Stuttgart

Stuttgart is a city of palaces. The Württemberg dukes built a Renaissance castle and a later palace in the town centre, a Neoclassical retreat in the hills above the city and a vast palace complex in gardens at nearby Ludwigsburg.

In addition to its cultural life, the city's association with automotive manufacture produced the names Daimler, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche and two museums of car technology honour these marques.

The leafy Königstraße runs right through the city centre as both main pedestrian artery and shopping street, while the hills around the bowl of the city provide the setting for the mixture of new and historical buildings and gardens.