Has anyone stayed at the Alex30 Hostel or City Hotel? My son and I will be traveling to Stuttgart for a week beginning Aug. 23. He will be staying to attend the university so we have one week to "play" before I leave for home. Any suggestions or easy day trips? What would be the best kind of rail pass...? Thanks for any input!
Posted by
Salt Lake City
1528 posts
We stayed at the City Hotel. It is a good basic hotel with a decent breakfast. It is a few blocks from Stuttgart's old and new palaces, a few blocks more from the shopping-pedestrian zone. Many restaurants and services are close to this nice residential area.
Marcopolko of Tripadvisor's Board has written extensively on things to see on days trips from Stuttgart:
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19274 posts
My suggestions for day trips (in all cases you can get train schedules from the German Rail website):
Take a train to Pforzheim, then another up the Nagold river to Calw, home of Herman Hesse. From Calw, continue up the Nagold to Freudenstadt, sometimes called the capital of the Black Forest. You can return to Stuttgart via Eutingen im Gäu. For this trip, I would definitely suggest the B-W-Ticket.
Visit the picturesque university town of Tübingen on the Neckar.
You could also take the train out to Hechingen, to Burg Hohenzollern, another "showplace castle", built about the same time as Neuschwanstein, by Kaiser Wilhelm I. Carefully plan this trip with the Bahn schedules. There is one, maybe two, buses to the castle, timed to leave shortly after the train from Stuttgart arrives. Again, I would recommend the B-W-T. It might cover the bus to the castle, as well.
Posted by
OP
Rockford, Michigan, United States
3 posts
Thanks for the input! I've booked at City Hotel and plan on using the Laender-tickets for our few day trips. Last question...what's the best/easiest way to get to City Hotel from Stuttgart airport?
Posted by
Salt Lake City
1528 posts
We caught the S3 or S2 Sbahn from the Airport to the main train station (Hauptbahnhof) and walked. After a long flight, we get itchy to be on our feet.
You can get closer if you look for connections to "Charlottenplatz" or "Olgaeck" Ubahn stations. Use the following website:
Look under Electronic Ticket information
From: Airport
To: Charlottenplatz
or
To:Olgaeck
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19274 posts
I guess your son will see enough of Tübingen without making it a day trip.
Steve referred you to all the Länder-Tickets in Germany. Stuttgart is in the middle of the Land, Baden-Württemberg, so for the most part you will want to use a Baden-Württemberg-Ticket. Here is a map of the Validity area for the Baden-Württemberg-Ticket.
Notice on the far right, on the way to Donauwörth, Nördlingen is outside B-W, but the Ticket includes travel on the stretch from Pflaumloch to Nördlingen. Nördlingen is Rothenburg's less-touristy little sister. I would recommend it for a day trip.
Posted by
Salt Lake City
1528 posts
I checked Viamichelin
You can lookup Charlottenplatz "U" Station in Stuttgart. You will see Olgaeck "U" Station and Uhland Strasse (City Hotel address) on the resulting map. They are all very close together.
Posted by
OP
Rockford, Michigan, United States
3 posts
Thanks, everyone, for the input! Would you believe that we just found out the my son will be attending the Vaihingen-Stuttgart campus...So I did a little research on any hotels in THAT area and came up with the Pullman and the Mo.Hotel. Didn't see much else. Anybody have any good ideas? I leave to come back to the US on Sunday the 29th. My son can't move into the dorm until Sept. 1. Our plan was to have a hotel somewhere fairly close so he doesn't have to move his luggage around to different hostels/hotels etc. for those extra 2 days. Again, any input would be appreciated!