Schloss Solitude stands on a wooded ridge on the western edge of Stuttgart, above the suburbs. Duke Carl Eugen of Württemberg had it built in the late 1760s as a summer retreat and hunting lodge — small, ornate, and expensive enough to have caused some grumbling at the time.
The building
The central pavilion is rococo: oval, raised on an arcaded base, with lower wings running off to either side. You can go inside on a guided tour — the white-and-gold hall and the duke’s apartments are the highlights. Part of the complex is now an international residency for artists and writers.
The avenue and the walks
A ruler-straight historic road, the Solitude-Allee, runs from the palace roughly thirteen kilometres to the palace at Ludwigsburg — an eighteenth-century line of sight across the whole landscape. Today the woods around Solitude are laced with walking and cycling paths, and the terrace in front of the palace has a long view south and west.
Good to know
- Interior by guided tour only, and usually closed in winter; the grounds and terrace are open and free all year
- Bus from Stuttgart-West, or a longer walk up through the forest
- There is a restaurant next to the palace
- Easy to combine with a forest walk towards Bergheim or on to the Bärensee