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Stuttgart, Germany

Stuttgart

We spent a day here and almost all of it indoors, looking at cars. That is the honest recommendation as well.

What this page is, and what it is not

18 of our 36 Stuttgart photographs are inside a car museum. Two are the city — a bench on a shopping street, and the Neues Schloss across its square. Four are the Christmas market in December.

That is not enough to write a day-by-day guide to Stuttgart, so this is not one. It is a page about the reason we went, and about being clear with yourself before you give a city a night: Stuttgart is a car town, and if that does not interest you at all, it is a place to change trains.

  • There are two great car museums here, not one. Porsche at Zuffenhausen and Mercedes-Benz at Untertürkheim, on opposite sides of the city. We have only done Porsche, which is why this page only describes Porsche.
  • One museum is a half-day. Both, properly, is a full day and a tiring one.
  • The old town is small and was heavily rebuilt. Stuttgart took severe damage in the war and what stands now is mostly post-war. It is a pleasant place to eat and a thin place to sightsee.
The blue show car out on the museum floor
The blue show car out on the museum floor

The Porsche Museum — better than it needs to be

A white building on stilts with white floors inside, and about eighty cars on them. It is a genuinely good museum rather than a brand showroom, and the reason is that it starts before the marque did.

  • Some of the earliest cars are not Porsches at all. Ferdinand Porsche designed vehicles for other makers for decades before the company existed, and they are here — which is why two of our photographs are a pre-war silver tourer and a red machine with brass lamps that look like they wandered in from another building. They did not. That history is the point.
  • The racing hall is the best room. Le Mans and Targa Florio cars lined up close enough to walk between, unroped, at eye level.
  • There are driving simulators and adults line up for them as readily as children. Two of our frames are exactly that, so again, no judgement.
  • It is easy to reach on the S-Bahn and signposted from the station when you arrive. This is not a car-required museum, which is faintly funny and genuinely useful.
The same roadster head-on, plate K 45·286
The same roadster head-on, plate K 45·286

The Christmas market

Stuttgart's is one of the larger German markets and it fills the squares around the Neues Schloss and the Schillerplatz. Our December frames are the big wheel, the lit stall roofs and the market seen from above.

  • The roofs are the thing here. Stuttgart's stallholders decorate the tops of their huts, which is a local tradition and looks like nothing else. Look up, not just in.
  • It pairs well with a museum day. Indoors with the cars while it is light, outdoors at the market once it is dark, which in December is from about four.
The market from above, stalls lit end to end
The market from above, stalls lit end to end

How long?

One day, or one night if you are doing both museums. Ours were 20 June 2015 and 10 December 2024.

Stuttgart sits between the Black Forest and Bavaria and makes far more sense as a deliberate stop on a route than as a base. If the cars are the draw, give it a day and move on the same evening.

Would we send you here?

Only for a reason. If somebody in the party cares about cars, Stuttgart is one of the best days in Germany and we would build a route through it. If nobody does, we would not put it on your itinerary at all — and we would say so rather than fill a day with a rebuilt old town and a television tower.

Knowing which places are for everybody and which are for somebody is most of what planning a trip actually is.

Stuttgart in photographs

36 images — 32 on one day in June 2015, almost all of them in the Porsche Museum, and 4 at the Christmas market in December 2024.

Beside an early coupé in the museum — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 Beside an early coupé in the museum At the racing simulator — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 At the racing simulator A second turn at the wheel — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 A second turn at the wheel On a bench in the shopping street — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 On a bench in the shopping street In front of the Neues Schloss — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 In front of the Neues Schloss The silver roadster on its plinth — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 The silver roadster on its plinth A racing car mounted above the walkway — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 A racing car mounted above the walkway The blue show car out on the museum floor — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 The blue show car out on the museum floor Waiting by the simulator pods — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 Waiting by the simulator pods Inside one of the pods — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 Inside one of the pods The pod alongside, in use — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 The pod alongside, in use An open racing car numbered 33 — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 An open racing car numbered 33
Show the other 23 photographs
A pre-war open tourer in silver — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 A pre-war open tourer in silver An early open car in red, brass lamps — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 An early open car in red, brass lamps The silver roadster from behind — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 The silver roadster from behind The same roadster head-on, plate K 45·286 — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 The same roadster head-on, plate K 45·286 A black coupé under the lights — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 A black coupé under the lights A racing coupé numbered 46 — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 A racing coupé numbered 46 An open military four-wheel drive — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 An open military four-wheel drive The column on Schlossplatz, the new palace behind — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 The column on Schlossplatz, the new palace behind The new palace from its garden front — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 The new palace from its garden front The fountain and the column on Schlossplatz — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 The fountain and the column on Schlossplatz The statue walk through the Schlossgarten — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 The statue walk through the Schlossgarten Fountains in the palace forecourt — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 Fountains in the palace forecourt A crowd under the arcades of the old castle — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 A crowd under the arcades of the old castle Schillerplatz and its gabled houses — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 Schillerplatz and its gabled houses The round towers of the old castle — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 The round towers of the old castle A Porsche 356 SL in the museum — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 A Porsche 356 SL in the museum One of the red Porsche tractors — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 One of the red Porsche tractors A 917 in its racing colors — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 A 917 in its racing colors The wall of trophies — Stuttgart, Germany · June 2015 The wall of trophies By the Ferris wheel at the market — Stuttgart, Germany · December 2024 By the Ferris wheel at the market The lit market street running away — Stuttgart, Germany · December 2024 The lit market street running away The decorated stall roofs and the church behind — Stuttgart, Germany · December 2024 The decorated stall roofs and the church behind The market from above, stalls lit end to end — Stuttgart, Germany · December 2024 The market from above, stalls lit end to end

A day with a reason. The trip is the harder part.

Notice what this guide never tells you. It does not tell you whether Stuttgart belongs on your route at all, which is the only question that matters here — and the answer depends entirely on who is traveling with you and what the other nine days look like.

That is not a question a page can answer. It is a question we ask you, and then build around the answer.

Tell us about your trip

The day above is free and yours to use. What it cannot do is decide where this fits in a two-week trip, which hotel works with your arrival time and your walking pace, what needs reserving months ahead, or what happens on the day it rains. That is the part you would be hiring me for, and planning starts at $750.

Or read the questions we are asked most — what a trip includes, how far ahead to book, deposits and cancellation.