Stuttgart Advice Needed, Please
 

We will be travelling to Stuttgart in October to attend a photography workshop being run by a friend.

Our first two nights will be spent in Tubingen (where our friend lives).

From there we'll be travelling to Inzigkofen, where the workshop will be held (within a beautiful old abbey).

We then have two nights free before our flight home.

First question is whether or not I'm right to stay in Stuttgart for those two nights or should be looking at somewhere else? (We won't be renting a car so will be reliant on public transport).

Second question is: if we do stay in Stuttgart, can anyone recommend specific hotels and also give us advice on which districts of the city to favour/ avoid?

Any advice much appreciated.

PS In terms of hotel we haven't got an absolutely fixed budget but would prefer to keep it below 150 Euros a night if possible, including breakfast. We do like spacious and comfortable rooms, preferably with both tub and shower in the bathroom rather than shower only. Not too fussed about pool. Definitely don't care about gyms. For us, attractiveness (and cleanliness) and amenities of room together with location within the city are more important. We aren't big walkers (I have hip problems) so either need to be central to main attractions or well placed to use public transport.

THANK YOU!

There is a guy over on Trip Advisor who is about as passionate about Stuttgart as I am about Frankfurt. He has tons of information about the city and the surrounding area. His name is Marco, so I would post your question over there. You will be sure to get accurate answers.

Thanks Mainhattengirl, I have cross-posted on the Tripadvisor forum already, I think his username is marcopolo or something like that. Am hoping he'll respond.

I recall there being a couple of Stuttgart people here too, someone who lived there for a couple of years and people who have visited often.

:)

Do a search here on Fodors and look for posts from "hausfrau". She lived in Stuttgart and has posted lost of information.

I did that before posting and have found lots of great info but nothing recent focusing on districts/hotels.
:)

I've stayed at several hotels in downtown Stuttgart for conferences. It is convenient to stay near the train station (nice safe area) to take the S or U bahn to reach the different suburbs,nearby cities & airport.

If you are looking to minimize walking, the 4 star Graf Zeppelin Hotel is right across the street from the train station. www.steinberger.com. They have premium & standard rooms with really great service & staff. They even have premium rooms designed for women (better amenities and women magazines in the room). There is a good german restaurant on the first floor as well as good breakfast buffet on the second floor if you're too tired to go out. You can easily reach the train station through the underground shopping complex below the main boulevard (with escalators). The hotel is at the edge of the downtown shopping area which is dotted with museums, church, castles and other tourist attractions. There is a lot to do & see in downtown.

The second best 4 star hotel is Am Schlossgarten, just further east(walk)from the Graf Zeppelin with comparably good location but the rooms/suites are worse & older. The one hotel to avoid is the Intercity Hotel even though the building is attached to the train station.
The best 5 star hotel is Le Meridien, but it's quite a walk from the station/downtown area with stair climbing to cross a busy highway via a pedestrian bridge.

Fabulous, this is extremely helpful, Dax, thank you. (Especially the info on the busy road/ stairs for crossing).

Kavey, I used to go for work years ago and do not know hotels but I really enjoyed the main shopping district and found it a lovely city to wander at a leisurely pace. The S/U bahn was easy and so great to use as well. we had some lovely meals in the city centre. I always like to eat in an Italian restaurant when in germany becausse outside of Italy Germans do a pretty good job with Italian food. Even my German friend feel the same saying they love Italian food there. I was surprised how much i actually like all the food in Germany. Enjoy the trip!

Thanks Siobhan! :)

Dax, is that the Steigenberger Graf Zeppelin that you're referring to?

OK well, we had a sudden change of heart in that we decided to splurge. I spent a couple of hours just now looking through the tripadvisor top 12, reading the reviews, mapping my shortlist onto Google Maps (using My Maps) so I could compare locations and then checking what prices were available.

I narrowed it down to Le Meridien, City Hotel (recommended by MarcoPolko on tripadvisor forums) and Arcotel Carmino.

As our accommodations in Tubingen and Ingowhatsit won't be particularly lux I had a mad moment and went for Le Meridien! I had read about city view rooms (noisy) versus park or courtyard view rooms (quiet) but only city view were coming up on their online res system (checked the discount sites first, no joy). Called their UK number for international res first - spoke to was useless so called hotel directly. 200 Euros per night for deluxe courtyard room including breakfast. More than had initially planned but, what the heck! :)

Kavey,

I booked the Meridian for the end of September for 8 days and was able to get the same room with breakfast for 166 euros through 1 800 hotels. I also was able to pay them in US $$ which locked in the rate for the ever-changing, rising of the euro. I initially booked directly with the hotel but was unhappy paying in euros. You may want to call them......

Thanks Cinzia
Who is 1 800 hotels? Are they a hotel booking service?
THANKS

Kavey,
Le Meridien is indeed the nicest 5 star but FYI location wise it's really awkward if you intend to stroll into downtown Stuttgart because the highway like boulevard makes a physical barrier and it's quite a boring walk. There is not much around Le Meridien itself. I only stay at Le Meridien when I take my whole family because we take taxis everywhere, but when I'm alone I prefer staying at the Graf Zeppelin since it's right smack in the downtown shopping area, so much more convenient plus it's right across the street from the train station & S bahn.

Thanks Dax...
The Graf Z was coming out waaaay waaaay more than even the Meridien so I ruled it out but can look again for lower prices nearer time and cancel the Meridien booking!
:)

I did not have any noise issues in a city view room of the Le Meridien. Maybe if you opened the windows - otherwise fine.
The rooms are quite nice in fact.
I agree with DAX about the location being just a bit out of the way from the centre, but not far enough to really bother me.

Hi Kavey,
Guess you got most of your questions answered before I found your post. I'm the one who lived in Stuttgart for a couple years. I agree with DAX (who has more Stuttgart hotel experience than I do) that the Meridien is a little awkward in terms of location, but it's not the end of the world. You're still in the middle of the city, just a bit farther from restaurants and the Koenigstrasse (main shopping street). However, if you do happen upon a better rate at the Graf Zeppelin, take it! My husband stayed there on business before we moved to Stuttgart.

It sounds like you've found some of my posts about things to do in the city...If you have any other questions just let me know. (Photography workshop in October in Germany...I'm very jealous!!)

Great, thank you SO much...
I will keep an eye out on Graf rates for sure!
:)

Quick update:
I couldn't find any confirmation email from the Meridien, infact I don't recall ever getting it, so I pulled out the piece of paper on which I wrote down details and confirmation number when I made the booking and called to check.
And somehow, my deluxe courtyard room including breakfast was down as room only, absolutely nothing on the booking to show that I'd been offered breakfast rate.
Hmmmf, annoying as no proof that it was ever otherwise.
So I had another look at the Graf Zeppelin site (as I've done a couple of times since) and found that the rate had dropped and I was able to book a king size double room for 330 Euros (room only) for the two nights. That's 165 Euros a night.
Breakfast is expensive, should we decide to go for it, it's 22 Euros per person, but we can decide that at the time.
I'm very pleased.
I will now phone to cancel the Meridien booking!
:)

Oh, that's a superior room at the Graf, so I think it will compare fairly with the deluxe at the Meridien. To be honest, as long as the room is comfortable, with good bathroom, nicely furnished, I'm sure it will be fine. And location, as you've advised, is better.

Kavey, The rooms are structurally more modern at Le Meridien no matter how much the Graf tried to update their rooms. That said the Graf deluxe rooms are larger than the Meridien rooms while the Graf superior rooms are quite comfortable and not cramped at all. You can always upgrade if you feel that it's not good enough.

I have stayed in both hotels twice and now prefer the Graf hands down for its better location. 165 euro was exactly the regular rate that I paid last November. Breakfast on the second floor dining room was nothing to write home about though the restaurant personable staff made a very good impression on us every morning (small talk & smiles). You may enjoy taking your camera out to the downtown bakeries/cafes for breakfast. The hotel small cafe/stube on the first floor also has good food & friendly personable service. Honestly the entire hotel staff gave a lot of personal attention. Le Meridien was also very nice, corporate nice. I think you'll be fine at the Graf.

Thanks Dax!

For our stay, the first night is 195 and the second night is 135 as it's the date at which their prices drop, maybe for the season, not sure.

I will ask to see the room first, when we check in, that sometimes has the effect of them giving a good one, and if not I can ask about changing or upgrading.

We didn't bother pre-booking breakfast because we figured we could find a nice coffee shop locally (we did the same thing on a recent weekend away in Bristol) and if we did fancy the hotel option, it would cost the same paid on the day. (There was no discount on breakfast for the inclusive rate). So we probably will find some nice pastries outside!

Thank you again for your kind advice, much appreciated! Will let you know what we thought when we get back!

Just to pop back and say thank you for your advice about the Graf Zeppelin. We had a good stay.

On arrival, I checked about our bed preferences and also booked a massage for that evening (my back was killing me). The receptionist was extremely helpful. Once we got to our room I noticed there was no tub, so rang down and asked if it would be possible to switch to one. The same lady explained that not many of their rooms had tubs but would see what she could do. She was able to find us a room, with tub plus other requirements and sent someone up to take us to the new room.

A bit dated, as expected, but perfectly comfortable, quiet, clean and enough space for our needs.

And the location, as you said, was perfect. Even more so as, due to various things, we ended up coming into Stuttgart via train, not car. So it really helped to be so close to the station.

In the end, I was really poorly - a cold/cough I'd had for a week before we went just got worse and worse and by the time we arrived in Stuttgart at the end of our trip, it was a full blown chest infection. A quick trip to a pharmacy, plus my own travel medkit and I spent the entire time in bed.

I would certainly stay here again, were I to need a place in Stuttgart, and recommend it to others. Rooms may not be as modern or spacious as others, but the staff really were very friendly and helpful and the location couldn't be beaten.

Kavey
I have no idea whether you are still undecided where to stay in Stuttgart. We frequent the following hotel every time we are in Stuttgart as it is brilliantly located: right in the middle of town:

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...of-culture.cfm

Extremely well appointed rooms, wonderful breakfast (which helps getting us thru the day without any lunch ;-) )
great location which offers also eateries and shops in close proximity to the hotel.

Happy travels!

SV

Sorry - wrong link.

Please follow:

http://www.hotelschlossgarten.com/

Hey SV, no, see my post just above yours. We just got back, we went for the recommended Graf Zeppelin in the end and were happy with it!
But thankyou!

kavey, I'm glad you like the Graf, it definitely has the most strategic location. I find the Steigenberger hotels in general to have very friendly and personable staff. Sorry to hear that you were under the weather when you were in Stuttgart, hope you did make it to the photo workshop.

spassvogel, I like the Schlossgarten too, it has a nice exterior & good location. However, to my surprise, I find their standard rooms to be really small and old. They were nice enough to upgrade me to their junior suite for free when I politely told them that the room was too small. The Jr suite was nice & big but the furnishing was worse than at the Graf (at least in 2006/2007). Not sure if they have updated their furnishing since then.

Kavey, glad you liked the Graf Zeppelin but sorry to hear you were under the weather.

Just bad luck, I'm afraid.
Soooo many of the people at work were suffering the same cough/ cold thing I had, in the weeks before I left. I first had what seemed similar about a month back or maybe 5 weeks and it cleared up so was very surprised to get what seemed to be same thing, but was probably different strain or infection, again just a couple of weeks later.
Really thought it would be gone within first couple of days of holiday but just got worse!
The photography workshop was really, really good. Would recommend it to anyone with an interest in the hobby.
But Stuttgart, I'm afraid I didn't really see a great deal of.
I did do a couple of very short walks, including the one via a pharmacist, but as it was raining a lot, I didn't feel too distressed at not being able to do more.
Pete went out at intervals to explore without me while I slept.
Anyway, I have posted reviews for tripadvisor on both the GZ and also our hotel choice in Tubingen. Should appear soon.

Well I'm glad to hear you were able to get to the workshop at least! Too bad about missing Stuttgart - but no, it's not great in the rain. Maybe next time!