2 days between a trip to Berlin and Stuttgart.

Have you considered FLYING Berlin to Paris Saturday? Then there is a direct train (about 4 hours) Paris to Stuttgart if you do not want to fly Paris to Stuttgart Monday afternoon.

The other alternative is train to the middle Rhine for 2 nights- Remember some places in Germany are closed Sunday

Of course you could stay over in Berlin and do day trips ...

Have a great trip!!!

About half way would be Erfurt, Bamberg, or Nuremberg, all good choices. Frequent direct trains from Berlin to these in 2 to 3 1/2 hours, and direct trains to Stuttgart from Erfurt and Nuremberg, in similar times. Bamberg will require a connection in Nuremberg.

How many days do you spend in Berlin?
What are your interests?

I will add a question to Mark's questions...

When is your trip?

Another underrated town between those two would be Schwaebisch Hall.

Sam's ideas are best

Thanks for the responses. Nuremberg and the Rhine area both look great. Freiburg and Baden-Baden have been suggested as well. I am traveling October 12-14. I fly to Munich Oct 2 for Oktoberfest and will take the train to Berlin for a week (work and pleasure). At the moment I am trying to decide between renting a car out of Berlin, hitting the Rhine area (cologne or bonn) for 1 night and baden baden for 1 night and returning the car at STR. Or head back to Munich after Oktoberfest is over and tour some of the famous breweries like Ayinger.

If you were going to do Cologne/Bonn and Baden-Baden, I don't see the point of getting a car. There are hourly direct trains to Cologne from Berlin and taking 4 hours and 40 minutes. Viamichelin estimates it is a 6 hour drive and the fuel cost estimate of 50 EUR is about the same cost as a Super Sparpreis ticket bought now. Then, when you arrive in Cologne, you have the headache of navigating urban traffic, finding and paying for parking. Ditto following day, as well as Rhine Valley "stau" (traffic jams). Plus ou will spend so much time traveling either by car or train, that you will not have any time to actually see these places.

If by "the Rhine" you mean the castles in the Rhine gorge, there is a better way. Saturday morning, take a train from Berlin to Ruedesheim (direct train to Frankfurt, transfer there) and take the K-D tour boat to Boppard through the Rhine gorge. Spend the night and see one of the local castles the next day, relax and head to Stuttgart by train the next day. Or you could get a train to Baden-Baden if you really want to go there. It is 3 hours away by train.

Frankfurt is RIGHT on the high-speed train route to Stuttgart; from there, the short train detour you would make to Rüdesheim to visit the Middle Rhine Valley, per Sam's instructions, makes very good sense. Driving to and within Cologne does not. Baden-Baden makes no sense unless you're into casinos and spa treatments.

With the right train, it should take only a tad over 3 hours to reach Frankfurt, and another 70 minutes to Rüdesheim. You should be able to catch either the 14:15 or 16:15 KD cruise out of R'heim.

Either Boppard or St. Goar makes for a good Rhine base for two nights. You can end the cruise in St. Goar after 1.75 hours - that's the most scenic part - and just stay there if you wish. (Boppard is about 2.5 hours from R'heim.) St. Goar is very central - Boppard is a few train minutes to the north, the old-world towns of Oberwesel and Bacharach are just to the south - and you could visit all three the following day - OR - you could use the St. Goar ferry crossing + train connection to visit Marksburg Castle in Braubach. This is the finest castle tour on the Rhine.

My first thought was Frankfurt also. If you haven't been there, it's one of the most underrated cities for tourists. There is enough to fill 2 full days, and it's easy to daytrip to Mainz (church with Chagall windows, cathedral, museums) or medieval Büdingen

Thanks for answering the questions and giving more information. I asked about dates because there are a couple of events coming up that would be along the way to Stuttgart. I haven't done either in the past, but will be hitting both of them next month:

1. If you want to check out Oktoberfest in another city in addition to Munich, Erfurt's Oktoberfest runs through Oct 13. The city seems to have a decent number of sites to see, too (and was mentioned by Sam above!). https://www.erfurter-volksfeste.de/
2. Nearby Weimar (15-minute or so train ride) is having its Zwiebelmarkt (Onion Market) Oct 11 through 13. Beer, onions, an onion queen, and 10 music stages covering rock to pop to world music to jazz to folk music. I'll be at the Goetheplatz stage on Saturday night to see one of my favorite German acts. https://www.weimar.de/kultur/veranstaltungen/maerkte-und-feste/zwiebelmarkt/