The Munich beer festival, or Oktoberfest Beer Festival as it is also called, is one of the many festivals held in Munich, which is known as a cosmopolitan city with a small-town friendliness. This is the largest beer festival in the world, held every year in mid-September and runs for about two weeks. During this time everyone in Munich heads to Theresienwiese, south-west of the Hauptbahnhof, a huge green area near the centre of the city. This field becomes a mini city, with its own post office, fire department and police, as well as myriad of enormous tents set up by the Bavarian breweries to serve beer all day long and host Bavarian bands who play old German favourites. The first keg is tapped in the opening ceremony and doesn’t stop flowing for the two weeks.