3 days to kill from STR
 

Gonna be in STR next week, have 3 days to kill.... first time to EU, any good ideas this time of the year? Don't have a car so I'll be either train or air...eyeing Italy for the food and some shopping...

STR is Stuttgart. Anyhow, you may look forward to continuing your journey and eating well in Italy, but from Stuttgart you could take a nice daytrip to Baiersbronn in the Black Forest (just outside Freudenstadt, which has direct trains from Stuttgart Hbf. - Change in Freudenstadt and ride one stop onward to Baiersbronn) and having an outstanding meal at one of the Michelin-starred restaurants there. And from Stuttgart there are good train connections to Italy via Zurich.

Why would anybody in their right mind go to Italy from Stuttgart, when there's so much to see in and around Stuttgart?

Baiersbronn was already named, Stuttgart has wonderful museums, incl. the Mercedes museum or the Porsche museum in case you're a car geek. The Württemberg wine region is near and around Stuttgart, so a winery tour is also an option. Just look at https://wikitravel.org/en/Stuttgart to find out more. It shouldn't be that hard to kill three days in and around STR.

Forget Italy. I second a day or two in Baiersbronn. Maybe rent a car to drive to the Schwardwaldhochstrasse?

Some more ideas:
- a trip to Heidelberg - take the regional train along the Neckar river via Heilbronn for nice sights of the Neckar valley and the castles.
- a visit to Tübingen for the nice old town there
- rent a car for a day and drive to Dinkelsbühl and Nördlingen for impressive medieval old towns or make it a two day trip and include Rothenburg ob der Tauber
- a visit to Nürnberg
and I second the idea of going south to the Black Forest area.

What kind of shopping? If clothing, then definitely visit the Boss factory store in Metzingen, less than 30mins south of Stuttgart. Metzingen has many many other high-end outlet stores too.

How about Badan-Baden?