think of when you picture the Swiss Alps. The trio plays their horns throughout the grounds and many people stop to take a photo with them.

While we were sitting inside debating eating at Cloudpin, we listened to The Schachtelgebirger Musikanten. They are a two-man “band” with one playing guitar and one playing accordion. They were very entertaining and engaging with the audience!

We also watched the Alpenland Tänzer Dancers in the Main Tent outside. They perform authentic Alpine “Schuhplatteln” dancing, which is very fun to watch.

Visit Whiteface Mountain during Oktoberfest and watch the Alpenland Tänzer Dancers

The Views

One of the best things about going to Oktoberfest is riding the Gondola to the top of Little Whiteface. The weather was perfect this year, and the leaves were close to peak, so the views were amazing. The gondola ride was an add-on purchase and cost $25 for adults (ages 13 and up) and $20 for kids (ages 7-12).  The line for the Gondola was pretty short when we arrived, but by the time we left in the afternoon, it had gotten pretty long. 

Overall, our visit to Oktoberfest was pretty good. The beautiful weather really played into that. Hopefully, they make some adjustments to food and beverage purchasing so everyone has a better experience going forward. It’s still an event I recommend checking out and it’s great for the whole family.  They even have shuttles that pick up and drop off around Lake Placid so you don’t have to worry about drinking and driving or finding a DD!

All photos from Whiteface Mountain

Visit Whiteface Mountain during Oktoberfest and take in the views

More Blogs

The only thing we overlook is the lake

Surrender yourself to the natural and untouched beauty of the Adirondack Mountains at the first resort in the U.S. to receive the Audubon International’s Platinum Eco Rating for Hotels. There are now only six hotels in the United States to obtain this honor! It’s a place to renew yourself on the serene shores of Mirror Lake, and take in the history of the town, just steps away from the famed Olympic Village and the heart of Lake Placid, New York. No other place on earth provides this unique blend of comfort, rejuvenation, or one-of-a-kind experiences. Start planning your stay at the Golden Arrow Lakeside Resort now!

Book a room