Stuttgart Budget Travel Guide helps you as you prepare your trip to Stuttgart on a limited budget. I assemble here information on how you can make use of public transport to visit most of the places of interest in the city.
Stuttgart is the capital as well as largest city in Baden-Württemberg. With 590,000 people, it is the 6th largest city in Germany located within a metropolitan area with over 5.3 million inhabitant. The urban called Stuttgart Region, which comprises Stuttgart, Ludwigsburg, Esslingen, Böblingen, Rems-Murr and Göppingen, has a total population of 2.7 million, making it the 4th largest urban area in Germany after the Ruhr area, Frankfurt and Berlin.
Stuttgart is located in a valley close to the River Neckar, with the Black Forest and the Swabian Jura an hour away. The city covers an area of 207 sq km, and is between 207m (680 ft) to 549 m (1801 ft) above sea level. Due to this hilly terrain, there are more than 400 flights of stairs all over the city. Many of these stairs date back to the time when the land was used as vineyards. The city itself is divided into 23 city districts comprising 5 inner districts and 18 outer districts.
Stutgart has already been inhabited as early as the end of the 1st century AD, when a Roman fort was built at the banks of the River Necker, where the modern district of Cannstatt is located today. The actual city was only founded as a settlement around 950 AD by Duke Liudolf of Swabia, who was one of the sons of Otto I the Great, Holy Roman Emperor. It gained city status in 1321 when it was made a royal residence.
Stuttgart has been the capital of Württemberg since 1321. When Württemberg was made a duchy in 1495, Stuttgart was the duchy capital. In 1805, it became the capital of the Kingdom of Württemberg. In 1871, Württemberg joined the German Empire created by Otto von Bismarck as an autonomous kingdom, and remained a monarchy until the end of World War I, when the monarchy was abolished with the storming of the Wilhelm Palace by revolutionaries. This turned Württemberg into a free state within the Weimar Republic. Stuttgart was made its capital.
When the Federal Republic of Germany was founded on 23 May 1949, Stuttgart along with Frankfurt were contenders to become the federal capital, a position that eventually went to Bonn.
Today Stuttgart is the headquarters of Porsche and Mercedes-Benz. Both auto makers have their respective museums in Stuttgart. Despite its position as an industrial centre, Stuttgart is very much a picturesque city and as gateway to the Black Forest, is a major tourist destination.
Budget Travel to Stuttgart
By Plane
Stuttgart Airport (STR) is an international airport located about 13 km from the city center. From the airport, you can take a train (S-Bahn line S2 or S3) to Stuttgart. The journey takes 27 minutes and the tickets are sold at the vending machines. For taxi, call the airport taxi service at 0711/9 48-44 09 or Stuttgart's taxi service at 0711/56 6061.
As a budget traveler, you can consider taking the TUI low-cost carrier, which has connections with Stuttgart from a number of European cities.
By Train
You can catch a train to Stuttgart from most major cities in Germany. Check the schedule at the Deutsche Bahn website.
By Road
The main expressway to Stuttgart are the Autobahn A8 and A81.
Budget Travel within Stuttgart
Your choice of public transportation in Stuttgart includes the rapid transit U-Bahn, the trains S-Bahn, and the buses. The transportation operator in Stuttgart is VSS.
As a tourist, you should consider getting the single-day ticket, which allows you unlimited rides for a whole day in Stuttgart. It costs €5.95 for 1-2 zones, and €12.30 for the entire network. You can buy these from the vending machines.
If you travel in a group, get the group ticket, valid for up to 5 people traveling together, regardless of age, or for one or two parents traveling with any number of their own children aged up to 17. The group ticket costs €9.95 for 1-2 zones and €16.20 for the whole network.
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The form below is a Research Engine. It doesn't take bookings. Instead it lets you find the hotel booking website that offers the room you want at the lowest price. You can see and compare what different sites are offering, and then click to choose the one with the best price. Do this, and you're guaranteed to save a whole lot of money on your room reservations!
Our Flight Checker helps travelers compare flights and get the lowest fare for their trips. If you're flying somewhere, use our Flight Checker to compare the rates from different airlines. To use it, enter where you will be flying from, where you will be flying to, your departure date and return date. Select the number of passengers, and then click search.
Our engine will return you a list of possible flights that you can take. You can compare the fare of different airlines for your trip. Click on your selected airline, and we transfer you to the airline website.
