In June, DH and I return to Germany (and beyond), landing in Frankfurt about 9 am and driving to Stuttgart where we will have the next 3 full days during which visits to 3 auto museums (including Mazda in Augsburg) will be the primary goal. On our day of arrival, we won’t plan to do anything that requires reservations or that we consider a “must-see,” but, as we can’t get into our hotel until late afternoon, we want a short list of “maybe-see’s.” We have been to Mainz, Heidelberg, Worms, Speyer, and Aschaffenburg, some of them more than once (all highly recommended). Anyone been to Maulbronn Monastery? (We enjoyed Eltville.) What else would be an easy, good spot to stop for a few hours? We prefer history and/or art over shopping or anything too adventurous and won’t want any long walks on our jet-lagged, mid-60’s bodies!

Maulbronn is herewith highly recommended.

Just a few kilometres away you have a hidden gem which is hardly known: the small town of Eppingen, an undestroyed old town full of finest half-timbered houses. These two could easily be combined to fill your stopover. To give you an idea, here is the entry on Eppingen from my blog: https://karlsruhedaytrips.travellerspoint.com/130/

Maubronn is definitely worth a visit, although it probably has been commercialized by tourism since we were there.

https://flic.kr/p/7z67SQ

Thank you! Good info; we'll keep it in mind.

Well, there are lots of opportunities on your way and you only have done Heidelberg. First you are passing Darmstadt and the Mathildenhöhe. Then multiple picturesque towns along the Bergstrasse (Bensheim, Heppenheim, Weinheim, Ladenburg) and another UNESCO World Heritage Site, Lorsch's abbey hall. Near Heidelberg is Schwetzingen palace with its outstanding garden (even though its bid for UNESCO World Heritage site status fell through).
Then you can go either via Heilbronn or via Karlsruhe. If you go via Heilbronn then bad Wimpfen is very close to your rout as is finally Ludwigsburg with its palace. If you go via Karlsruhe then you have Bruchsal with its palace and Karlsruhe itself with its museums but also smaller treasures like the church in Tiefenbronn with its altar pieces (2pm - 4.30pm) or the abbey ruins at Hirsau.

Technically Maulbronn isn't even on your direct route - but yeah it totally is worth a visit, the cultural UNESCO World Heritage sites designated until 2006 in Germany all deserve this label.

Thanks, Lubitsch--love having a list of possibles to choose from, knowing our flights or the weather or traffic or...can affect what we want to and/or have time to do