Things to Do in Stuttgart City Center

Schlossplatz and the New Palace gardens

The baroque Neues Schloss looms over a square so vast it can absorb a summer festival without feeling crowded. Honey-coloured sandstone glows warm against the sky around six in the evening. Locals make it their living room. They sprawl on the grass with bottles of Trollinger and bags of Wurstbrot from nearby kiosks, while the fountains hiss and kids chase pigeons across the gravel.

Mercedes-Benz Museum

A spiralling double-helix of polished concrete that you walk down rather than up. It starts with an 1886 Patent-Motorwagen that looks like a bicycle with delusions and ends among gleaming silver-arrow race cars smelling faintly of leather and old fuel. The audio guide is properly good. It picks up automatically as you drift between exhibits.

Markthalle Stuttgart

An art-nouveau market hall from 1914 with a sweeping iron-and-glass roof. The air carries the woody-sharp scent of fresh Bärlauch in spring and roasting coffee year-round. Locals keep a secret upstairs. The gallery hides a wine bar where you can sit with a glass of Riesling and watch the cheese stall below slice wheels of Hohenloher Weiderind.

Stiftskirche and the Old Castle courtyard

The collegiate church's mismatched twin towers tell you a lot immediately. One pointy, one squat. This place has endured. It was flattened in 1944 and rebuilt with a deliberately spare modernist interior that surprises people expecting baroque excess. The courtyard of the Altes Schloss next door has a clear renaissance arcade. In summer, you'll often catch chamber music drifting from open windows.

Karlshöhe vineyard walk at golden hour

A ten-minute climb from the center reaches terraced vineyards. They overlook the city bowl. The air thickens with the green-pepper smell of Lemberger leaves in late summer. The Karlshöhe biergarten waits up top. It's a small Weinstube. You order by pointing at chalkboard names and end up with a half-litre of something the waiter swears was bottled by his cousin.

Around Schlossplatz means splurge territory. The grand old hotels facing the palace gardens, walkable to everything.

Bohnenviertel: half-timbered charm, small boutique guesthouses. The best for atmosphere if you don't mind a few stairs.

Hauptbahnhof west side: business-friendly mid-range chains. Useful for early train departures. Slightly soulless after dark.

Heusteigviertel: leafy residential streets just south of center. Art-nouveau apartment buildings now converted to small hotels. Walking distance to nightlife.

Stuttgart-West around Schwabstrasse. A tram stop from the center, more local-feeling, with good cafés and noticeably better value for money.

Killesberg / Weissenhof. Residential hilltop with mid-century modernist landmarks. Quieter and greener, but you'll rely on the U-Bahn.