Single trip travel insurance may well be just the ticket for petrol-heads and motoring enthusiasts who want an experience to make a ‘marque’ in 2025. If that’s the case, there may be no better destination than the German city of Stuttgart.
Stuttgart boasts not just one fantastic motor-themed museum but two, namely the Mercedes-Benz Museum and the Porsche Museum. As the birthplace of the modern automobile, thanks to the influence of names like Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler, it is somewhat ironic that the city was founded on the basis of horsepower. In fact, it was originally a stud farm, which bred warhorses for the Duke of Swabia.
Visiting the motor museums of Stuttgart with your single trip insurance
The Mercedes-Benz Museum pays homage to the 1886 car invented by Carl Benz. Twelve rooms feature around 160 vehicles, from the earliest examples of automobiles to racing cars that are legends in their own right. Open Tuesday to Sunday, the museum features seven Legend Rooms, which each have their own theme. This ranges from the invention of the automobile in Legend 1, to the Post-War Miracle in Legend 4 and the ‘Silver Arrows’ racing cars, in Legend 7.
In the latter, a gigantic, steep and banked curve displays touring and sports cars, rally cars and race trucks. A real highlight is the vertical display of a Mercedes-AMG F1 W12 E Performance F1 racing car from 2021, on the wall. So too is a relatively new interactive game that is a pit stop station. Here, participants have to change Formula 1 wheels against the clock!
Whilst in this area, visitors can also take on the role of the F1 strategist, communicate via the pit radio and act out the part of the team principal! It’s also possible to check out pit stop operatives workwear, in terms of overalls, helmets, shoes and gloves.
Making the museum experience fun for kids and adults
Kids under 14 can enter the museum if accompanied by an adult and there is a creative programme for children let my Carlotta, the mascot. Although she communicates only in German, the gist of things can no doubt be picked up.
Audio guides helpfully come in English, as well as Spanish, French, Italian, German, Russian, Chinese and Japanese and, although there is usually an admission fee, this is waived on International Museum Day (May 18, 2025).
Visiting the Porsche Museum and Porsche Factory Museum in Stuttgart
Whilst in the city of Stuttgart, it would be rude not to check out the Porsche Museum too. Here, you can tour a hugely impressive glass-fronted building, spotting iconic Porsche models such as a 550 Spyder Show Car, a 917/20 Coupé, a 911 Carrera Coupé German police car and many more besides. A tour takes about 90 minutes and can be booked in advance, allowing you to appreciate all the Porsche milestones covered by the museum exhibits and trophies on display.
But then, you can also go further and book a Porsche factory tour, on the same site in the Zuffenhausen part of the city. Do this and you can see how a sports car goes through the entire production process, as you undertake a guided tour of the plant.
Get together with family and friends, or maybe work colleagues for an away day, and you can test yourself with a special escape game here! Over the three floors of the museum, challenges will test your critical thinking and ability to solve problems, process information, decode puzzles and even work with invisible ink!
Ways to view Stuttgart from above
But Stuttgart is not all about cars. You can also visit its tallest venue, the Fernsehturm TV transmitter, no long transmitting TV programmes but thrilling visitors who take advantage of its two-tier observatory platform. From here, you can enjoy views over to the Black Forest and also Odenwald and with a bar and restaurant too, there’s every chance to sit back and appreciate the bird’s eye view.
There’s another view of the city available from the top of the Museum of Art – a 27-metre-high glass cube that has a nighttime allure when radiating light into the city’s Palace Square.
This square, which is a major meeting place within Stuttgart, is home to both the Old and the New Palace and the Upper Palace Gardens too. Other glorious buildings can be spotted, as you look around you.
Exploring other parts of Stuttgart
There are also diverse districts within Stuttgart, well worthy of exploration. Take, for example, the former poverty-ridden Bohnenviertel (Bean Quarter), where all residents once grew beans, as a major source of their daily dietary intake. This is now an area brimming with coffee culture, bookshops, antique dealers and taverns and full of charming cobblestone streets and 14th century buildings.
Then, there is great shopping, such as the Breuninger department store, where the emphasis is on luxury and top designer brands, from Dior to Gucci and Jimmy Choo.
Calwer Strasse is the place to which to head for culinary inspiration in Stuttgart, with dishes served amidst its gabled houses, where medieval meets Baroque, and delicatessens mingle with eateries and wine bars. Here, the burgers of Udo-Snack are legendary. The 1970s marble and glass Calwer Passage (being renovated at present) is also well worth checking out.
And then, if you really want to take home a bit of good old fashioned morality, you can visit the fountain of Lucky Hans (the Hans-im-Glück Brunnen fountain) and admire the dolls-house, fairytale feel of the architecture all around it. This peasant boy, created by the Grimm Brothers, was a latter-day happy have-not, being only happy with life when all of his possessions were gone.
Why single trip or annual travel insurance is a must for Stuttgart travel
To appreciate all of this is very easy if you live in mainland Europe and can drive to Stuttgart. If that is the case, however, do not be lured into a false sense of security. You will still need travel insurance, just as much as a traveller from the UK. A European healthcare, or GHIC, would only offer you state healthcare in Germany and would not cover any form of private healthcare you might be provided with. It also would not get you home, if you needed special medical transportation or missed original flights or transfers and had to stay in your destination. None of those extra costs would be covered, if you’d failed to pack a travel insurance policy. And, of course, there are other advantages to travel insurance beyond medical cover.
How to buy your single trip/annual insurance from anywhere in Europe
To get your travel insurance for your Stuttgart trip, either purchase a single trip insurance policy from Europesure, or buy an annual policy and cover this and other trips you may make during the year. Wherever you live in Europe or the UK, Europesure can cover you, if you are in the EU, EEA, UK, Monaco or Gibraltar. Your policy will be produced for you in English, so you can understand every word, if you prefer to have documents in the English language.
Cover is very comprehensive and has first-class underwriting expertise behind it, so motor over to the Europesure website to purchase and then race off to Stuttgart, knowing your desired protection is in place.
For insight into some more German cities, read our article here.
