Le Méridien Stuttgart

For a city of its size, Stuttgart has perhaps more need than most for top-notch business accommodations. This is the home of Porsche and Daimler after all, among other auto companies, as well as any number of tech companies and research institutes — and that kind of brain power tends to travel in style.

Le Meridien, in the tradition of the best big hotels, offers the best of all possible words. It’s a city center hotel, yet feels idyllic, situated alongside the Schlossgarten park. And it’s a modern business hotel, as wired as they come, with meeting space to spare; and at the same time it’s an elegant luxury hotel, with a character all its own.

The Stuttgart competition tends toward the traditional, and by comparison, Le Meridien is quite a bit more up-to-date. Behind that distinctive curving brick facade, three hundred guest rooms look out through rounded bay windows. Inside they’re high-tech and comfortable, clean-lined and contemporary, yet well short of off-putting high-design modernism. And there’s plenty more to do than just work and sleep: guests with extra time will enjoy Le Cassoulet, the upscale French restaurant, as well as the Le Spa fitness and wellness complex.