My husband and I will be in Stuttgart mid January (your winter) for about 1 -2 week. We have never visited Germany before. We will mostly like rely on public transport as we are unsure about driving on icy roads. Would love to visit Black Forest, a castle or two, day trip to a smaller town. We believe there is a clock museum in the area. What will it be open? Recommendations re transport, doing day trips with public transport or a circuit, staying overnight in area? Public transport system in Stuttgard, does it require a specific card like in many countries. Low to mid budget.
Posted by
London, United Kingdom
4684 posts
January will be pretty cold in Germany and potentially wet or snowy as well. Unless you're visiting specific winter sports resorts, I wouldn't count on rural tourist locations being open or much fun.
Stuttgart, like most German cities nowadays, still uses cardboard tickets as they run on an honour system rather than being gated. You can either get a day or week pass or buy tickets as you go depending on how much urban public transport you'll be using.
Posted by
Green Bay
21184 posts
For day trips out of town, There is the Baden-Wuerttemberg Ticket which costs 30 EUR covering 2 people. You can go any where in the German Land of Baden-Wuerttemberg on regional trains, buses, city transport starting at 9 am weekdays, (anytime Sat, Sun, holidays) until 3 am the next day. So that will include the Black Forest.
https://fahrkarten.bahn.de/privatkunde/pauschalpreisbuchen/pauschalpreis_start.post?lang=en&country=GBR&redirected=1&dbkanal_007=L04_S02_D002_KIN0060_REGIO-LAENDERTICKETS-KARTE-BAWUE_LZ03#stay
Stuttgart has its own ticketing system. Details are at https://en.vvs.de/tickets/
Keep in mind that on days you get a B-W Ticket, it is valid on the public transit in Stuttgart a well.
One interesting castle, rebuilt in the 19th century is Burg Hohenzollern in Hechingen.
https://www.burg-hohenzollern.com/
You may be referring to the Scwarzwaldmuseum in Triberg in the Black Forest.
https://www.schwarzwaldmuseum.de/en/museum-en-gb
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
There's also the Deutsches Uhrenmuseum: https://www.deutsches-uhrenmuseum.de/en/museum.html
From the nearest train station at Triberg, bus 7270 is probably the right one to Furtwangen; check schedules at https://www.v-s-b.de/en/.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Many thanks. We are not planning "snow activities." We just want to enjoy sights as architecture, culture and landscape is so different to where we live. Any towns close by worth visiting in winter?
Posted by
Frankfurt, Germany
9224 posts
Visit Esslingen and Tübingen.
Go on a walking tour with Stuttgart Steps. http://stuttgartsteps.com/
Posted by
Houston, TX
69 posts
I highly recommend the Mercedes-Benz Museum, even if you and your husband are not car people. I'm not into cars at all yet I still found it fascinating. My father is into cars and so I've visited a few car museums with him, but this one was by far the best. Not just a lot of beautiful examples of Mercedes through the year, but a museum of the invention and evolution of the internal combustion engine and the automobile, as well as a lot of specific cars that played a role in history. The architecture of the museum itself is also cool. They're closed Mondays but other than that will be open while you're there.