Here we are, a full year after returning from Europe, and I’m still far, far behind on summaries of our exploits there. In my most recent post, we crossed over the one-month mark into the trip. Roughly two more months to go! Without further ado, here’s my Travel Hack Recap: Europe, Part 7 – Stuttgart below!
Full disclosure: I’m not sure how many parts this trip will be split into. Ninety days of continuous travel was a huge undertaking on our part! Documenting the details has been daunting enough for me to procrastinate nearly 6 months to start doing so. But I’ll do my best to share the highlights and travel hacks along the way!
Travel Hack Recaps of Europe so far:
- Europe, Part 1 – Baltic Sea Cruise
- Europe, Part 2 – Baltic Sea Cruise (Part II)
- Europe, Part 3 – London
- Europe, Part 4 – Edinburgh & Dublin
- Europe, Part 5 – Paris
- Europe, Part 6 – Brussels & Amsterdam
Where We Went
The first thing to note related to our activities through most of this European extravaganza is that we pre-booked a lot of tickets weeks, if not months ahead of time. Given the precarious nature of COVID-19 throughout the world at the time, most attractions were open but requiring advance booking for a specific time slot.
This had its pros and cons: a designated time slot meant guaranteed admission and minimal time waiting in lines, as well as reduced crowds; however, our flexibility was greatly reduced by being locked in to nonrefundable tickets with a particular entrance time. All in all, I’d say the pros outweighed the cons, but note that your experience may be different than ours depending on the restrictions in place.
Day 1 (Day 36 of the trip) – Amsterdam, Netherlands to Stuttgart, Germany
A four hour train ride out of the Netherlands and through Western Germany isn’t most people’s idea of fun, but I was loving life on the Deutsche Bahn. Not having to arrive hours early to go through security just for the pleasure of contorting myself into a cramped seat was a huge improvement over air travel. We chugged through the rolling hills and large German cities of Dusseldorf and Cologne before arriving in Mannheim. There we switched trains for the relatively short remaining trip to Stuttgart.
Yet again, we walked from the train station to our home for the next 3 days, the Aloft Stuttgart. Needing to further stretch our legs after the long trip, we dropped our bags and embarked on an urban hike. Through winding residential roads, we climbed in elevation until we reached the peak of the hill with a small stone tower. We took in the views over the city and caught our breath, then meandered back down the hill towards the center of town.
The town center was bustling on a Friday afternoon. I was starting to feel at home hearing all the German spoken around me, and we sat down at an outdoor restaurant patio for dinner. More confident in my ordering capabilities after the coffee debacle weeks earlier in Warnemunde, we perused the menu. Our waiter approached but I still had some questions on the menu that I wasn’t able to translate. Unfortunately this time, he indicated that he did not speak English and my confidence immediately vanished. But we worked through it with pointing, gestures, and my rudimentary Deutsch, so all was not lost.
After dinner we strolled through the town center, which ranged from quaint, old market halls to tall, glass office buildings, before heading back to the hotel.
Day 2 (Day 37) – Stuttgart, Germany
Cannstatter Volksfest
We really only picked a stop in Stuttgart to break up the trip between Amsterdam and Munich. Turns out, Stuttgart is not exactly a hopping tourist destination. Our first clue to that fact should have been the waiter at dinner the previous night speaking no English. The second clue was when we arrived at the festival grounds and met hordes of locals in their finest lederhosen and dirndls. This wasn’t Oktoberfest in Munich, but it was still the real deal.
Cannstatter Volksfest is essentially the equivalent of a cross between a state fair and Oktoberfest. Wholly unprepared in our tourist suits of jeans and neutral-toned pullovers, we followed the masses from the Bahn station to the grounds. There were ferris wheels, food stands, and other attractions. But the people weren’t there to play games – they were there to drink. We picked an authentic-looking beer hall and followed the crowd in.
For someone who had studied the German language and culture for a decade, it was like the gates of heaven opened up (more on that in Munich). I was excited and overwhelmed all at once. I was also perplexed…here was a huge beer hall full of tables, but only about a third of the tables had people at them. Glancing at the “Reserviert” signs on each of the empty tables, I began to worry there was no room for outsiders. I summoned the courage to ask an usher whether all of the tables were reserved. Had I read the signs in detail, I would have learned that they were only reserved later in the night, so we had a few hours to occupy them.
So we sat. By ourselves. We ordered beers and drank them. By ourselves. Certainly not extroverts, I was beginning to worry we would not be welcomed into the open arms of a raucous German drinking festival. The table of lederhosen-adorned middle-aged men next to us seemed pretty content to keep their fun and games (and a lot of beers) to themselves. The live band was playing a mix of German pop (which everybody knew but us) and the old German beer hall classics (which we attempted to learn quickly, as they were mostly an excuse to cheers your neighbor and drink more).
Two beers or so deep, we caught a break. One of the gentlemen, recognizing he was either reaching his limits of consumption or how pitifully alone we looked, passed us a tiny bottle of schnapps. That was my chance and I took advantage, happily chatting with the guy and a few of his table mates for the next couple hours. I did my best to speak German, and I think I succeeded. They mostly spoke at least some English and returned the favor.
By the end of the night, we were several more schnapps bottles deep and I was singing Ein Prosit in my dreams.
Day 3 (Day 38) – Stuttgart, Germany
Miraculously, I woke up the next morning feeling pretty good. With fond memories of the night before, we headed for some relaxation at a local spa. This area of Germany is famous for their natural spring-fed spas and the Germans take their spas very seriously. At the front desk of SoleBad Cannstatt, again we found ourselves in the dilemma of trying to interact with a non-English speaker. I didn’t panic and told her in German we wanted full day passes. She explained the procedures, which I mostly understood, and we trekked upstairs to the spa area.
Upon stowing all our items in the lockers, we showered and passed through to the spa area. There we found a bunch of Germans in their Geburtstag suits. Men and women of all ages, passing between the various tubs and saunas. This was not a surprise to us, we knew the rules. But it was still a bit of a cultural jolt to experience for the first time. After the first few minutes we got over our American insecurities and really enjoyed ourselves.
The place had a large hot tub, two cold tubs, and several saunas of various temperatures. It was busy but not crowded, and we enjoyed the amenities for several hours. The whole experience turned out to be very relaxing and we would definitely go back. With an early train to Munich the next morning, we headed back to the hotel for an early bedtime.
Day 4 (Day 39) – Stuttgart, Germany to Munich, Germany
We hit the trail early the next day, as our train to Munich departed shortly after 7am. Just one full day removed from Cannstatter Volksfest, we were about to experience the Oktoberfest.
How Much We Spent (and Saved)
Let’s take a look at the Travel Hack Recap spending breakdown for our 3 nights in Stuttgart. I should note that during our entire 3 months in Europe, the US dollar was extremely strong. The exchange rate with the Euro was at or near 1:1 for much of our trip, so everything was at a bit of a discount compared to historical exchange rates.
Spending in Stuttgart:
| Category | Budget | Actual | Notes |
| Flights | $0.00 | $0.00 | |
| Accommodations | $0.00 | $0.00 | 60,000 Marriott points for 3 nights at the Aloft Stuttgart |
| Food/Drink | $215.00 | $152.44 | All the beers at Cannstatter Volksfest |
| Entertainment & Misc | $46.00 | $35.47 | Spa day |
| Transportation | $196.00 | $165.60 | Amsterdam-Stuttgart train; S-Bahn to and from Volksfest and Spa |
| TOTAL | $457.00 | $353.51 |
More savings in Stuttgart, as meals were not as expensive as anticipated. The experiences at Cannstatter Volksfest and the spa were worth every Euro.
Total savings from travel hacking:
- 3 nights at the Aloft Stuttgart would have been $517.
Even excluding the savings of walking or taking public transit instead of Uber/Taxi/Rental car, we saved over $500 by travel hacking this leg of our trip to Europe in Stuttgart.
Conclusion
Writing this post makes me really miss Germany. Stuttgart was more of a challenge, as the locals seemed not to speak as much English as we were used to in other major cities. But we not only persevered, we thrived! After a slow start, the locals ended up welcoming us into their culture. That ended up making some of our favorite memories of the entire trip. We would absolutely return to this area of Germany for more spa days.
Up next: Munich, Germany!
Have you been anywhere with an unexpected language barrier? How did it turn out? Comment below!
