What to do in Stuttgart?
 

Curious if any fellow Pelicaners have recommendations for sites to see or things to do in around Stuttgart... besides the obvious... yes, I will be visiting Porsche and taking a side trip to Munich to visit BMW.

This trip is far from definite but I have an opportunity to tag along with my wife on a business trip this winter. She will be working for 3 days or so and I think I will visit the Porsche museum/factory during this time. More interested in other things to do that she would enjoy (she recognizes and understands my car love but isn't into it as much as I am)?

Being winter, maybe a couple days skiing in the Alps? Historic sites? Museums?

Thanks for the input. ...and keep your fingers crossed I can get the time off. We may be in the midst of a big project at my company. Good for business, bad for travel :)

Get down to Austria for a few days of skiing or just sightseeing.

Isn't the Ruf shop close to Stuttgart. (Pfaffenhausen??)

Get the Michelin guide, lots of stuff to see and do in that region. I'd go just for the food and driving the autobahn.

Need someone to carry your bags??:D

Pfaffenhausen is in the middle of nowhere, about halfway between Stuttgart and Munich. You need to tell them in advance you're coming, as it's a small shop that probably closes for lunch. Less less than two hrs. southeast of Munich is the orginal Porsche Museum in Gmuend, Austria, which is excellent. If you're going skiing, you'll probably want to go to Garmish-Partenkirchen. I think that has to be the closest to Suttgart, which isn't very close at all. Stuttgart is closet to Switzerland than all the other places.

The Mercedes Benz museum is also very worth the time for a visit, and is located in Stuttgart.

Yes, the M/B museum is much better than the new Porsche museum (although designed by same firm)...Head up to the observation deck of the Fernsehturm TV tower for awesome views, head to tthe center of town for great shopping (especially the market) Wonderful toy store as well with all sorts of Porsche/VW miniatures. If travelling to RUF, the best place to stay is in Mindelheim (just a few miles away)....Try the Alte Post, we stay there every 3 years when we attend Frundsbergfest.

To go through the Porsche factory you need a reservation. I was a member of PCA for just this purpose. They sucked at this, never happened.

It ended up my daughters Grandmother in law who lives over there called and got us a spot.

If specific to staying around Stuttgart, Ludwigsburg palace is really nice to see. I don't know what it would be like in the winter but in the spring, the structures, gardens and atmosphere is beautiful.

When you drop down to Munich, the Deutsches Museum is terrific. If you miss some of the other car marque museums, you'll probably see some anyhow at the Deutches museum.. wide range. Aviation, art, mechanical, etc..

Vizit zee local tahvern, and spek wit zee fräuleins. Bouncy bouncy.

What are you smoking?

Wow!

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions. I stepped away from my computer for most of the day, part of which was spent on the 911, and I can't believe how many responses I've gotten.

I am going to make a list and do some research on them. As for the car museums/factories, I've begun researching and realize most of them require reservations, at least for the factory tours. It looks easy enough to set up though. I hadn't thought of MB, but probably just because I've never owned one. I have owned or own an equal number of P-cars (if you count the Poor man's Porsches) and BMWs, so they were the first I thought of.

I'm sorry we can't go now and partake in Oktoberfest festivities but we will definitely enjoy some good beer. Thanks also for the other suggestions!

Did I miss something here?

Don't bother with Garmish,, do yourself a favor and hit St Anton or Ischgle (sp).
Rick meant well but he's a Virginia boy who lives in Az,,

I sure missed something.

Not sure where you are coming from why don't you take a minute to explain.

I think it was the third sentence that tripped his *crack pipe alarm*. He lives in Germany, FWIW.

Probably better served by making constructive suggestions rather than cracking on others.

Back to the topic at hand...

+1 on the Mercedes museum. Fantastic.
+1 on Ludwigsburg. The palace there was worth a stop.

You're an hour or so away from the museums at Sinsheim and Speyer. If you haven't been to these before, they are excellent destinations.

Others have come up with travel suggestions, but you're not far away from the black forest.

For other car-related destinations in southern Germany, this book is tough to beat for more ideas:
Via Corsa Car Lover's Guide to Southern Germany: Ronald Adams: 9780982571019: Amazon.com: Books

hookers and blow!!!

The Sinsheim Air Museum is close to Stuttgart. I passed it going to and leaving Stuttgart, but did not have the time to stop by.

http://sinsheim.technik-museum.de/en/en/aircraft

EDIT: Looks like Kevin beat me to it. :D

I wasn't suggesting Garmish is the best, just the closest if he plans to stick between Stuttgart and Munich. There's plenty nearby in SW Austria too. I've never skiied there, but Badgastein and Innsbruck are easy drives from Munich. But I don't know when the season starts. I went to the Grossglockner in Heiligenblut in July once and froze my nuts off.

Read a Lonely Planet about the town and it will tell you everything.

Born and raised in Stuttgart.

What to do in the winter?

Try to stay warm otherwise not much else.

Garmish is fine, worth the ride.

Munich as well.

St Anton is great but Innsbruck is a better choice if it's your first time.

You could head SW from Stuttgart, drive around Lake Constance and hit Neuschwanstein in Schwangau then head NE to Munich, hit Dachau on the loop back to Stuttgart.

Head northwest and visit the Nurburgring...hands down the #1 stop for a car guy. When I return to Germany if even for a day...no way I would not try to get there.

Yeah it is!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1349647999.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1349648041.jpg

How many laps do you get for 95 euros??

4 laps. Here's the price list as of Sept.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1349649195.jpg

The track was supposed to open at 2pm the day we were there. We got there about 2.5 hours before, to try and get in before the hoards came out. The track opened at 1pm for some reason (not complaining). I was the 3rd car on the track. I basically had the track to myself for the first two laps.

Porsche factory tour is great. It's easy to get a reservation from the US, but I got one directly from the factory.

Be sure to drink Fuerstenberg wherever you see it.

Sweet! Is that you driving the Z4? I am trying to sell my Z4 M-Roadster right now. I love watching videos of cars going around the Nurburgring. We probably won't make it there on this trip as it will be a fairly short one (1-week only) and it looks like a long way away... Excuse for a return visit? I think so. :D

Mmmm.... Fuerstenberg.

I'd love to get to do a little skiing while we are there. For whatever reason (keep in mind I am a born and bred native Floridian), I can't water ski to save myself. But snow ski? I am right at home. Innsbruck sounds really nice. Will have to spend some time looking at what ski resorts are where to see if we can plan something. My wife has something like a 3-day conference right in the middle of the week, so we'll have free time before and after.

So, again thanks for the great suggestions and tips. How about a follow up question:

How to get around? I've been to different parts of Europe several times but never to Germany. In all of my trips, I have never rented a car... always used the rail systems wherever I was. Aside from experiencing the Autobahn and possibly driving something really cool that we don't normally see here stateside, do we really need a car? A cursory search looked like it wasn't necessary for getting around Stuttgart and traveling down to Munich... But if we head to the Alps?

Thanks!
Jeremy

You can easily spend more money and a lot more time dealing with public transp., especially for two people, than a rental car will cost per day. If you don't speak and read German, good luck. Sure, you can get anywhere on a train in Germany. But it's not cheap and you work on their schedule, not your own. Munich is very easy to get around by S-Bahn IF you know what you're doing and how it all works. Parking in Munich is pretty bad.

That's me driving. :)

Most assume that it's the Autobahn that has no speed limit, but actually, the rule is that there is no speed limit on any road, except when dangerous or construction, etc. On the way to my mother's home town, we were on a "two" lane country road and I spotted the famous grey circle with the lines through it. It would have been nuts to drive 250kph on that road and a number of others that had no restrictions.

Northern Germany will give the best opportunity to having long stretches of Autobahn that are unrestricted. Most everywhere else, it's hit or miss. My first day driving this past trip, I was restricted to 130kph for my entire time behind the wheel.

I finally got to do this, until I came flying up on a slower car, ending my bid to hit the speed limiter on the 330D at 250kph. :cool:

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...95050469_n.jpg

LOL, excellent.

That is fantastic! Glad to see someone else took the picture for you :)

Shopping
 

I will be in Stuttgart in Oct, and saw your note re: the toy store near the MB Museum. Do you know the name of that store, or the shopping center that it is in?

The toy store I shopped at that had all of the miniatures is Kurtz, located downtown in the central Marktplatz. IIRC, the cars were on the 2nd or 3rd floor. Both the Porsche & M/B museums have nice gift shops as well.

Oh man bringing back memories.

When Racyrocks mentioned toy store the only thing that came to mind was Kurtz.

Spent way too much time in there as a kid.

Yes it's located in the Markplatz, 3 streets straight south of the statue in the Schlossplatz

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1349719813.jpg

I spent HOURS in that place....felt like a kid again. Can't remember how many Schucos I bought, there were so many Porsches, VW Beetles and VW trucks that it took me at least that long to go through them all. I have NEVER seen a toy store so packed with cool stuff!

I turned 48 last week.

Gives you an idea of how long Kurtz has been there.

One hint while in Kurtz: Use the stairs in the corner rather than waiting for the elevators!

THAN YOU, y'all! Now I'm really looking forward to Kurtz!! one last question: Is Kurtz in downtown Stuttgart, or closer to where ever the MB museum is located?