Stuttgart with Kids
In the heart of Stuttgart is Schlossplatz, it is a beautiful area for people watching, a stein and taking in the beautiful scenery.
We chose to visit Stuttgart with Kids in April 2017. My brother has lived in Stuttgart for a few years and he kept telling us that Stuttgart would be a great city to explore with the children. Stuttgart is a child friendly location and here are our top tips:
Getting there
- Drive – we looked into this, but we decided that the journey to Stuttgart is too far with two small children. If we were going to Stuttgart with kids for longer then we could have stopped on the way.
- Fly – we had some British Airways miles to use up so we opted to fly from Heathrow. The flight time is about 1hrs 40mins and you fly directly into Stuttgart airport which is in the South of the city.
- Transfers – you can travel from the airport into the city really easily. Either by public transport see below or taxi.
Car Seats
Germany has very strict rules about car seats. You can ask at the airport information about borrowing a car seat for a taxi transfer or opt to bring your own with you. Many taxis will refuse to take you without a car seat.
Public Transport
- The public transport system makes Stuttgart with Kids really easy.
- The S-BAHN will take you straight into the city.
- The subway is clean, efficient and cheap. We traveled with a pushchair and most of the subway stations have easy access for pushchairs (and wheelchairs) as well as lifts to street level.
Make time for Ice Cream and People Watching
Take time to people and watch and soak up the atmosphere.
No visit to Stuttgart with kids is complete without an ice cream stop. We chose to visit Gelateria Kaiserbau. The location is perfect for our favourite past time – people watching. We grabbed our tasty ice cream and sat on the steps of the square to watch the world go buy. There are lots of places to watch people and street entertainment, it is a good way to just soak up the atmosphere and breath a city in.
Order a 1 meter long Pizza
A few doors up from Gelateria Kaiserbau is the very funky L.A. Signorina, famous for their meter long pizza’s. Our limited German and equally limited Italian made for an interesting combination. However we decided the best thing to order was the “gemischte varianten” to our delight it was a meter of yumminess and something to suite everyone’s taste. We had an early dinner but i’m told by my brother it is alive with people late into the evening.
Visit the Zoo
Wilhelma Zoo and Botanical Gardens provide the setting for a great day out here are our tips:
- Travel by subway it drops you off right outside of the zoo
- For adults you will likely be able to get around in half a day if you’re travelling in Stuttgart with Kids you’ll likely need a full day.
- Pick out the animals your children really want to see it gets busy but there are lots of nice viewing areas so you can take some time out from the crowds but still enjoy the animals.
- Take a picnic or at the very least take snacks. The food areas were really busy with big queues.
- There are some nice park areas for the kids to climb and let off some steam.
Earn a Stein and take in the views
If you’re going to visit Tschechen & Sohne here are my tips:
- It is a long walk either up a few hundred steps OR you can walk the long way round. This is a consideration if you have small people with little legs. Luckily we had the pushchair and Uncle Gav’s shoulders.
- The view is worth whatever route you take.
- There is also a pretty cool park at the top of the hill too, in my experience the promise of a park is a great tactic for getting little legs to keep moving.
Take in the beautiful city
We spent a lot of the time we had in the city taking in the beautiful buildings and city vibe. We started at Schlossplatz which is central, you can easily walk from here to Neues Schloss.
Order a barrel of beer…
Well this might not be the most kid friendly thing to do in Stuttgart but you can certainly take children into the beer houses and their welcome. We visited Schönbuch Bräu Brauhaus. There is a full German menu and across our party we tried a little bit of everything. I highly recommend arrive hungry. I’m not a beer drinker but i’m told by our party the beer was good. Even Rufus the nursery bear got in on the action.
Rufus (the nursery bear) even tried the local beer.
Trying the local cuisine
This is one of the coolest toy shops i’ve ever been to. It isn’t in your face like Hamley’s in London. It is full of all the things I like to buy more boys. THE BEST BIT – the store has really great facilities for changing and feeding babies/toddlers. There is a great play area and SOOOO many lovely toys. I was especially impressed with their wooden toy range it was just a shame there wasn’t enough space in my luggage.
Since my brother lives there we will definitely be back. We’ve only just scratched the surface in exploring Stuttgart with kids.
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