Day trips from Stuttgart

You might also consider Heidelberg and Tuebingen, two great little university towns!

Overnight trip: Lake of Constance!! Must see towns there: Meersburg, Mainau island, the baroque church of Birnau, Lindau island, Konstanz downtown and the panoramic view of the Swiss alps from a Friedrichshafen waterside coffee place or restaurant. Day trips: Tübingen (must-see). You can also day trip to Heidelberg, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Dinkelsbühl, the Black Forrest, the Hohenzollern castle (still owned by the former German Empirial family)... and due to the new high-speed train link you could do an overnight trip to Paris. It's a three hours something train ride one way and starts from €29 one-way in 2nd class.

Thanks for the great ideas! Where do you see train fares Stuttgart to Paris for 29 Euros? I looked on the DB website and they were up over 90 Euros 1 way.

Erica, just to echo Andreas' suggestions. I couldn't think of any others. I'd highly recommend Rothenburg and Dinkelsbuhl. It's also a great time to do the Black Forest, as it's really not very close to anything else. I mean, it's hard to include the Black Forest on just about any other trip because there's really no way to make it efficient. A day trip or two from Stuttgart is about as efficient as it gets.

Erica, here's the Europa Spezial for Paris from €29 one way. The offer is like for low cost flights: Book very early, you can't rebook, reschedule etc... but it's quite an offer: http://www.bahn.de/p/view/preise/international/deutschland_paris.shtml

That offer is there, but it requires at least 3 day advance purchase, so you can't just put in today's date. Actually, it looks like the lowest fare is €39 (not €29), but that is a popular route, and it is hard to find a date where the lowest fares are are not sold out. After that they are €49, then €59, etc. I did find some €49 fares but most routes have only €59 fare left.

Freudenstadt (www.freudenstadt.de), in the Black Forest, is only about 1-1/2 hrs from Stuttgart, and is worth a days visit. Round trip for up to five people is only €27 total with a Baden-Württemburg-Ticket.

Heidelberg is a great university town with lots of history. It is along the Rhine and very pretty city. Baden-Baden is also a beautiful town worth visiting. There is a casino there and they have great spring baths there! They are indoors and outdoor baths. Have fun!

Heidelberg, which really is nice, is along the Neckar river. So is Stuttgart.

Thank you for all the wonderful suggestions! I should have lots of options.

Tom, that does sound like fun. How would I find out about those?

Just do a Neckar river cruise. The Neckar river valley between Heilbronn and Heidelberg is just lovely, plenty of old castles, picturesque little villages... Rhine river cruises start from Mainz or Bingen, a 3 hours drive from Stuttgart. Combine a day trip to Heidelberg with a Neckar river cruise to Neckarsteinach and then climb up the hill to Dilsberg, a medival walled town.

Speaking of the Rhine, Stuttgart lies close enough that you could probably take a day-cruise, should the idea interest you.

I was about to say "Ask Andreas", but he beat me to it...

Here's a link for a Neckar cruise from Heidelberg. The route Heidelberg to Neckarsteinach is the most scenic one: http://www.heidelberg-marketing.de/content/e4227/e927/e4232/index_eng.htmlNeckarsteinach calls itself the town of four castles. Here's a link. If you click on "Die Burgen" there will be an English language summary pdf sheet ready for download: http://www.neckarsteinach.com/content_static/frames_touristik.html

You have some great suggestions already but for more options check out info about Colmar, France and/or Baden Baden, Germany.

Hey Erica, I would also recommend the Ulm Munster. Ulm is less than an hour drive from Stuttgart.

www.sacred-destinations.com/germany/ulm-munster.htm

In November, we will be visiting our daughter who is a foreign exchange student at the Stuttgart Media University. How cold is Stuttgart in November? Is anything open in November? Are there any castles in the Black Forest area where we can spend the night? We do not speak German. Will that be a problem? Erica, how did your visit go?

Carol, I don't know much about Stuttgart in Nov., but my trip in March was great! I used several of the suggestions from here: I took the train to Heidelberg as well as Ludwigsburg (which I don't believe anyone mentioned here). There is a great palace in Ludwigsburg that you can tour. The tour is extensive (over 1 1/2 hours), and fascinating, since all the furnishings are original because there was no damage incurred during the war as with many other palaces.

I also went to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, which, of course, was amazing :)

Thanks to everyone for all the great ideas, and good luck with your trip, Carol!

If you don't mind going for "baroque" there are two palaces within a one day trip of Stuttgart. First, there's Schloss Ludwigsburg about 12km from Stuttgart in Ludwigsburg. It is the former palace of the Kings of Wuerttemberg. You actually get three palaces in one visit when you go there since there are two smaller palaces Schloss Favorite and Schloss Monrepos within the grounds of the Ludwigsburg Palace gardens. Second, there is Schloss Karlsruhe the former palace of the Grand Dukes of Baden a little farther afield over in Karlsruhe. Check out the following links for more information:

www.schloss-ludwigsburg.de
www.landesmuseum.de

This is a little late, but I wanted to let people know that taking a daytrip within Baden-Württemberg is much cheaper with a Länder ticket (€29 for 1-5 people, unlimited travel within a German state for 1 day, but excludes ICE, IC and EC trains). This is generally cheaper than ANY standard fare and can be purchased same-day. BTW, Ludwigsburg sounds like a great daytrip from Stuttgart. I have been to Heidelberg twice and can highly recommend it! I would call it a city rather than a town since it is actually quite large, with a large Train Station and transit system. "Town" calls to mind Rothenburg or Baden-Baden, and it's much larger than that.

I reccommend you Mercede-Benz museum in the town Sindelfingen nearby Stuttgart. It´s good to make a reservation before. I was in hotel Mercure Stuttgart City Center ( http://www.hotzebra.com/hotels/stuttgart ), hotel is quite good and cheap.