Oktoberfest at Nature Friends Tourist Club

German folk dancing

I’m not much of a beer drinker, but who can pass on the opportunity of going on a hike in the Mt. Tamalpais region overlooking the splendid Muir Woods followed by an Oktoberfest celebration with a bunch of twenty-and-thirty-somethings dressed like traditional German villagers in lederhosen? Well, I couldn’t miss that, even if I’d rather be sipping wine.

The San Francisco Nature Friends Tourist Club, or “German Tourist Club” as my friends kept calling it, has been around for almost a century. It was originally founded by Germans in 1912. The place retains a definite German flair. Aside from the Oktoberfest, there was traditional German folk dancing with cheery people wearing folk outfits; the complex of buildings was decorated in a lovely style that reminded me of cottages in the Alps; and of course, the beer flowed constantly.

hiking for beer

We parked on a road just above Mill Valley. It was a fifteen minute hike along the “Sun Trail” to get to the Tourist Club. The scenery is stunning! It cost $15 to enter the event. You could not bring dogs or your own alcoholic beverages, though picnics were allowed. My group of two women and six guys probably ordered about ten or twelve pitchers of beer! At $18 each, the Club probably made a killing that afternoon, as the place was mobbed. There was food but sort of limited to German style sausages, some potato and pasta salad, and a warm red cabbage side dish. Later in the afternoon there were soft pretzels, the kind that you might find in Central Park in New York.

It was incredibly fun! I really liked getting to know the others in our group. It was cool to do something way different from my normal routine, too. The Tourist Club is situated in a beautiful location which added to the fairy tale-like quality of the whole experience.

This is a private club but it’s open to the Public from time to time. Check out their schedule and get there soon!

happy Oktoberfest revelers

posing for the camera

what are you doing wench?!

charming folk architecture

empty pichers