Two Oktoberfests, one name: which one is yours?

Newcastle has a bit of a double-booking this month. There are two different Oktoberfests running under the same name, and they are not in the same city. One is a one-day festival at The Station here in Newcastle, NSW, and the other is a three-weekend run at Times Square in Newcastle upon Tyne, over in the UK. If you are planning your weekend around a beer hall, it is worth knowing which one you are actually booking.

The local one, Oktoberfest in the Gardens, lands at The Station on Saturday 24 October from 1pm to 9pm. It bills itself as Australia's biggest touring Oktoberfest, and the venue is the old Newcastle Railway Station, now a pop-up space run by the Hunter and Central Coast Development Corporation. There is more than 7,200 square metres of it, with a landscaped piazza, a picnic lawn and a bandstand. It is easy to get to, a three-minute walk from the Queens Wharf and Newcastle Beach light rail stops and five minutes from the Stockton ferry. Tickets are A$59.90 a head, and the day is packed: beer halls, bratwurst, cider, wine, roving performers, thrill rides, a sideshow alley, a silent disco with up to 30 local DJs, Oompah brass bands, accordion players, a dodgeball arena and a Berghain-inspired Rave Cave. There are wood chopping demos and competitions for Miss and Mr Oktoberfest, stein holding and bratwurst eating, and VIP packages with private bars and dedicated seating if you want to skip the queues.

Meanwhile, Oktoberfest Newcastle is the one over in the UK, at Times Square in Newcastle upon Tyne, and it is running across three Saturdays: 10, 17 and 24 October. Each day is split into a daytime session from midday to 5.30pm and an evening session from 6pm to 11pm, inside a heated indoor beer hall that holds 400 people, with fully stocked bars, street food vendors and hundreds of bierkeller benches. It is in its eighth year and is expecting more than 10,000 people across the three weekends. Daytime tickets are A$23, evening tickets A$21, students A$11.50 with a valid ID, and earlybird tickets start at A$19, plus booking fees. It is run by the Oktoberfest UK team, Paddy Fest and We Are Fanzone.

Despite the distance between them, the two share the same Bavarian DNA. Both serve bratwurst, currywurst, frankfurters and pretzels, with gluten-free and vegan options, and the beer is poured from steins and brewed to the Reinheitsgebot, the German beer purity law. Oompah bands, choirs and DJ sets are the soundtrack at both, and turning up in lederhosen and dirndls is encouraged. The UK event has shifted this year from a daily run to three dedicated Saturdays to make room for the bigger crowds it is expecting. So, whether you are heading to The Station for a big one-day bash or planning a trip to the other Newcastle, the dress code and the beer remain the same.