I had to wait an entire year to write this post. Last Fall, Derik and I spent three months in Germany visiting my sister (the adorable girl you see in the post below with Derik is one of our nieces) and going on quite a few adventures…of which included The World’s Largest Pumpkin Festival. After our time in Germany was up, we moved to Alaska and spent a couple months getting stuff in order after our four years of living abroad. Before I knew it, pumpkin spice lattes were no longer in season, and the world was suddenly in full-blown Christmas/New Year’s mode.
And then came Spring.
By that point it would have been kind of ridiculous to post about a Fall festival — Spring is all about flowers, green grass, fresh air and sunshine. Pumpkins? What pumpkins?
Thus I had to wait another six months for Fall to appear before it was appropriate to give a good recap about the time we chilled with over 400,000 pumpkins and ate #allthepumpkinflavoredthings.
The World’s Largest Pumpkin Festival is located in Ludwigsburg, Germany, in the gorgeous Ludwigsburg Palace (Blühendes Barock) gardens. The grounds themselves are absolutely breathtaking — even if we didn’t partake in the festival fun, we could have spent hours walking around enjoying the landscaping and beautiful architecture. Let’s talk activities though: pumpkin throwing, carving, canoe paddling (yes, it’s a thing), taste testing, smashing, weigh-off and more! By the end of the day, it was an absolute miracle we made it out of the festival without pumpkins growing out of our ears.
If I had the opportunity to go again would I? Absolutely! I’m not going to lie though, the number one reason for returning would be 100% for the pumpkin wine.
5 tips for visiting The World’s Largest Pumpkin Festival:
- If it looks like rain, bring rain gear. There isn’t really anywhere to go if it decides to dump buckets on you, and a tent can only accommodate so many people. The festival is do-able in the rain, just as long as you don’t mind getting a little wet.
- Go hungry…especially if you like pumpkin flavored everything. I’m not joking when I say you can literally buy almost anything pumpkin flavored. Derik ate Pumpkin/pesto sauce spaghetti for lunch and I had pumpkin stuffed ravioli in a bowl of pumpkin soup. We also tried the pumpkin bread, beer, wine, and hard candies.
- For a less-crowded experience, go during the week. Sure all the insane fun activities are usually on the weekends, but if you hate tripping over a ton of people as you walk around, mid-week may be best.
- You’ll be doing a lot of walking so wear appropriate shoes. Do I even need to say this?
- Camera — bring it. And extra batteries just in case.
Find more information including hours, entry fees, and activity schedules and more here.
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