Höhenpark Killesberg

Why go

The park offers a change of scale from central Stuttgart’s squares and museums. You can follow the planting and lake terraces, or make the tower’s light engineering the focus of your walk. The miniature railway adds another option, but the landscape has enough identity to visit without taking a ride.

What to look for

• Lake terraces and flowerbeds structure the landscaped grounds.
• Animal enclosures add another focus within the park.
• Jörg Schlaich’s cable-stayed tower rises above the park.

The full story

Killesberg’s landscape began with a dramatic change of use. Part of the site had been a quarry before it was transformed for the 1939 horticultural show. Later garden exhibitions continued to shape the grounds. The park’s planted spaces therefore belong to a longer history of turning a worked landscape into a place for public recreation. The tower adds a different kind of design interest. Completed in 2000, it was designed by engineer Jörg Schlaich using cable-stayed bridge technology. Its structure is worth looking at from below as well as considering for the view. A narrow-gauge railway has also been associated with the park since its opening. Together, the railway, engineered tower and exhibition landscape give Killesberg several distinct strands. Choosing one as the focus helps keep a park outing from becoming a list of separate attractions.

Useful to know

• Decide whether your visit is mainly a park walk, a tower ascent or a railway outing.
• Check tower and railway conditions separately from access to the grounds.

Your next visit

Estimated · Declared scenario and planning estimates; no live opening, weather, queue or booking service.