Things to do in Stuttgart
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Stuttgart
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Magnolias, Fruehlingsfest and Porsche Tennis: May is the best spring month.
Beer gardens and open air festivals, but hot and humid downtown: head to the heights after 4pm.
Peak season: wine harvest, broom taverns and Cannstatter Volksfest, hotels surge.
Christmas market and baths in winter, then January to February are coldest, greyest and cheapest.
What's on
- Frühlingsfest Mid April to early May each year
Europe largest spring festival on the Wasen, Volksfest younger sibling.
- Porsche Tennis Grand Prix April
WTA 500 at Porsche Arena: winner famously gets a Porsche too.
- Sommerfest early August
White clad gourmet festival around the Eckensee in Schlossgarten.
- Stuttgarter Weindorf late Aug - early Sep
Wine Village with 120 plus stalls on Marktplatz and Schillerplatz.
- Cannstatter Volksfest Usually late September to mid October, 17 days
Germany second largest folk festival: about four million visitors over 17 days.
- Stuttgarter Weihnachtsmarkt late Nov - 23 Dec
One of Germany oldest and largest Christmas markets, around 300 stalls.
- Christmas Garden at Wilhelma Nov - Jan
Winter light trail through Wilhelma in the dark months.
Worth the trip for
Best things to do in Stuttgart
Mercedes-Benz Museum
World class car history told through world history in a double helix building: allow three to four hours.
Porsche Museum
Smaller and more dramatic than Mercedes: racing cars on a white ramp opposite the factory.
Wilhelma
Zoo and botanical garden in a Moorish royal complex: great apes, greenhouses and a magnolia grove.
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
Old Masters plus Stirling postmodern wing: strong on Monet, Picasso, surrealism and cubism.
Kunstmuseum Stuttgart
Glass cube of contemporary art on Schlossplatz: free building views and a top floor restaurant.
Fernsehturm Stuttgart
The first concrete TV tower: panorama over the bowl, Neckar and Swabian Alb at sunset.
Eugensplatz
Staeffele climb endpoint with a view and an ice cream parlour: the classic free Stuttgart ritual.
Karlshöhe
Vineyard hill with a beer garden and city view: one of the viewpoints locals actually use.
Where to stay in Stuttgart
Stuttgart-Mitte - Schlossplatz / Oberer Schlossgarten
first trip, all-round base
Everything walkable, station for day trips, and the Schlossgarten side is calmer at night.
Stuttgart-West / Feuersee
repeat visitors, longer stays, neighbourhood feel
Cafe dense creative quarter by the lake, ten to fifteen minutes walk to Schlossplatz.
Stuttgart-Süd / Marienplatz and Bohnenviertel
food, wine bars, local life
Where Stuttgart eats and drinks after work: stay for restaurants, not sights.
Bad Cannstatt
festivals, football, baths, families, value
Baths, Wilhelma and Mercedes Museum are here and hotels run cheaper than Mitte.
Degerloch and the Heights
summer heat, walkers, quiet green stays
Villa streets and forest edge, cooler air, Fernsehturm on your doorstep.
Killesberg / Stuttgart-Nord
families, week-long stays with a kitchen
Quiet villa and park quarter by Killesberg, ten minutes by U Bahn to centre.
Think twice about
- Immediate Hauptbahnhof / Arnulf-Klett-Platz forecourt at night
Grubby, construction fenced, pickpocket risk in crowds and rough sleeping around station approaches.
- Leonhardstraße / Leonhardsviertel red-light pocket
Sex shops, table dance bars and late night drinking: seedy and noisy, not a family or quiet base.
- Far peripheral estates with no S-Bahn
Not unsafe, just a time trap: forty plus minutes to the centre and nothing for a visitor at night.
Best restaurants in Stuttgart
Speisemeisterei
Two star flagship in Hohenheim Palace: creative modern European cooking, special occasion pick.
Wielandshöhe
Vincent Klink refined Swabian French cooking on a vineyard hill with a bowl terrace.
Restaurant 5
One star cosmopolitan dining in a lounge bar hybrid by Schlossplatz: easy night out pairing.
Délice
One star French tasting menu in a vaulted cellar: the romantic luxury pick, tiny room.
Der Zauberlehrling
Starred creative cooking in a design hotel restaurant in the Bohnenviertel.
Hupperts
Intimate starred modern Swabian French room: where Stuttgart food people eat themselves.
Zur Weinsteige
Starred classic German cooking in a wine hotel with a superb local wine list.
Weinstube Fröhlich
Beloved traditional Weinstube: Maultaschen, roast beef and Trollinger by the Viertele.
Outdoor things to do in Stuttgart
Stuttgarter Golf-Club Solitude
Historic championship course from 1927: Bundesliga teams, old trees and fast greens.
Golfclub Schönbuch
Twenty seven holes in Schönbuch forest: best value quality round in the region.
Golfclub Neckartal
Flatter, forgiving parkland north of the city: good for a mixed ability group.
Golfclub Schloss Monrepos
Eighteen holes in a palace park by a lake, with hotel and wine estate on site.
CITYGOLF Stuttgart
Floodlit driving range, short course and adventure golf on the Neckar: no handicap needed.
Grabkapelle auf dem Württemberg
Neoclassical mausoleum on Rotenberg hill: best Neckar valley viewpoint in the city.
Weinwanderweg Rotenberg Uhlbach
Signature wine walk through vines past broom taverns to Uhlbach and Obertürkheim.
Max-Eyth-See
Lake with boat hire and a beer garden feel: combine with cycling and CITYGOLF nearby.
Best hotels in Stuttgart
Althoff Hotel am Schlossgarten
Grand hotel in the Schlossgarten with park and opera views: best old school service in town.
Steigenberger Graf Zeppelin
Classic station hotel opposite Hauptbahnhof: unbeatable for early trains and day trips.
Le Méridien Stuttgart
Contemporary Schlossgarten hotel with a strong spa and pool: most resort feeling downtown.
Jaz in the City Stuttgart
Music themed design hotel by the station: younger alternative to the grand hotels.
EmiLu Design Hotel
Small minimalist design hotel near Markthalle with a rooftop terrace over the centre.
Motel One Stuttgart-Hauptbahnhof
Design budget workhorse: clean, central and reliable, with small rooms.
Hotel Azenberg
Family run hotel with garden and small pool in a quiet villa street north of centre.
Hotel Berg
Small friendly West institution near Feuersee, one of the best value stays.
Is Stuttgart expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €80 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €160 a person |
| Splurge | €400 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Mercedes-Benz Museum: weeks ahead
- Staatstheater Stuttgart: weeks ahead
- Stuttgarter Golf-Club Solitude: a few days ahead
- Golfclub Schönbuch: a few days ahead
- Golfclub Neckartal: a few days ahead
- Golfclub Schloss Monrepos: a few days ahead
- Burg Hohenzollern: a few days ahead
- Schloss Lichtenstein: a few days ahead
- Starred restaurants need three to six weeks for weekend Speisemeisterei and Wielandshöhe.
- Ballet at Staatstheater needs four to eight weeks for weekend Cranko ballets.
- Factory tours and timed museum tickets need weeks in peak and trade fair weeks.
- Volksfest beer tent tables book months ahead via the official festival site: festival entry itself is free.
Is Stuttgart safe?
- Pickpocketing at Hauptbahnhof, Koenigstrasse crowds and Wasen festivals is the realistic risk.
- Sauna areas in mineral baths are textile free and mixed: normal, strictly observed, no phones.
- Carry cash for small Weinstuben, broom taverns, market stalls and festival stands.
- Emergency number is 112, with 110 for police direct.
Stuttgart travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Koenigstrasse is a competent high street, not an attraction: do not spend a day on it.
- Doing both car museums in half a day is the common mistake: you will remember neither.
- Schlossplatz lawn alone is a twenty minute hub, not a half day destination.
- Any site selling Volksfest admission tickets is a scam: entry is free and bags are searched.
Getting around Stuttgart: public transport and more
- VVS S Bahn, U Bahn and buses are integrated: a day ticket pays off at three rides.
- Airport S2 or S3 reaches Hauptbahnhof in about 27 minutes: do not taxi unless luggage demands it.
- Ride the Zacke rack railway and Standseilbahn funicular: transport and experiences, included on VVS tickets.
- Shops close Sundays by law: plan shopping Saturday, culture Sunday, and note many museums close Monday.
Who Stuttgart suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Great |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Great |
Make Stuttgart your trip
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