Some cities leave you a choice of where to go for an easy hike. You can pick between a walk alongside a lake or a river, a stroll through the gardens of an ancient castle and a journey to a beauty spot up a hill.
But not all cities are quite so generous. Some cities, through the power of possessing something unique, force your hand – or, more to the point: your feet, pulling them into one particular direction.
Which, in Stuttgart, is uphill all the way.
Stuttgart, a city that is surrounded by hills on all sides, is famous for its Stäffeles: long stairways that were originally intended to connect the city with its agricultural hinterland (or upland), where wine was grown from Roman times to the 19th century.
A lot of wine, as a matter of fact: from the Middle Ages onward, Stuttgart was one of the centres of wine production in Germany, and wine growing, the largest industry in town, eventually became so powerful that the vineyard owners persuaded the local government to outlaw all imports of wine and even the brewing of beer within the city limits.
The vineyards began to disappear in the 1800s when the expanding city needed new space for its growing number of people, and the Stäffeles were repurposed to link the higher-ground suburbs with the town centre.
Nobody knows how many of these Stäffeles exist in town – estimates range between a few hundred and 1000 – but about 50 are documented in city maps and carry a proper name.
Some of the old vineyards still exist in the more distant suburbs, but on the urban Stäffeles, you will nowadays walk between park-like landscapes …
… and through genteel residential quarters.
What has remained, however, are the nearly ubiquitous views over the town.
Stäffeles are scattered everywhere in Stuttgart, but – to introduce you to the variety that is on offer – we made up a short walk that combines three of the best-known of these stairways into a single walk of a couple of hours.
And since we are not called easy hikers for nothing, we shall let the tramway do the heavy lifting of taking us up the hill so we can gently stroll from the heights of the suburbs down into the town centre. This is why our walk starts with a ride on tramway line U15 from the central train station to a stop called Bubenbad .
Descending from the train, you will spot a viewing platform on your right hand side …
… from where you can enter the Georg-Elser-Staffel.
This stairway has a bright, airy and modern feel, something like a light hors d’oeuvre before the more traditionally leafy offerings that will be served further down.
At the end of the Georg-Elser-Staffel, continue into Diemershaldenerstrasse and cross Stafflenbergstrasse at the next intersection.
On your left hand side, you should now be able to spot the Sünderstaffel, the “sinner’s stairway”, the celebrity among Stuttgart’s Stäffeles and apparently the biggest hit on all the guided walking tours.
The Sünderstaffel is probably the oldest of Stuttgart’s Stäffeles – its existence was first documented in the 14th century – and is certainly the one with the most colourful back story.
A young nobleman, so the story goes, was sentenced to death after he had killed a love rival in a fit of rage. As a last act of mercy, he was allowed to choose the site of his execution – and picked the very slopes of the Staffel as this was the land that had once been farmed by his ancestors: “Where my forefathers toiled with spade and spud / is where you shall spill my youthful blood.”
Whether or not this story is true: the Sünderstaffel deserves its celebrity status on the strength of being the most handsome of Stuttgart’s Stäffeles alone, with its graceful, two-winged structure …
… and its delicately wrought iron fence.
At the bottom of the Staffel, continue straight until you reach the end of Pfizerstraße …
… and turn right into Alexanderstraße.
After a walk of five or ten minutes, you will reach the Eugensplatz on your left hand side: a viewing platform whose greatest attraction is not the scenic view across town.
The Galateabrunnen – which marks the entrance to a public garden and the Eugenstaffel that cuts through it – was built in 1890 by Otto Rieth, who had only come third in the tendering competition but whose design had found favour with Queen Olga, the wife of Württemberg’s last king and a daughter of Czar Nikolaus I.
When some citizens of Stuttgart, unhappy with certain features of Rieth’s Galatea fountain (perhaps also with the way it had been high-handedly picked), grumbled about the nymph’s “excessive nudity”, their complaints were dismissed by Queen Olga.
If the Stuttgarters wished, she let them know, she would be happy to have the offending statue turned around by 180 degrees. The beautiful nymph would then no longer be able to shock the visitors of the public garden with her full frontal nudity – and present instead her bare behind to the city she was overlooking. This suggestion settled the controversy once and for all.
Continue on your way down the Eugenstaffel …
… into Eugenstrasse and, at the end of this street, to the State History Museum called the Haus der Geschichte.
On the far side of the busy street in front of you, you can spot the ancient Royal Palace and its grand gardens with the regional parliament on your left hand side (Stuttgart is the capital of Baden-Württemberg state) and the town centre just behind.
Go to explore and have a good look around. The Stäffeles are just the start: there is much to see and to discover in Stuttgart.
