On our 6 day (yes we know -- too short) trip to Germany starting in Cologne, we thought about moving on to Stuttgart to visit Christmas markets and spend 2 days in that city or nearby. Are there other recommended towns accessible by train that might be interesting to visit while we are there and use the Stuttgart area as %26#39;home base%26#39;?
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For additional Christmas Markets and things to see two town accessable in 15 minutes by S-bahn stand out: Ludwigsburg with its themed Baroque Christmas Market and Germany%26#39;s largest perfectly preserved Baroque palace with public tours, four museums including an excellent clothing one with lots of clothes from the 1700%26#39;s to present, and extensive gardens %26quot;Blooming Baroque%26quot; which won%26#39;t be at their best this time of year; and Esslingen with its themed Medieval %26amp; Christmas Market set amidst the Altstadt of this excellently preserved medieval city. Also, most town at the end of the S-bahn lines are worth a visit of a few hours, such as the German poet%26#39;s Schiller%26#39;s home town of Marbach or the astronomer Keppler%26#39;s home town of Weil der Stadt. I always enjoy visiting the nearby old college town of Tuebingen, and two nice small towns north of Stuttgart are Besigheim and Lauffen, the latter having a small completely walled Altstadt.
There are also many things to see and do in Stuttgart itself. I recommend visiting the tourist information office across from the train station and getting a free map (among other materials) which has a suggested self guided walking tour of the central area, and they also sponsor city tours by foot or bus. Wilhelma is Europe%26#39;s largest combination zoo-botanical garden set amidst the nice Moorish architecture of this former palace; Europe%26#39;s second largest mineral waters and associated spas can be enjoyed including a swim in bubbly carbonated water at the Leuze one. The new Mercedes Benz museum should not be missed and is loved by vistors of any age, male or female. The TV tower is the world%26#39;s oldest such structure and has a viewing platform and is a good area to go to for snow as it sits high above the warmer valley floor. For art, there is the Staatsgallerie and Stuttgart has many other good museums including the excellent Museum am Loewentor with its collection of local fossils, mostly of dinosaurs and Ice Age mammals, plus a nice amber collection with all kinds of small creature embedded inside.
That%26#39;s well over a week%26#39;s worth of things to do, so you should be easily able to pick several days of activities from the suggestions.
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I definatly recommend Ludwigsburg as well. The castle is beautiful and once a day they have an English tour. It is only like 5 Euros a person (vs. 14 or so for Neuschwanstein in Bavaria) and they show you everything!
I found a great site you might like with a lot of Stuttgart information (the mineral baths and some other things to see) www.germanytraveladvisor.com
I hope you like the Christmas market!
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As to the cost of the palace in Ludwigsburg, there are a number of different ticket options for the palace tour, touring the out lying small Favorite palace, the extensive gardens (Blooming Baroque), and the four museums inside the palace. You can pay for and visit all on a more expensive all inclusive ticket (which you won%26#39;t have time to do everything in a day) or pick a less expensive option that includes what you are interested in doing. The palace tour is well worth doing with visits to the king%26#39;s and queen%26#39;s chambers, as well as the older hunting lodge part of the palace used by the dukes. Our English language tour in November took over an hour, and there were tours in English then at 11 and 13:30, but check with them before going. If you also have a ticket for the museums, the excellent one with extensive clothing from the 1700%26#39;s to present entrance is where the tour ends. Ludwigsburg porcellan is still manufactured at the palace and can be purchased there or you can have porcellan made to order. The ceramics museum is quite nice and includes the apartments of one of the dukes. The Italian restaurant across the street from the palace is a nice place to eat.
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