Recommendations for overnight stay near Stuttgart please?

[Cornflakemum]

We are driving to Austria over Easter and need to make an overnight stop near Stuttgart.

We could just book a faceless 'big' hotel, but would love to find something a bit nicer, but not too far off the main route.

It will be for 4 of us. Kids are 11 & 8, so we don't need 'family-friendly' as in babies/toddlers etc.....

??

Where are you coming from? Which direction? From Calais through France? And to which part of Austria?

Not sure why you would be passing Stuttgart. Much nicer areas of Germany if you come down via Frankfurt.

This is quite a nice place.

There is an ice-cream parlour opposite, too. And a lovely small restaurant called Ochsen just around the corner.

Tbh hotels around here tend towards practicality rather than beauty. You could also try the Hirsch in Leonberg, or Im Schönsten Wiesengrund in Feuerbach. Both nice enough.

The best reports I have heard have been about the Mövenpick Hotel at Stuttgart airport . Apparently it's really nice.

Leonberg - there is a lovely castle there, isn't there? I seem to remember visiting. If it is the place I am remembering, there was a fab pizzeria on the main square in front of the castle.

You are possibly thinking of Ludwidsberg.

There is a sort of castle in Leonberg, but it's actually some kind of amt or other. The square is very nice though.

We live a couple of km away

Ludwigsberg, even.

Oh, that could be it. It has been a while since we were there. A friend lived near Leonberg.

We are coming from SE England - Calais etc (through Reims I'm told by DH) on way to Hofgastein area.

Stuttgart seemed the furthest we could reasonably get on the day we leave, and we can't get into our accommodation until the next day.

Is this not a sensible driving route?

Thanks for suggestions so far by the way

I would normally drive via Frankfurt on that route, but then that is our "home route" as DH is from Würzburg. Advantage is that once you get into Germany, you are on the A3 for pretty much the entire journey. It is the main north-south motorway, so although it can be busy at peak times, it is the biggest one.

You would also save a lot of money on French motorway tolls. According to viamichelin.com you would be just under ?50 each way for tolls.

You could stop either around Cologne (about 4 hours) or Würzburg (about 7 hours), both lovely cities.

The Rebstock Hotel in Würzburg is lovely, and right in the town centre.

I have never stayed in Eulenspiegel Hotel, it is just around the corner from Rebstock, and a bit less posh. The weinstube is fantastic though.

And if you are there in summer, you can go to the beach

Gasthof Baeren is outside of town, a charming typical German Gasthof. Very good food, pretty biergarten. I have not stayed there, but have been for meals a couple of times.It is very convenient for the motorway, just a couple of minutes off the motorway in a small wine-growing village.

MmeLindt - thank you! That's just the sort of help I was looking for!

DH is quite keen on avoiding the French toll charges, but I'm worried that the Belgian/German route will be so busy/slow that it will slow is down by many hours?

We are travelling out on 2nd/3rd April and back one week later. Are there any special holidays or issues I should be aware of for those dates (Am reminded that we tried to drive down to the S of France over Bastille Day holiday weekend once... it was )

You should be ok in April. There may be some delays around the larger cities (Cologne or Frankfurt) but unlikely to be too bad. Try and schedule your breaks so that you are not going past Düsseldorf/Cologne at 5pm. When are you due to arrive in Calais?

Just checked, and the schools don't come off until the week after for their Easter break so you should be fine.

I know it would be a little further to drive in one day, but my kids love Playmobilland in Zirndorf: www.playmobil.de/on/demandware.store/Sites-DE-Site/de_DE/Link-Page?cid=START_ZIRNDORF

I know a few families who have driven from the UK to various southern European holiday destinations and have stopped over there for a day. They have a Plymobil-themed hotel right next to the theme park. And plenty to keep the kids busy, regardless of the weather (You will of course have wonderful weather on your holiday ;) )

I'm quite tempted by the 'peculiar conferences' offered by the hotel that Psammead linked to. :)

It really doesn't have to be via Stuttgart, as the others have mentioned. Freiburg is a lovely little university town that would be ideal for an evening stroll. Or two years ago we spent an overnight in Heidelberg on our way back to Berlin from Chamonix, in this hotel.

Lavendel - I didn't know about Playmobilland, but we might consider it when driving down to Austria this summer. Great tip, thanks.

Peculiar conferences sound about the norm, from what I have seen from conferences in Germany.

We have never been to Playmobilland, despite GPs living just an hour from there. But then neither DC was ever particularly interested in Playmobil.

Heidelberg is pretty too.