Old Castle: Stuttgart Travel Guide (4.7★)

Stone, arcades and a thousand years

Stuttgart’s oldest seat of power sits beside its newer one. The Old Castle began in the 10th century as a moated fortress guarding a horse stud farm. That stud farm, the Stuotgarten, gave the city its name and the black horse on its coat of arms.

Today’s shape is mostly Renaissance. Walk through the gate and the courtyard opens up into three storeys of stacked arcades, with pale stone columns wrapping all four sides. A bronze statue of Count Eberhard im Bart on horseback stands in the centre. One squat round tower holds a spiral ramp built wide enough for riders to go up on horseback.

Inside the Württemberg State Museum

The castle holds part of the Landesmuseum Württemberg. Expect regional history arranged room by room inside the old wings. Plan on at least two hours if you want to see it properly.

Highlights to look for:

• The Württemberg crown jewels, from the kingdom’s 19th-century court
• The Kunstkammer, the dukes’ cabinet of curiosities: clocks, automata, carved ivory and exotic objects
• Archaeology and medieval collections, from Celtic finds to Swabian church art
• The Schlosskirche, the palace chapel set into one wing of the courtyard

Check the official museum site for current exhibitions and ticket prices before you go. Special shows rotate through the building.

Getting to Schillerplatz

The castle is right in the centre of town, and everything nearby is walkable.

• Stadtbahn: Charlottenplatz (U5, U6, U7, U12, U15) is about five minutes’ walk away. The Schlossplatz stop is just as close.
• From Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof: walk down Königstraße, the pedestrian shopping street, then cut left across Schlossplatz. Allow 15 minutes.
• Address: Schillerpl. 6, 70173 Stuttgart

You can easily build a half-day around the visit. On Schillerplatz itself you’ll find Thorvaldsen’s 1839 Schiller monument, the twin-towered Stiftskirche and the gabled Fruchtkasten. Across the road, the Neues Schloss fronts the lawns of Schlossplatz. The Markthalle, Stuttgart’s Art Nouveau food hall on Dorotheenstraße, makes a good lunch stop two minutes south.

Timing a visit around the weekend crowd

Avoid Mondays, when the museum is closed. From Tuesday to Sunday it opens 11am to 5pm.

Weekends are busy for the whole opening window, from 11am to 5pm. If your trip allows, go on a weekday from Tuesday to Friday. If Saturday or Sunday is your only option, head straight for the crown jewels and the Kunstkammer first, before the smaller rooms fill up.

Leave time for the courtyard, which is the part most people photograph and then rush past. Stand under the arcades on the upper side for the full view of the three galleries. On Saturday mornings it’s worth crossing Schillerplatz afterwards, when the square fills with weekly market stalls.

German museums often ask you to leave large bags and backpacks in lockers, so travel light. Photography rules can differ between rooms. Look for the signs at each doorway before you raise your phone.