What to See at the Stuttgart Natural History Museum: Hours, Prices, and Tips

Located near the Black Forest, one of Germany's most valued natural spots, Stuttgart is a modern and vibrant city that serves as an excellent stop for anyone visiting the surrounding area. Known as the "Home of the Automobile," Stuttgart is truly a place that has a lot to offer, especially in terms of its museums. In particular, among the most important museums in the city, we first find the Natural History Museum, a real gem for lovers of this type of museum. Here is all the information you need to visit, including costs, hours, and transport. See also: Things to see in Stuttgart: the 16 best attractions and things to do

The Stuttgart Natural History Museum is divided into two adjacent buildings: the first (and main) is the Rosenstein Castle, while the second is known as Museum am Löwentor. In the first building, you can find exhibitions through photographic panels, fossils, and reconstructed models specifically regarding the biology and evolution of living species. Inside the Museum am Löwentor, the history of the Earth is told, from its origins to the present day.

However, let's take a moment to highlight Rosenstein Castle, as it houses the main exhibits, providing a better explanation of the various thematic areas present: there are indeed five areas distributed all on one level. Let's see what they are in detail.

The first section of the Stuttgart Natural History Museum focuses on the evolution of species and, in particular, on the transitions that led from the very first cell and the subsequent forms of life to the plants and animals we know today. This section is located in the main hall of the building, ready to welcome visitors and their countless curiosities with lifelike reproductions of animals.

The second area, probably the largest in the entire museum, is specialized in the theme of biodiversity, meaning the biological differentiation of individuals belonging to the same species. In particular, this thematic area presents further subgroups depending on the type of organism (animal or plant) discussed: a dedicated area is for fungi, reptiles, and amphibians, another for birds, another still for mammals, and finally, the last area of this path focuses on primates, observing the transition that led monkeys to evolve into early humans. Spend a few minutes observing the fascinating comparison between a gorilla skeleton and a human skeleton, highlighting anatomical similarities and differences.

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Continuing along the guided path, we arrive at the third area dedicated to domestic habitats: here, typical habitats of southwestern Germany are reproduced and described. In three adjacent rooms, you will find exhibition panels, reproductions, and multimedia displays that will allow you to learn about more than 40,000 plant and animal species from this German region. It is a very detailed and fascinating guide that we are sure will leave you in awe!

The fourth area (the most beautiful in the entire exhibition) is specialized in the Earth's oceans and its largest inhabitants: of course, we are talking about the most fascinating marine mammals, the whales, which inhabit about 3/4 of the Earth's seas and are more at risk of extinction than ever before. Be amazed by the lifesize reconstruction of a whale specimen (over 13 meters long) and the authentic fossils of other specimens only slightly smaller. Additionally, get ready to discover what anatomical changes the "gentle giants" had to undergo to survive aquatic life over millennia.

Finally, in the last area of the museum, you will find a succession of rooms dedicated to different ecosystems present on our planet: starting with the tropics of South America and some areas of New Guinea, followed by the deserts and savannahs of Africa, the mild climates of Mediterranean regions, and the temperate climates of Central European countries, finishing with the prohibitive temperatures and ice of the two poles. The transition from one ecosystem to another is truly impressive, as is the alternation of totally different animal and plant species. A great way to conclude a fascinating guided tour of the Earth's nature!

Hours from Tuesday to Friday, from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM; Saturday, Sunday, and holidays from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM; closed on Monday

Best time to avoid lines you will hardly wait more than a few minutes at the Castle's ticket counter. However, to avoid the most crowded times with tourists, head to the castle just after opening or shortly before the closing of the halls

Ticket price around $5.00 per person

Discounts for minors $3.00, for students $2.50, for families $11.00

Wake up early, but not too early ideally, you should reach the entrance by 9:00 AM;

Combined ticket if you're traveling with family, you should buy the combined ticket that allows you access to the museum at a discounted price

Be mindful of restrictions make sure not to have food or oversized backpacks that could cause inconvenience during your visit

Minimum time we recommend considering at least an hour and a half for the visit. Ideally, you should be able to dedicate about two hours to the museum

On foot located within the neoclassical Rosenstein Castle, on the hill of the city between Wilhelma Zoo and the eastern part of the castle gardens. It is about a forty-minute walk from the city center - Get directions

By subway the old tram network has been transformed into an efficient above-ground subway system, called Stadtbahn (marked with the letter U). To get to the castle, take line U 14 from Charlottenplatz and get off at the fifth stop Mineralbader. From here it's a 5-minute walk

The collection of the Stuttgart Natural History Museum has an invaluable economic-scientific value, including more than 11 million scientific objects of great importance, among which are more than 4 million fossils, 40,000 minerals, 500,000 vertebrates, and a million plant species. All the pieces in this collection are said to come from the private collection of art and curiosities of the dukes of Württemberg, who gathered the various pieces over the years and preserved them until the end of the sixteenth century. Only in 1791 was the collection divided into two parts (natural history and art) and donated to the two respective museums to create a public exhibition, no longer limited to private use.