Recently in Stuttgart Category

Do you have a thing for German automotive engineering? Does the thought of racing down the Autobahn quicken your pulse? In the past decade, Germany's famed car companies have all built museums showcasing their history, their racing prowess and their iconic designs. And as luck would have it, each is near enough to a Starwood hotel that a road trip to all of them would rack up SPG points like so many miles on the odometer.

Start in Berlin, at the Westin Grand, and drive two hours west to Wolfsburg, which you should recognize as the headquarters of at Volkswagen. VW's Autostadt is a virtual amusement park, with an interactive exhibit on green initiatives, incredible car silos and even driving attractions. Follow it up with a trip to the August Horch Museum, dedicated to the founder of Audi, in Zwickau near Leipzig and the Westin Leipzig.

Be ready for a day on the road, because our next stop is BMW Welt in Munich, about four hours south. The architecturally stunning campus provides BMW with a grand setting for all sorts of cultural programming in addition to highlighting its latest models. Get a good night's sleep at the Sheraton Munich Arabellapark.

Head west to Stuttgart for a triple dose of luxury: Mercedes, Porsche and Le Meridien Stuttgart. You may recognize the Mercedes Museum from the company's commercials. Don't worry, no windows will be shattered, but your mind might be blown on the tour of the thoroughly robotic factory next door. At the Porsche Museum you can walk right up to every single car on display, even the legendary 917 series, and afterward settle into seats upholstered in red Porsche leather in the museum's steakhouse.

Stuttgart has been associated with automobiles ever since Gottlieb Daimler, Karl Benz, and Wilhelm Maybach created the first vehicles there in 1887, and it remains the capital of the German auto industry today. Of the automakers to emerge in Stuttgart during the twentieth century, none is more revered than Porsche, whose sports cars have become legends both on and off the track. Porsche fans from all over the world converged on Stuttgart on January 31, 2009, when the company opened the doors to its new Porsche Museum. The fifty-million euro museum is set in a striking angular building of concrete and glass that houses eighty valuable historic vehicles, ranging from Ferdinand Porsche's earliest designs to mid-century street classics like the Porsche 911. In addition to the cars, visitors will find a complete Porsche archive along with interactive exhibits that illustrate the process that takes these amazing vehicles from the drawing board to the Autobahn. There's even a stylish new restaurant on the second floor with views of the Porscheplatz, so you can daydream about your future sports car while savoring contemporary bistro fare. The new Porsche Museum is a short drive from Le Méridien Stuttgart.