A8 or A6 + Schwabisch Hall

A8 is more scenic east of Stuttgart until Ulm, but about the same general type of scenery as A6 between Karlsruhe and Stuttgart.
Staus are not rare on A6, but A8 is the absolute Stau-König in SW Germany. The Burgenstraße (up the Neckar river valley from Heidelberg) is far more scenic than both, but will take you much longer to drive. Schwäbisch Hall is worth about 1-2 hours of your time. Very attractive town.

Thanks James and Tom! There are more options than time! Is there a good highway website where I can check traffic in Germany? When heading to the mountains in Colorado I check cotrip.org for road conditions in ski season and traffic in the summer. Happy 4th of July :-)

"Is there a good highway website where I can check traffic in Germany?" ADAC, which is the German version of AAA. But the website is only in German. Or, just activate the traffic function on Google Maps. It will show you the relative flow of traffic, although it doesn't provide information on the reason for a back-up. Finally, if you can understand a bit of spoken German, the regional affiliates of the German public broadcaster give news, weather and traffic updates at the the top of each hour and half hour. In the region you will drive, look for SWR 1 through 4 on the radio. PS- A route I sometimes take if A8 is hopelessly jammed west of Stuttgart is A6 to A81 to A8. It doesn't allow you to escape the worst of Stuttgart traffic or the scenic but always jammed section near Mülhausen, but at least you won't get stuck in the usual hell around Bruchsal, Karlsruhe, Pforzheim or Leonberg.

Thank you! information and options can make a traffic jam less stressful :-) Now lets hope I do not hit traffic on the way to Vail today. Europe in 22 days!!

Do you have an iPhone or iPad or some other sort of modern idevice? Will you have access to a little wifi? If so, there are a couple of apps you might consider. Michelin Traffic is very good and focused right down to street level if required. Its sister app is Via Michelin helps plan alternate routes and also has very good traffic information. Stau Mobil can give you autobahn by autobahn information - very current - and land by land. A super duper app I have found. All 3 apps have helped me no end on my drives in Germany. We really liked our brief stop in Schwaebisch Hall. I haven't yet made it to Tuebingen but it is and has been on my must see list for some time.

Thanks Nigel
I will have a tablet with wifi and now I can check conditions at the time. This site is helping with good info and triggering fun memories while I wait for our next trip. :-)