Things to Do in Stuttgart State Opera

Attend a premiere night

The red-carpet crunch outside the Staatsoper on opening nights feels half Hollywood, half village fête. Camera flashes pop, but you'll also catch the smell of bratwurst from a discreet stand catering to stagehands. Inside, the chandelier dims with a mechanical purr. The pit erupts in warm, resinous violin scent as the overture begins. If the production is avant-garde, expect a subdued rustle when the house curtain rises on an empty stage.

Backstage Wednesday tour

You'll shuffle through the wig room where rows of powdered heads stare blankly. Climb narrow stairs to the fly loft that smells of rope and dust. Guides let you heft a prop sword - surprisingly light. Peer into the royal box where the upholstery still bears a 19th-century cigarette burn. The tour ends on the forestage. Look down and you'll see musicians' pencil scrawls on the floorboards.

Open-air concert in the courtyard

On July evenings the company wheels out a portable stage to the Schlössle's cobbled courtyard. You'll sit on rented cushions, cold Riesling in plastic cups. A breeze carries pine scent from the nearby Wilhelma zoo. Trumpets from a Rossini overture bounce off Renaissance walls. When the moon hits the palace's green copper roof it glows like oxidized marble.

Opera café breakfast

The ground-floor café opens at nine, earlier than most of Stuttgart's museums, making it a quiet refuge. You'll smell fresh pretzels sliding from the oven and hear the clatter of china while staff prep for matinee-goers. Grab a table on the terrace. From there you'll watch joggers circle the lake and, beyond the hedge, glimpse dancers stretching in the glass-walled rehearsal cube.

Small-stage contemporary works

The studio space "Werkstatte" hides under the main staircase. Here you'll sit within arm's reach of singers, close enough to hear costume fabric rasp and catch the chalky scent of stage makeup. Productions tend toward 90-minute one-acts, perfect if you're jet-lagged. Afterward the cast leads the audience to the bar, where discussion feels like crashing a rehearsal.

Mitte (Schlossplatz area) - grand cafés outside your door and a 4-minute walk to the opera

West (around Rotebühlplatz) - leafy, village feel with twice-weekly farmers' market

Sued (Bohnenviertel) - cobbled lanes full of bookshops and wine taverns

Nord (Killesberg) - hilltop hostel in a converted water tower, great value

Bad Cannstatt - stay near the mineral spas; S-Bahn delivers you to the house in 9 minutes

Airport/Messe - practical for late arrivals, direct rail link to the opera