Stuttgart Steps (Staeffele)

Find in Stuttgart more than 400 steps. Those who want to climb them all, have to cover a distance of 20 kilometers of steps. Many of them are from the time, when farmers in the Nesenbach Valley grew and cultivated vine. The steps are a piece of local history.

Until the beginning of the 19th Century the vineyards and garden plots reached the edge of the town. In order to cultivate the steep slopes, steps and path ways were built, these connected at the same time neighboring villages and farms. Around mid 19th Century Stuttgart expanded even further up the hills. Parts of the vineyards disappeared, houses and roads were built. Some of the old vineyard steps were replaced with the new, high-lying residential areas by walkways and stairs, creating links between the streets. Steps partly axially aligned were built with artistic architecture details and even sometimes combined with water fountains, flowers and plants.

The step tours are worth doing, just standing at the top and get this really good view of the city. Well known are these tours: the Eugenstaffel, the Willy-Reichert-Staffel to the Karlshoehe, the Saengerstaffel, the Suenderstaffel, the Taubenstaffel and the Hasenberg-Staffel.

More information is available on the interactive Stuttgarter Stäffeles- website.

© PICTURES COURTESY OF STUTTGART TOURIST