Stuttgart

Museums, architecture and city history

The Stuttgart TV Tower was the world’s first television tower made of reinforced concrete. The SWR TV Tower is just over 217 metres tall and has an observation deck and dining facilities. In good weather, the view from the tower and panoramic café extends as far as the Swabian Alb. If you enjoy seeing Stuttgart from above, the Killesberg Tower offers another perspective: it is 42 metres tall and provides views over Stuttgart and the Neckar Valley from four platforms at heights of 8, 16, 24 and 31 metres.

The two major automotive museums also offer different highlights. The Porsche Museum in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen presents more than 80 vehicles and 200 small exhibits. Through a glass window, visitors can watch specialists repairing historic vehicles. The Mercedes-Benz Museum, which opened in 2006, displays 160 vehicles and more than 1,500 exhibits across nine exhibition levels. Two tours take visitors through the collection: the first leads through seven “Myth Rooms,” the second through five “Collection Rooms.” The building itself is strikingly designed: its interior is modelled on a DNA double helix, with no enclosed rooms or straight walls.

There are more themes to explore for architecture and art enthusiasts. Solitude Palace was built between 1763 and 1769 at the behest of Duke Carl Eugen as a hunting and pleasure palace. Since 2016, the two houses by Le Corbusier in the Weissenhof Estate, along with other buildings by the architect, have been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site; the semi-detached house has been restored faithfully to the original. The Stuttgart Art Museum’s glass cube, which opened in 2005, houses the city’s art collection, including works by Willi Baumeister, Fritz Winter, Adolf Hölzel and Otto Dix.

Green spaces and outdoor activities

The Green U is an eight-kilometre-long, U-shaped green corridor stretching from Stuttgart city centre to Höhenpark Killesberg. Its length and shape provide a clear guide for anyone who wants to include green spaces in their stay. In the 100-hectare Rosenstein Park, you can stroll among native and exotic trees; the lawns are suitable for picnics. The park is also a protected historic monument.

Stuttgart is also defined by its Stäffele: the city has more than 400 outdoor stairways. They connect the basin with the slopes and offer views across the basin. Another viewpoint is Bismarck Tower. From Easter to the end of October, visitors can climb its 92 steps to the platform every weekend and enjoy panoramic views over the Neckar Valley. If you’d rather focus on plants and animals during an outing, you can visit Wilhelma. It is Germany’s only institution combining a zoo and botanical garden, and is home to around 1,200 animal species and more than 8,500 different plant species and varieties.

The Markthalle and Swabian cuisine

Stuttgart’s Markthalle is a culinary meeting place for locals and tourists. Its offerings include fruit and vegetables, sausage and meat products, spices and flowers. The Markthalle has been a protected historic monument since 1972. If you’d also like to experience regional food culture in a special setting, consider visiting the Stuttgart Wine Village: it has taken place every year from late August to early September since 1974. At the Hocketse, regional food and wine are served; visitors can sample hundreds of wines from Baden-Württemberg, and traditional Swabian dishes are also available.

Stuttgart caters to different travel interests, without requiring every experience to be part of a single itinerary.

More locations

For exploring other parts of the city: Feuerbach, Wangen, Stammheim, Untertürkheim and Bad Cannstatt; also Rohr.

For the broader travel overview: Stuttgart.