Stuttgart: Museums, Architecture and Green Spaces
Accommodation in Stuttgart
Stuttgart offers several distinct highlights for a stay: museums covering automotive and city history, striking architecture, large green spaces, and market and wine culture. If you are looking for a hotel for your trip, you can base your decision on your planned itinerary: Would you like to focus on art and architectural history, spend time surrounded by greenery, or are you particularly interested in regional food and drink? The city's attractions reveal different sides of Stuttgart.
Architecture, Automotive History and Museums
The Stuttgart TV Tower was the world's first reinforced-concrete television tower. It is just over 217 meters tall and has an observation platform and dining options. In good weather, the view from the tower platform and the panoramic café at the SWR TV Tower extends as far as the Swabian Jura. The structure thus combines its architectural history with a memorable view.
The two automotive museums offer different perspectives. Opened in 2006, the Mercedes-Benz Museum presents 160 vehicles and more than 1,500 exhibits across nine exhibition levels. Two routes lead through the collection: the first covers seven “Mythos” rooms, and the second five “Collections” rooms. The museum building is also part of the architectural story: it has no enclosed rooms or straight walls, and its interior is modeled on a DNA double helix. The Porsche Museum in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen presents more than 80 vehicles and 200 small exhibits. Visitors can watch specialists repairing historic vehicles through a glass window.
The StadtPalais and the House of the History of Baden-Württemberg offer different ways to explore the city's history. The StadtPalais opened in 2018 in the former Wilhelmspalais as a museum for Stuttgart; it features a permanent exhibition on the city's history, special exhibitions and events. Since late 2002, the House of the History has operated a museum on the Kulturmeile. Its permanent exhibition, “Landesgeschichte(n). Der deutsche Südwesten von 1790 bis heute” (“State History/Stories. Germany's Southwest from 1790 to the Present”), and temporary exhibitions are at its center.
The art collections also span a range of periods and subjects. The Staatsgalerie Stuttgart presents European art from the 14th to the 20th century as well as the American avant-garde after 1945. Housed in a distinctive glass cube on Schlossplatz, the Kunstmuseum holds the city's art collection; the building opened in 2005 and displays works by artists including Willi Baumeister, Fritz Winter, Adolf Hölzel and Otto Dix. The Linden Museum provides information about the cultures of every continent and presents ethnographic collections in departments devoted to the Americas, the South Pacific/Oceania, Africa, the Orient, and South and East Asia.
The Weissenhof Estate and Solitude Palace are also of interest for their architectural and historic significance. The two houses by Le Corbusier in Stuttgart's Weissenhof Estate have been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, together with other buildings by the architect, since 2016. Solitude Palace was built between 1763 and 1769 as a hunting and pleasure palace on the orders of Duke Carl Eugen.
Green Corridors, Parks and Views
The Green U is an eight-kilometer-long, U-shaped green corridor running from Stuttgart city center to Höhenpark Killesberg. In Rosenstein Park, you can stroll among native and exotic trees across 100 hectares; the lawns are suitable for picnics. The park is a protected historic site. The city's green spaces offer different ways to enjoy nature: as a route through the city or as a sprawling park with trees and open lawns.
Stuttgart offers several towers and stairways for taking in the views. Killesberg Tower is 42 meters high and has four platforms at 8, 16, 24 and 31 meters, offering views across Stuttgart and the Neckar Valley. More than 400 outdoor stairways, known in Swabian as “Stäffele,” connect the valley basin with the surrounding slopes and offer views across the basin. At Bismarck Tower, 92 steps lead up to the platform; on weekends between Easter and the end of October, visitors can enjoy panoramic views across the Neckar Valley. Check visitor information for your travel dates.
Wilhelma brings nature and plant life together in a special way: it is Germany's only institution combining a zoo and a botanical garden. Around 1,200 animal species live there; its plant collection also includes more than 8,500 different plant species and varieties. If you would like to experience this combination as well as parks during your stay, it offers a different focus from a walk through Rosenstein Park.
Market Hall, Wine and Seasonal Events
The Stuttgart Market Hall has been a protected historic site since 1972 and is a culinary meeting place for locals and tourists. Its offerings include fruit and vegetables, sausages and meat, spices, and flowers. A visit to the city can thus include regional products and a variety of market stalls.
The Stuttgart Wine Village has been held every year since 1974, from late August to early September. At the Hocketse, visitors can enjoy regional food and wine; they can sample hundreds of wines from Baden-WĂĽrttemberg, and traditional Swabian dishes are also served. If you would like to plan your trip around the Wine Village, check the specific event dates before making your plans. Stuttgart's mineral baths offer another connection to the region's food and wellness culture: they are fed by springs officially recognized as therapeutic springs.
Discover more destinations: Feuerbach, Wangen, Stammheim, Bad Cannstatt, UntertĂĽrkheim, Rohr.
Back to the main travel guide: Stuttgart.
