The Bärenschlössle is located in a forest that belongs to Stuttgart-West. The lakes Pfaffensee and Neuer See are close by, the castle itself is overlooking Bärensee. This area is loved by joggers so don’t be astonished to meet lot’s of people even if you come here early in the morning. If you come by car, you can park at the designated parking area Schattengrund. From there it is only a ten minute stroll to the castle.

The changeful history of Bärenschlössle Stuttgart

Bärenschlössle Stuttgart was built in 1768 by duke Karl Eugen of Württemberg, following the model of Italian summer palaces. There were even gondolas in the lake underneath the castle at that time! However, after Karl Eugen died, the castle was subject do decay until it got broken down in 1817. However, that was obviously not the end of the story. King William I  loved installed a huge hunting pavilion at the same spot. The park was turned into a game reserve.

In its changeful history the castle was brough down two more times: in 1943 by a bomb and in 1994 by a fire. So the Bärenschlössle you can visit today is the fourth version.

Don’t miss the restaurant at Bärenschlössle Stuttgart!

There is a very nice restaurant in the ground floor and you can rent the first floor for private events like weddings or birthday parties for example. In summer, the lawn around the castle is crowded with families and other visitors. If you have the chance, consider visiting Bärenschlössle Stuttgart during the week, when it is less full – and try one of their cakes! 🙂

More information:

Bärenschlössle (only in German)

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Calw is a 45 minutes drive away from Stuttgart and Wimberg is located just behind it.

We drove to the “Wanderparkplatz” (parking for hikers) and started our walk in the forest. We followed the track a few minutes and came to the main track, marked with the red and white diamond.

It brought us to a smaller track that led to game reserve. We were lucky enough to spot some of the inhabitants:

Cute, hum?

We walked on and turned into Sommenhardter Weg after 10 minutes. From now on, we followed the yellow blue diamond.

This track was smaller and led us downhill.

We crossed two other tracks…

…and entered Rötelbachtal (Rötelbach Valley). The closer we come to the little river, the mossier the surrounding got. We felt like in a Lord of the Rings movie

When we reached Rötelbach we were stunned by it’s magical beauty.

Seriously, would you have expected such beautiful, unspoiled nature less than one hour away from Stuttgart? We didn’t want to leave the valley at all but hiked on eventually because we knew more attractions were waiting for us along the way.

We left the valley and had to follow a road uphill. We left the forest and reached along a meadow and with it, the next highlight of our tour. The meadows around Zavelstein are famous for its crocus flowers in spring since 1825. Some decades ago, special trains ran from Stuttgart to Zavelstein to bring tourists to this place because everybody wanted to see the blue meadows. Well, that was some years ago. I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed. There were crocus flowers, of course. But the meadow was far away from being blue.

But I don’t want to complain. It was still a nice sight.

Now, we were at Zavelstein, a lovely little town with the beautiful remains of a Zavelstein Castle.

Very cute place!

After we had visited Zavelstein Castle, we walked back to the meadows with the crocus flowers. Just before we reached them, we turned left to the athletic grounds.  At a barn we turned left again and walked along the forest towards Speßhardt. Then, we saw a bench and decided to have a little picnic.

Refreshed, we walked on, turned left at a café in front of Speßhardt, then turned right again and crossed the Rötelbach. Then, we had to follow the blue diamond towards Calw. After the last houses we took the track on the right, leading straight on over a meadow and into the forest. We crossed a street and saw the red and black diamond again. A few minutes later, we recognised the track we walked on at the beginning of our hike and finally arrived at our car. What a lovely hike! It took us around 3 hours and we were stunned by all the beauty we found along the way!

More information about:

Crocus at Zavelstein (only in German)

Zavelstein

Hiking book on amazon: Burgenziele im Ländle: Wandern, Entdecken, Erleben (affiliate link)

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