Two car museums, a TV tower and Le Corbusier

Stuttgart builds cars, and its two best museums say so. Mind the diesel zone on the way: take the S-Bahn to both.

1. Give Mercedes half a day

The Mercedes-Benz Museum shows 160 vehicles. It was €16 for an adult on the 2024 sheet; S1 to NeckarPark. I'd start at the top and walk down.

2. Ride the S6 to Porsche

The Porsche Museum opened on 31 January 2009 and sits right at the Neuwirtshaus/Porscheplatz stop, ten minutes from the main station. The family ticket includes parking.

3. Go up the TV tower at dusk

The Fernsehturm is 217 m and has run since 1956; decks at 150 and 153 m, €12.50 for an adult. Go on a clear evening.

4. Walk the Weissenhof Estate

The Weissenhofmuseum fills one of the houses built for the 1927 Werkbund show; UNESCO listed it in 2016. It's a residential street, so walk it quietly.

5. See Stirling's Staatsgalerie

The Neue Staatsgalerie by James Stirling opened on 9 March 1984. The ramps outside are worth it even if you skip the art.

6. Leave the car for the Wilhelma

The Wilhelma zoo and botanical garden changed its car-park tariff after protests in April 2024. It's in Bad Cannstatt, inside the Euro 5 diesel zone.

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Maultaschen, Spätzle and a 1914 market hall

1. Eat under the Markthalle's frescoes

The Markthalle opened in 1914, Jugendstil, with 33 stands on the ground floor. Upstairs is Italian; I'd stay downstairs.

2. Order Swabian at the Marktstüble

The Marktstüble inside the hall cooks Swabian food. Maultaschen are pasta parcels of meat and spinach, in broth or fried with onion.

3. Learn the Spätzle combinations

Spätzle are soft egg noodles. Kässpätzle come with cheese and fried onion; Linsen mit Spätzle add lentils and Saitenwürstle, thin sausages. Zwiebelrostbraten, beef with crisp onions, is the big plate.

4. Drink a Trollinger

Trollinger is the city's light red; vineyards run right into the suburbs. With a Brezel, it's the cheapest good lunch in town.

5. Shop the Schillerplatz market

The weekly market on Schillerplatz and Marktplatz runs Tuesday and Thursday 07:00–13:00, Saturday until 13:30.

Two Wasen fairs and a Christmas market

1. Book December early

The Weihnachtsmarkt runs 25 November to 23 December 2026, with about 300 stalls. I'd come by S-Bahn from P+R.

2. Wait for 2027 Wasen dates

The 2026 Frühlingsfest ran 18 April – 10 May and the 179th Volksfest 25 September – 11 October. Neither 2027 date was published when I checked.

3. Look up at the Fruchtsäule

The Volksfest's fruit column is 26 m tall. Each big tent holds up to 5,000 people.

A stud farm, a Roman fort and a harvest fair

1. Read the horse on the arms

Duke Liudolf of Swabia is said to have set up a stud farm around 950. It gave the town its name and its coat of arms.

2. Start the story at Cannstatt

The Romans built a fort at the Neckar bend, today's Bad Cannstatt, around AD 90, long before Stuttgart became a town around 1220.

3. Thank 1818 for the Volksfest

The Cannstatter Volksfest began in 1818 as a harvest thanksgiving.