Lichtenberg Castle near Großbottwar Reichenberg Castle Oppenweiler Old town of Esslingen Old town of Besigheim over Neckar and Enz Old town Schorndorf State Theater Stuttgart Wilhelma (Germanies only and Europes largest zoological-botanical garden) Carl-Zeiss-Planetarium Cannstatter Spas Berg and Leuze (largest Mineralwater deposit in western Europe) Stuttgarter Fernsehturm (first TV Tower of its kind worldwide) SI-Centrum Hundertwasserhaus Plochingen Wohnen unterm Regenturm. Residential and Business complex in Plochingen designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser. Festivals Cannstatter Volksfest (by many considered the second largest beer festival after the Oktoberfest) Trickfilmfestival Stuttgart (one of the worldwide largest and most important festivals for animation) Stuttgart Spring Festival Stuttgarter Weindorf Schäferlauf in Markgröningen (oldest Volksfest in Württemberg) Christmas Market in Stuttgart and Medieval Christmas Market in Esslingen am Neckar Vaihinger Maientagmbergs) Göppinger Maientag (for more than 350 years) Waiblinger Altstadtfest Fellbacher Herbst Trivia Over 3,600 patents are filed each year in the Stuttgart Region. Besides the car, the ring binder, office copy machine, Nylon stockings, the spark plug, the electric hand drill (Fa. C. & E. Fein), brassiere, Unimog, VW Beetle, time clock and portable Radio where invented here. Theodor Beltle, merchant a creative mind, developed sherbet powder in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt in 1925. External links Competence Centers Stuttgart Region Portal Region Stuttgart Push! Stuttgart Region References Region Planning regions in Baden-Württemberg Metropolitan areas of Germany