Events and festivals in Bavaria on October 10 and 11, 2026: the Memmingen Jahrmarkt opens in the old town, marathons start in Munich and Lindau, and Beilngries celebrates the onion.
Between Roßmarkt, Weinmarkt and Hallhof. In Memmingen's old town the Jahrmarkt opens on 10 October 2026. Marathons in Munich and Lindau, an onion market in Beilngries and a winegrowers' procession in Iphofen fill out the events and festivals of the weekend of 10-11 October across Bavaria.
A Fair with Roots in 1541
The Memmingen Jahrmarkt opens on October 10 and runs for nine days until October 18. Its first documentary records go back to 1541. In 2026 around 200 showmen's businesses take part, and the fair draws about 200,000 visitors.
The fair takes place in the middle of the old town, not on a remote festival ground. Rides stand between the town houses, and Roßmarkt, Weinmarkt, Maximilianstraße and Hallhof make up the setting. Memmingen is one of the most important surviving imperial cities of the Allgäu, with the Westertor and the Antoniterkloster in the town center.
There is no beer tent, and that is deliberate: it gives the fair the character of a market and family festival. The inns of the old town stay open all week, and a shopping Sunday opens the town center's stores.
On Saturday and Sunday the showmen's market opens at 11 a.m. and closes at 10 p.m., and admission is free.
Marathons, Markets and Traditions from Lindau to Ostheim
Sunday, October 11, 9 a.m., Olympiapark: the MARATHON MÜNCHEN by Brooks starts this year with the Bavarian Marathon Championships. The course runs through the English Garden, along the Isar's high bank and past Marienplatz and Odeonsplatz, and beside the marathon there are a half marathon, a 10-kilometer run and a relay. The children's runs take place as early as Saturday. The 2025 premiere set a participation record with around 28,500 runners. On Lake Constance the Sparkasse 3-Länder-Marathon begins on the harbor promenade of Lindau island and ends in the Casino Stadium in Bregenz. In St. Margrethen, Swiss customs officers greet the runners with cowbells.
Saturday and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day, the main street of Beilngries in the Altmühl valley belongs to the onion: the Bavarian Onion Market offers onion cake, onion rolls and onion bratwurst, along with market music and dance performances. Locals there are nicknamed “Zwiebeltreter”. On Marktstraße in Ostheim vor der Rhön, around 50 butchers and direct sellers from the Bavarian, Hessian and Thuringian Rhön show their sausage and ham at the Rhön Sausage Market, and tours of the fortified church are part of the program. Around 20,000 visitors come, and admission costs 5 euros per day.
On Saturday in Iphofen, the winegrowers drive festively decorated wine carts from the Einersheimer Tor to the market square. At the Einholen der Letzten Weinfuhre, the Weingärtnertanzkreis and the fire brigade's town band accompany the procession. From 11 a.m. there is Bremser, onion cake and dripping bread, and in the evening the Kellerfest follows in the Rathauskeller.
On Saturday 10 October, between 6 p.m. and 1 a.m., museums, galleries, studios and churches in Regensburg open for a single ticket: the Long Night of Museums costs 20 euros and includes the RVV shuttle between the venues. On Karl-Lederer-Platz in Geretsried, the StraßenKUNSTfestival turns the town center into a stage with acrobatics, aerial artistry, magic, comedy and break dance. The hat principle applies, the town launched the festival in 2022, and on Sunday the stores are open from 12 to 5 p.m.
Around 200 riders in traditional dress ride on Sunday at the Colomansfest in Schwangau from the town hall to the pilgrimage church of St. Coloman, where the priest blesses horses and animals. From October 10 to 12 the Kirchweihdult fills Marienplatz in Freising with stalls, and it counts as the Upper Bavarian counterpart to Munich's Auer Dult. On Sunday almost all stores in the town center open from 1 to 6 p.m.
In Memmingen the city recommends arriving by park and ride, and a shuttle bus runs from the edge of town to the old town.