Hello Brian,
you wanted to do the Wineconf web page ;) so here is some info you could use:
Location ******** Stuttgart, Germany - http://www.stuttgart.de/ - The town of Stuttgart with tourist information in 5 different languages. You can find there town maps and the location of tourist information centres.
University of Stuttgart - http://www.uni-stuttgart.de/ were the Wine conference will take place. Be aware that the University of Stuttgart is split into two big parts. One is located downtown, is smaller and holds the non-techies. We will be in the upper part (natural sciences, engineers) which is 10 minutes away by S-Bahn from Stuttgart downtown. The S-Bahn station is called "University" and during the day you have a train going at least every 10 minutes between there and Stuttgart downtown
Our actual hosts: Faculty 5 http://www.f-iei.uni-stuttgart.de/ and more specific the Institute of Communication Networks and Computer Engineering http://www.ikr.uni-stuttgart.de/ . Don't know if Mister Gemkow wants this advertised on the Wineconf web page. At least you can get from the last page the probable address of the Wineconf.
Traveling ********* By Plane -------- * Airport Stuttgart - http://www.stuttgart-airport.com/ located 27 minutes away from downtown by S-Bahn or around 20 EUR for the taxi. The airport is even nearer to the University and the S-Bahn going downtown passes by the University and needs only 17 minutes to get you there. Not being one of the top biggest airports in Germany offers some advantages: not being that bound to the old big airlines it was picked by the cheap airlines.
* Cheap Flights: Cheap airlines (for US guys: this are like your SouthWest Airlines) with direct flights to Stuttgart: - Hapag-Lloyd Express http://www.hlx.com - Air Berlin http://www.airberlin.de/ - Germanwings http://www.germanwings.com/ If you are (un)lucky to live in a spot were germans like to spend their vacation then you can check out this two charter airlines because you can get some cheap flights with them too: - Condor http://www.condor.de/ - Hapag-Lloyd http://www.hapagfly.com/
* Normal Flights: Any major european airline should have some flights into Stuttgart. Like always with the traditional airlines if you have a stop over in the major hub of that airline the tickets get way cheaper.
* US and non european flights: - Delta has a direct flight into Stuttgart from Atlanta. - All other flights will go over Frankfurt and maybe some few over Munich
* Flights over Frankfurt: If you fly over Frankfurt you may want to check your stop over time at the airport in Frankfurt. That's because the airport has a train station where national and international trains stop. If you are lucky you can be in a little bit more than 1 1/2 hours after grabbing your luggage in Stuttgart downtown. You have connections between Franfurt airport and Stuttgart main train station at least every hour (during the day/evening) and the duration of the trip is around 1 hour 15 minutes. At least Lufthansa has a deal with the Deutsche Bahn (german railways) where selected trains have Lufthansa flight numbers and you check in and check out at the Stuttgart main station (far far far less crowded than the Frankfurt airport). If you can not get one of those "flight by rail" try to get with your flight a "feeder train ticket". That's a train ticket valid only with your plane ticket from the airport to your final destination in Germany. It's a fixed fee independent of the distance by train and it's way cheaper than normal train tickets. But if you don't feel comfortable in switching from plane to train nobody stops you to fly the stone throw distance from Frankfurt to Stuttgart.
* Flights over Munich: What was said for flights over Frankfurt is NOT valid for Munich. Munich might look on the map as neer to Stuttgart as Frankfurt but this is valid only to downtown to downtown connection by train (2 hours). But from the Munich main train station you will need almost 1 hour to get out to the Munich airport by S-Bahn. Put in the time you loose between switching trains and you can easily need 4 hours from Munich airport to Stuttgart downtown. If you plan to take anyway a rental car you should be able to get with that in 2.5 hours to Stuttgart (no traffic, good navigation skills or navigation system).
By train: --------- Train is a viable alternative to get to Stuttgart. But look for special discounts for the train tickets because around here flighing is normaly cheaper than going by train. If you are still young (afair below 27 or 25) you can get cheap InterRail tickets. Deutsche Bahn (german railways) http://www.bahn.de
By bus: ------- There are different companies that have regular bus connections to Stuttgart (As i don't like to travel by bus i don't know one. You may want to ask your local travel agency). For different parts of Europe this could be the cheapest way to get to Stuttgart (especialy true for Eastern Europe).
By car: ------- 2 Autobahns pass by Stuttgart: A8 and A81. But i figure if you come by car you will use your navigation system or your favorite map and guide service. Address to type in to get to the University: Universitaet Stuttgart Pfaffenwaldring 47 70569 Stuttgart
Traveling in Stuttgart: ----------------------- VVS, the Stuttgart public transportation system http://www.vvs.de . You can get there schedules, price informations (group tickets), etc. The S-Bahn is the main device you will use. It's a suburbs train and in most of Stuttgart it's underground. The main S-Bahn station which you will probably use: - Flughafen - Stuttgart Airport - Universität - University of Stuttgart (upper part where the conference will take place) - Hauptbahnhof - Main train station - Stadtmitte - Stuttgart "middle of the city" (downtown). Actualy the Stuttgart downtown is in between the S-Bahn stations Hauptbahnhof and Stadtmitte. S-Bahn's to take if you want to travel between those stations: - To the airport: S2 and sometimes S3 - downtown to the University: S1, S2 and S3 - Airport to downtown or University: the first S-Bahn that comes (will be S2 and sometimes S3 ;).
Lodging ******* Mister Gemkow has a better overview of the hotels neer the University. Here is only information for youth hostels.
Youth Hostels: -------------- - The Stuttgart Youth Hostel http://www.jugendherberge-stuttgart.de/ - More youth hostel style lodging (sorry, it seems to be available only in German) http://www.stuttgart-tourist.de/deutsch/hotels/jugendherbergen.html
bye michael