7 Best Hotels in Stuttgart, Heidelberg and the Neckar Valley

On the edge of a forest (Wald) with miles of hiking and biking trails, yet just a 10-minute streetcar ride from downtown, this modern suburban hotel offers lots of amenities and peaceful nights. It's in the residential suburb of Degerloch and occupies a 100-year-old building that had previous lives as an orphanage and a religious retreat, but a 2011 makeover created a chic interior that blends natural elements with fine modern art. There are tennis courts and electric bikes (free for guests), and an outdoor sauna overlooking a lush garden. Rooms are decorated in soothing neutral tones, and there are two restaurants, one of which is a fine-dining destination.

The "Sorcerer's Apprentice" is aptly named, as Karen and Axel Heldmann have conjured up an unusual luxury hotel with each room's decor based on a different theme. The 1,000 Nights room has a mosaic-tile bathroom, Seventh Heaven has Philippe Starck–influenced decor, and most have fireplaces. The popular restaurant, Z-Bistro, serves three-course prix-fixe menus also based on a theme, including vegetarian, fish, and regional Swabian favorites, enhanced by a very good wine list. Enjoy it all on the terrace in summer. The restaurant also now offers cooking classes.

This design-forward hotel is steps from Stuttgart's Rathaus (City Hall), offering spare, modern furnishings designed to maximize space in somewhat small rooms. The lobby bar, Fritz, adjoins a breakfast spot with the same name. It caters to a business crowd on weekdays, so rates are lower on weekends. 

This comfortable hotel is on a quiet side street a five-minute walk from the Konigstrasse pedestrian mile and the museums around Schlossplatz. It attracts mostly business people during the week, and theater goers and shoppers on weekends, in part for the free hotel parking so close to the heart of downtown and discounted weekend room rates. Rooms are clean and modern. There is a lobby bar and a restaurant open for lunch on weekdays (no dinner), and the hotel offers printed jogging, and biking maps for the nearby Schlosspark.

Across the street from Stuttgart Airport, the doors of this hotel open into a completely soundproof glass palace with airy rooms and a convenient location for the fairgrounds. Look up from the spacious and light-filled lobby to see the glass ceiling; the airy guest rooms have wall-to-wall windows, and the suites beckon with all the amenities. The equally airy restaurant Trollinger serves Continental fare, and there is an inviting lounge and bar. The Stuttgart fairgrounds are within walking distance from the hotel, which tends to fill weekdays with business travelers—ask for weekend rates.

This new skyscraper hotel, which opened in 2023, is fully air-conditioned, still rare in Germany, with a rooftop bar, unusual for downtown Stuttgart. Floor-to-ceiling windows make rooms feel bright and airy, and they are further enhanced by sleek, contemporary furnishings in neutral colors. The hotel (like so many in this area) caters to a business crowd, so rates are lower on the weekend. Restaurant Balaustine serves mostly Mediterranean dishes. Both the restaurant and lobby bar are closed Monday.  

Housed in a former airport hangar in the Stuttgart suburb of Böblingen, this hotel offers rooms that have either an automotive or flight theme. In the special themed rooms, chairs might be made from vehicle passenger seats, night tables are stacked hubcaps with glass tops, beds have the front of a Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, or Jeep as a footboard. There’s even one room designed to look like a car wash, and the breakfast buffet is served on the back of a vintage Chevrolet pick-up. The V8 Hotel is connected to other retrofitted hangars containing luxury car and vintage car dealerships and the see-through glass garages of collectors of both, called MotorWorld.  Commuter trains between Stuttgart and Boblingen leave several times each hour and take 21 minutes. And it has expanded to a second building.