Events and festivals in Bavaria this weekend: the Fürth Kirchweih opens in the streets, while a 900-year abbey celebration, a farmers market on the public holiday and a half marathon along the Main round out the program.
Streets instead of beer tents, right in the middle of Fürth. The Michaelis-Kirchweih opens there on October 3, 2026. A 900-year abbey celebration, a farmers market on the public holiday and a half marathon along the Main fill out the rest of the weekend across Bavaria.
Streets Instead of Beer Tents
The Michaelis-Kirchweih opens on 03.10.2026 in the independent city of Fürth in Middle Franconia and runs through October 14. Organized by the city's market office, it carries the title of intangible cultural heritage of Bavaria, and locals simply call it the Kärwa, the queen of the Franconian fairs.
Over twelve days, 254 traders fill about 42,000 square meters of festival ground along roughly 2,700 meters of street frontage. Seven large rides, a Ferris wheel, a bumper car ring and ten children's rides sit among food and market stalls, with not a single beer tent: the Kärwa plays out entirely on the streets and squares.
Around 1.5 million visitors attend every year, and entry to the festival ground stays free, with payment only for rides, food and drink. Fixed traditions include the marriage lottery draw and the Betzn-Tanz dance, and for nearly two weeks Fürth becomes the social center of the Nuremberg metropolitan region.
Folk Festivals, Races and Anniversaries from Amberg to Gädheim
After ten days, the Michaeli-Dult ends in Amberg with a beer tent, its own Amberg festival beer, roasted almonds at the market stalls and Friday-night fireworks, with a shorter Pfingst-Dult following each spring. In Nuremberg, the Altstadtfest on the island of Schütt, at Hans-Sachs-Platz and around the Katharinenruine ends after nearly three weeks with more than 60 free events, a festival that has run since 1970.
As the biggest running event on the Bavarian Untermain, the Sparkassen Half Marathon reaches its 23rd edition in Aschaffenburg on Sunday, organized by TV Haibach Ausdauersport and combined with the Bavarian Half Marathon Championship and the 6th inclusion run, finishing in front of the Renaissance Schloss Johannisburg in a city King Ludwig I once nicknamed the Bavarian Nice. In Oberaudorf, the Trail Festival, founded only in 2024, closes with five distances between Bavaria and Tyrol across high moor, alpine meadows and rocky passages, including a 100-kilometer ultra held for the first time, sponsored by Dynafit.
Held since the early 1990s in the historic town hall and the Max-Reger-Halle, the Max-Reger-Tage in Weiden dedicate concerts and masterclasses to the composer who grew up in the Upper Palatinate. In Kempten, about 30 potters and craftspeople from Germany, Austria and France show their work from 10am to 6pm on Saturday and 11am to 5pm on Sunday on the Hildegardplatz, in a city with more than 2,000 years of history.
Home to about 6,400 residents, Klingenberg am Main marks its 750th city anniversary, alongside 50 years since its districts merged in 1976, with a festival weekend that flows into a Sunday harvest market. At Roggenburg Abbey in the district of Neu-Ulm, founded around 1126, Bishop Bertram Meier and Abbot General Jos Wouters lead a festive service for the monastery's 900th anniversary, accompanied by a specially bottled anniversary wine and a beer brewed for the occasion. In Gädheim, the farmers market, part of the nationwide Tag der Regionen initiative, turns the center of the 1,500-resident village into a market with more than 100 stalls, bratwurst and cabbage rolls at the food stands, and about 10,000 visitors for the Day of German Unity.
The harvest parade, the highlight of the Fürth Kärwa, moves through the city center on October 11.