Ludwigsburg is a compact baroque city 15 kilometres north of Stuttgart, built from scratch in 1704 on the whim of Duke Eberhard Ludwig of Württemberg who wanted a grand residence closer to his hunting grounds. The result is one of Germany's best-preserved baroque ensembles: a grid of elegant streets radiating from the enormous Residenzschloss, a palace with 452 rooms that is larger than Versailles in footprint if not in fame.
The young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart visited in July 1763 with his father Leopold, who wrote that Ludwigsburg was "a very special town." It still has that quality — manageable, architecturally coherent, and not overwhelmed by tourism in the way Heidelberg or Rothenburg are. Most visitors come as a day trip from Stuttgart, which is fine, but an overnight stay lets you see the palace and the Blühendes Barock garden at a calmer pace.
The palace gardens are the main draw alongside the palace itself. In summer the Baroque-in-Bloom festival fills the grounds with elaborate floral displays. The town is also home to a still-active porcelain factory founded in 1758 — Ludwigsburger Porzellan — and the annual Film Festival at the palace is one of southern Germany's better summer cultural events.