What to do for two weeks in SW Germany?

March 20, 2013 9:37 AM

I'm going to be in SW Germany (an hour south of Stuttgart) for around two weeks in April (from the 8th to the 18th). What are the must-sees? I'm staying with a friend, and I'm sure she'll be able to provide advice, but I'd like more opinions.

I did see this thread: http://ask.metafilter.com/120937/Stuttgart, but I'd like advice on things outside of Stuttgart as well (and more ideas about Stuttgart).

Things I Like:
art
museums
cities (and hip/arty neighborhoods in cities)
flea markets/shopping
college towns

Thanks for your advice!

posted by Fister Roboto to Travel & Transportation (12 answers total)

Poke around Tuebingen, a college town, for an afternoon. Cafe/pub-hop and people-watch. Looks like you're too early to go punting, though. The town also has an art museum.
posted by knile at 10:01 AM on March 20, 2013

The Mercedes-Benz Museum is astonishingly good, even if you don't much care about cars (I don't). Since I was in Stuttgart, the Porsche Museum has opened, but I've obviously never been. There is an art museum in central Stuttgart, but I didn't go.
posted by hoyland at 10:03 AM on March 20, 2013

I'm fond of Frederichshafen, on Bodensee myself (Lake Constance). The Zepplin Museum is there.
posted by Goofyy at 10:03 AM on March 20, 2013

Freiburg is a lovely college town.
posted by humboldt32 at 10:11 AM on March 20, 2013

It might help if you specify a bit more how far you're willing to travel and if you'll be more like in the Freiburg (southwest from Stuttgart) area or the Tuebingen (due south) area. Konstanz is also a college town.
posted by knile at 10:54 AM on March 20, 2013

I've been to Freiburg and it was lovely. It was a short trip from there to Baden Baden where they had some awesome baths for the nude and nevernude alike. Highly recommend. I went to the Caracalla spa - awesome. I heard at the Friedrichsbad baths you can get a massage with a 'Teutonic spanking' at the end. In retrospect, I should have gone for it....
posted by treehorn+bunny at 11:08 AM on March 20, 2013

It's worth going across the Swiss border to Zurich.
posted by meijusa at 11:09 AM on March 20, 2013

The Keltenmuseum has a special exhibition this year. It's about 30 minutes from Schloss Ludwigsburg, which also has small museums. Ludwigsburg is ~10 km from Stuttgart, it can all easily be covered on one day.
posted by MinusCelsius at 11:35 AM on March 20, 2013

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

To be more specific, I'm staying in Balingen-Ostdorf. I'm fine with anything within a nice day (or two) trip. So far, the suggestions have been excellent. Thanks again!
posted by Fister Roboto at 12:00 PM on March 20, 2013

Seconding Tübingen -- the old town is lovely just to ramble around, with occasional pauses for refreshment. You're also about 50km west of Zwiefalten, which is a very small town with an absolutely jaw-dropping church -- the level of OTT rococo painting, gilding, and sculpture has to be seen to be believed. Panorama here. And here's a close-up of one part of the pulpit... but really it's impossible to do it justice in pixels!
posted by pont at 12:48 PM on March 20, 2013

I stayed in Ludwigsburg for a few days. The palace and garden there are massive and sumptuous, but no photos allowed inside and the tour is guided, so your ability to absorb the art is limited. I enjoyed it, myself. The palace has a few small, separate museums and you can buy an all-included ticket or main palace only. Costume museum was good.

The art museum in downtown Stuttgart was very good. There's some really neat stuff there.

There's an open-air folk museum in the Black Forest called Schwarzwälder Freilichtmuseum Vogtsbauernhof. I'm into folk museums, don't know if you are. The buildings were neat, the audio guide was good, and there were farm animals, but only one person doing an old-timey craft.
posted by Anwan at 1:44 PM on March 20, 2013

Esslingen am Neckar is a beautiful medieval town about thirty minutes from Stuttgart on the S-train. It's small and you could stroll around the old centre, cathedral and museum in an afternoon, including a climb up the covered wooden steps of the 13th century Burg's ramparts for an amazing view of the town and surrounding vineyards.
posted by freya_lamb at 4:07 PM on March 20, 2013