IYP Writer Jeroen van Marle in The Guardian

Paris-Stuttgart - now 6hrs; from June 3hrs 50.

It hits you as soon as you emerge from the cavernous Hauptbahnhof. There on the roof, a massive three-pointed Mercedes badge revolves against the skyline: welcome to Germany's Motor City, birthplace of the car industry, home of Daimler, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche. The next thing you'll notice, however, is not blocks of brutalist factories, but a city defined by its museums (admittedly, two are for Porsche and Mercedes), pristine parklands, leafy hillsides and neighbouring vineyards. And also the rewards for all this industry: smart shops, weinstubes and restaurants.

Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg (think Black Forest, wooded hills) and is Germany's third largest metropolitan area, but feels more village-like than Berlin and Munich, with districts spread over several cosy valleys.

The historical centre, partly reconstructed after the war, is a few hundred metres south of the station along Königstrasse, the pedestrianised main shopping street. The tangle of streets and squares around here are nice enough to wander through, but just across busy Holzstrasse lies the Bohnenviertel (Bean Quarter), which is Stuttgart's prettiest and oldest surviving district, built outside the city walls in the 14th century for the town's craftsmen, wine growers and Jewish community and named after the staple food grown in the gardens at the time.

Stuttgart is at the centre of a wine region and it's possible to do vineyard walks in the hills immediately around the city centre. If you're feeling lazy, though, sample some of the local rieslings in the Ratskeller, below the city hall at Marktplatz 1, where you can also try authentic regional Schwabian food including the ravioli-like maultaschen. The Alte Kanzlei at Schillerplatz 5a serves everything from late breakfasts to salads and steaks.

Once you've refuelled, hit the bars on Theodor-Heuss-Strasse and the surrounding streets such as Mezzanin (Bolzstrasse 8b) and Scholz (Marktplatz 12). The younger, wilder crowd is to be found in Bar Waranga (Kleiner Schlossplatz) with its fantastic interior design. Even hipper is the hotel Der Zauberlehrling (Rosenstrasse 38, zauberlehrling.de, from €145), which translates as The Magician's Apprentice. Whatever gets your motor running.

Jeroen van Marle
Editor of Stuttgart In Your Pocket