This Old Castle-located museum tells the story of the region from the Iron Age until the 19th…read moreCentury. Many of the overall panels are in English much most of the exhibition is in German. They probably have an English audio guide but I would rather just look. It is hard to see everything in one day. I started in the Iron Age and then was just exhausted and ran through the final century. I had low expectations for this museum and was pleasantly surprised to see that the artifacts here are high-quality and in the source location. This area really was a heartland of early human history, even the Romans had territory here. This location is also an important part of Celtic history. So much importance! This region is really (like many parts of the world) a crossroad of culture. Anyway, wear good shoes, you are walking on old marble castle floors. The lighting of the artifacts is understandably low-- it makes taking photographs nigh impossible. They DO carry a lovely coffee table book of their collection in the gift shop. Online, their complete collection appears to be archived and online for display as well. They have a lovely gift shop (with great scarves) and a cafe with coffee and food. Entrance fee is 6 Euros per adult, very reasonable.

The location inside the old castle aka palace is quite spectacular. So definitely worth a go, but…read morewell... still a museum with some more boring stuff. Sometimes in the court of the castle you can listen to open air concerts.

Excellent museum depicting everyday life through the ages for the middle and lower classes of the…read moreregion. Ironically housed in a hunting lodge of a Duke of Wurttemburg from yore. If you have time ask the receptionist to point you in the direction of the nearby Glashutte museum. Housed in a two story house it requires about 30-60 minutes to see a good exhibit about the peasants uprising that occurred in the region.

I really enjoyed this museum and felt as if I learned a lot as I moved through the fossils. The…read morebiggest drawback was the lack of English support. We luckily used the Google translate option that translates pictures (recommend for overseas trips). Otherwise you would not be able to read anything. The way the museum lays out the exhibits is the best part. You move through time and see fossils, which are then depicted in a scene. The scenes are extremely realistic and they allow you to get up close. I truly enjoyed seeing all of the exhibits and wished only that there were more tranlastions with the captions.

A wonderful fossil collection, the best I've seen in Europe thus far. All the placards are in…read moreGerman but there is an audio guide, for 2 euros, with great information filled commentary. A majority of the fossils displayed are from Germany, e.g. Holzmaden, Ohmden, Solnhofen; and boy oh boy are they GREAT specimens. Don't forget to see the amber collection, just wonderful. Sad to say, but most folks just want to see the dinos.

I would eat here daily if I could. The food is so good. I always get the Armer Ritter, the vanilla…read moresauce is probably my favorite thing in the whole world. It's a sickness how much I love it here. It's also a great place to bring people from out of town, they live to eat, shop in the store and visit the museum.

By far our favorite breakfast spot in the area!…read more Definitely worth making a reservation on the weekend as it gets full early, but if you go with a small party right when they open, you can usually get in right away. If all the tables have the little chalkboard indicating reservations, take a look at the time listed, they often have the signs up on the table hours before the reservation, and if you can eat before the listed time, then you're free to use the table. As far as breakfasts go, they've got a ton of choices. Everything from a huge selection of breads and rolls (the Gegrilltes Landbrot or grilled rustic bread is fantastic), to muesli, to scrambled egg plates (Aichtal Frühstücks; with just eggs and bread, with ham and bread, or with tomato and mozzarella and bread), to a breakfast panini (the Italienisches Frühstück), all of which were fantastic. Most of the frühstücks also come with a small coffee, but they also have a great selection of hot chocolates if that's your preference. They recently (-ish) updated their printed menus so that all of them now have the English translation, which is helpful if your German ist nicht gut. I don't think I've ever had a server who spoke anything but German, but they're always been (relatively) cheerful and if you can read the menu you can point and get what you want! The only real shortfall, aside from the tables filling up quickly, is that they don't do drinks to go (they literally don't have to-go cups), so you can't take a hot chocolate with you on your way out. Otherwise, this place is awesome. ((And don't forget to swing by the chocolate shop on your way out, especially the room in the back with the test flavors and cheap mixed-bags!))

We were here in February, so the gardens are bare, but still a great place for a nice walk…read more We took the English language guided tour. Our guide was knowledgeable, entertaining and very friendly. Disappointed that only a small area was included on the tour. Our guide said that much of the palace was under renovation. I really enjoyed the collection of clothing - this was very unusual and interesting.

As a study-abroad-student back in the 90s, I spent a good six weeks, or so, living in…read moreaccommodations just a stone's throw away from the grounds of the Ludwigsburg Palace. The residence, initially built as a hunting lodge for the Duke of Wuerttemberg, Eberhard Ludwig, in 1704, was expanded upon throughout the first few decades of the 18th century, and, eventually replaced the palace in Stuttgart as the residence of the royal family of Wuerttemberg. It is a gem to behold. There is much to see both around the grounds of the palace and inside the palace itself. Years ago, I had taken a tour of the palace interior, but had forgotten both its beauty and deep history. Some rooms have been preserved in the original baroque style-opulent parquet flooring and gold accented walls-but most other rooms had had their baroque flourish covered up with somewhat demure wall paper and (in my opinion) rather unimaginative wood flooring in later years. The building is surrounded by well-manicured grounds which then bleed out into, sort of, more wild bits and overlap with the Maerchen Park that has become a part of the Bluehendes Barock* experience one undertakes when purchasing an entry ticket to tour the palace grounds only. The Maerchen Park is home to a small variety of anamatronic fairytale figures that are both known and not to non-German audiences. As one attempts to open the gate of the Gingerbread House the witch living inside looks out through her curtains and speaks sinister words to you! At the tower of Rapunzel children cry out, "Rapunzel! Rapunzel! Let your hair down!" And she does! Also housed within the palace is an amazingly extensive ceramics museum charting the rise of pottery in Germany from Bartmann jugs to Meissen tea sets. Unbeknownst to me, Ludwigsburg porcelain was and is of some renown. I'd imagine that Karl Eugen and his ilk were sipping tea out of Ludwigsburger tea cups back in the day... During our look-see of the museum, we were able to spy a, sort of, 'finishing room' where folk were placing unfinished jugs on open shelving units. Ooooh! If one is keen on buying the finished product, then pop on into the ceramics shops also on the palace grounds. A tea cup and saucer might cost you somewhere in the range of 200 euro. *Flowering Baroque: a beautiful garden show within the grounds of the Ludwigsburg Residenzschloss. If a trip to Germany includes parts of the SW, then I would strongly suggest a trip to the palace in Ludwigsburg. Bonus: the first King of Wuerttemberg, Friedrich der Dicke, is the grandfather (x8) of our Boris Johnson, Mayor of London.