From the Schlossgarten to Hans im Glück, riddle by riddle
The Stuttgart scavenger hunt is a self-guided city game you play on your phone: you walk from landmark to landmark, solve a riddle at each by looking closely at what is in front of you, and unlock the stories, local legends and fun facts behind it. Between the beer garden in the Schlossgarten and the Hans im Glück fountain lie 3 km and roughly 43 minutes of walking, split into 10 stops, while the riddles and stories stretch the whole game to about 3 hours, which you begin whenever it suits you.
Highlights include the Staatsgalerie with its Stirling extension, the Baroque New Palace, the Renaissance arcades of the Old Castle, Schiller's memorial on Schillerplatz and the Stiftskirche. The city centre is compact, so on foot you move easily from the palace gardens to the old squares and finish by the Hans im Glück fountain.
- Durationabout 3 hours
- Walkingabout 43 min · 3 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch
Palaces, poets and a fairy-tale fountain to decode
Pink handrails and a poet in bronze
Each stop sets you one riddle hidden in plain sight: the bright pink and blue railings of James Stirling's Staatsgalerie extension, the Renaissance arcades of the Old Castle, Thorvaldsen's Schiller on his plinth. Sharp eyes and a little reasoning crack it, with no homework on the dukes of Württemberg required.
Dukes, a reformer and a lucky fool
A solved riddle unlocks what lies behind the stop: Duke Carl Eugen's palace, which took decades to build, the Reformer Johannes Brenz buried beneath the Stiftskirche choir, and Hans, who trades away his reward piece by piece and still calls himself lucky. Busy looking up at the buildings? Let the audio narration do the reading.
3 km through the city centre
Google Maps steers you from stop to stop, about 43 minutes on foot in total: from the park past the palace, through Schillerplatz and Karlsplatz, then into the old lanes around the Marktplatz. The squares sit close together, so the walking never turns into a trek.
A beer in the park, a bench on Schlossplatz
Since the game starts in a beer garden, nobody will mind if you begin with a drink, and later you can sit down on Schlossplatz or at a café near the Marktplatz whenever you like. Close the app and come back that evening or another day; your progress waits for you.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of players. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Play when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Day-trippers, curious families and Stuttgart colleagues
Getting to know Stuttgart in an afternoon
In around 3 hours the game links the city's art museum, two palaces, its main church and its oldest squares, a neat introduction whether you are in Stuttgart for business or a short break. Each riddle gives you a reason to stop where commuters hurry across.
Children with a taste for fairy tales
Young players like hunting for the six bronze scenes from the Grimm tale on the Hans im Glück fountain, spotting the eagles on the base of the Kaiser's statue and gaping at the loud colours of the Staatsgalerie. One adult per team is a must, and the park at the start offers space to run about.
Stuttgart departments and visiting delegations
Up to 5 players form a team, each with the game on their own phone, so a department or a visiting group can split up in the Schlossgarten and set off a few minutes apart. Squares, streets and the park are all public, which leaves the game tickets as the only booking.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Teams of up to 5 work best; bigger groups split into several teams, one ticket per player.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
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