5 Great Reasons to Take Your Family to Stuttgart

1. Something for Everyone

Stuttgart has something for everyone to enjoy, but especially for children.  The palace at Ludwigsburg has a storybook garden that kids can spend hours enjoying.  Picture tons of flowers, trails, tunnels, waterfalls, and even Rapunzel’s tower.  For the auto lover, you can choose from the Mercedes-Benz Museum or the Porsche Museum. Spend some time in the butterfly house (insectarium) or in the aquarium at the zoo.  Climb the obstacle course, complete with zip lines, at the Waldhochseilgarten- Freizeitpark.  Cool off in the Aquatoll water park or get a feel of 19^th Century Swabia (the Stuttagrt region) at Tripsdrill theme park. Need a laugh? Try the Pig Museum with 25 rooms of exhibits and special activities for kids and families. Have a picnic and ride the train in the 123 acre Killesbergpark filled with playgrounds, animals, and even an observation tower.

2. Group Rates on Public Transportation

You can get around Stuttgart by train for an amazing price thanks to the Group Day Ticket. The Group Ticket is valid for up to 5 unrelated people traveling at the same time or for a parent or parents traveling with any number of their own children up to age 17.  Prices start as low as €11.50 per day if you are traveling across 1-2 zones and top out at €19 for unlimited travel in the network.  Amazingly, this ticket covers all forms of area transportation including the S-bahn (trains), U-bahn (underground), and buses AND includes transportation to and from the airport. Check out their website  for more information.

3. Kids are Free at many Museums and Attractions

Kids under 15 can get into the Mercedes Benz Museum or the Porsche Museum for free. The Natural History museum is free for kids under 7 or visit Wednesdays after 1pm for free entrance for everyone. Kids under 13 see art from around the world at the Linden Museum for free. Even the hop-on,hop-off city tour allows two children under 15 to ride free with each paying adult. Keep in mind that most museums in Stuttgart are closed on Mondays.

4. Family Passes

Got kids over 15? Don’t worry you can find discounts for families at many attractions. Usually this is good for two adults and one child. The incredible Wilhelmina Zoological and Botanical Gardens  offers a family pass good for all children accompanying their parent.  Family tickets at Ludwigsburg start at €8.80 if you are just visiting one museum or for €32.50 you can visit all the attractions on the grounds (both palaces, museums, gardens and the baroque experience) over two consecutive days. Get a €3 family discount at the Freizeitpark obstacle course for each family member. Look for the words “familien karten” wherever you go.

5. The Food

One of my greatest challenges taking my kids out of the country is getting them to try unfamiliar food. Not a problem here! Street food is everywhere and is exactly the stuff your little "kinder" will eat.  Snacks are especially inexpensive-pretzels for under €1 at most stands, bratwurst and sausages that look like hot dogs, flat breads that look like pizza and dozens of pastries to satisfy even the pickiest of eaters all for around €1-€3. Most train stops and stations have food stands nearby so you don’t have to look far for something to curb your appetite. 

Full Disclosure: What My Travels are REALLY Like

I've had a few comments from friends lately about how they could never take their kids to all the places I have taken mine. They see the (carefully selected) photos on my Facebook page and think that our trips are filled with rainbows and happy children. They think back on their own trips with tired and/or crying children and feel like they have failed at traveling with kids.

While over the years I have developed some habits and systems that make traveling with kids easier, that doesn’t mean my trips are always smooth and easy. In reality, there isn’t a major airport in the US in which I haven’t been spit up on or pooped on.

So in the spirit of full disclosure, here are some of the “highlights” of our travels.

• On a 3 ½ hour flight from ATL to SLC my 11-month old screeched for literally over two hours straight. It was a happy screech, but it was a screech nonetheless. The other passengers were not kind. Not even a little.
• Once while traveling with a toddler and a baby, I put my back pack on the sink of the airport restroom. The top of the backpack was open because I had just gotten some items out of it. While I attended to the baby in the stroller, my open backpack fell into the sink, activated the automatic faucet and began filling the backpack with water. I didn’t notice until it was WAY too late.
• On another long haul domestic flight, my 4 year old threw up. All over. I mean ALL OVER. They had to clean up all three seats we were sitting in. Luckily it was an empty flight and there was an entire row open. So we packed up and moved all our stuff to a new row. Where she threw up again.
• I usually pack my own snacks when we travel. One rare occasion I actually bought a milkshake at the airport and then handed it to a child who immediately spilled it on my carry-on. Somehow, it managed to land upside down in exactly the right way to ooze straight down in in the depression and holes created by the retractable handle on the luggage. How’s that possible?
• I spent the night in the JFK airport with 3 children (and a husband) when nearly every flight was canceled and all the hotels were booked up. Notice I didn’t say that I slept in the airport. Not a lot of sleep happened that night. 
• My children have spilled all kinds of drinks on other passengers. I used to love flying on SkyWest Airlines because they had lids for their cups. I finally got wise and just started asking the flight attendant to put the drinks straight into our sippy cups. Also ask for drinks without ice.
• On a road trip, we were about 30 minutes from home when we noticed that one of our children had absolutely nothing on his feet. Mother of the year right here.
• While on a plane with an infant on my lap, we were actually served a meal. Try balancing food on one of those tray tables while holding an infant. Apparently, balancing was the least of my worries because my 1 year old picked up my salad and threw it into the row in front of us.
• At Disneyland, we only brought one pacifier for our baby. He spit it out on the Dumbo ride right into the water below. Not so much the happiest place on earth after that.
• One trip we had two long flights ahead of us, so I packed a lunch for us. For almost three hours on the first flight, my kids begged for their lunch. I promised them we would eat during our layover. The minute we landed, they wanted to eat.  I wanted to get to our next gate and get settled, so I told them to wait until we got to our gate at the other end of the airport.  As soon as we sat down at the gate, the ravenous wolves were reaching for the lunch bag. That’s when we realized it was still on the airport train. We went back and checked the next four trains for our lunch but it was gone.
• Speaking of leaving things, you name it and  I have left it on a plane, in a hotel, or at home. We’re talking socks, toothbrushes, receiving blankets, clothes, stuffed animals, cameras, cell phones, lunches and even an entire suitcase once.  Luckily, we haven’t left behind any children…yet. 

So are my trips all sunshine and daisies? No, but then neither is everyday life. And just like the sweet moments make the daily grind of child rearing worth it, the great memories of our trips block out the temper tantrums of tired kids, the nasty looks from other passengers, and the back aches from lugging around three kids' stuff. Well…almost.