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PHOTOGRAPHS: WOLFRAM KASTL/DPA/ALAMY, MEZZOTINT/ALAMY. ILLUSTRATION LOUISE SHEERAN
Everyone knows about Munich’s Oktoberfest, the celebration of beer and pork knuckles that sees over seven million people descend upon the city. Less well known outside Germany is Stuttgart’s Cannstatter Volksfest. Starting out as a harvest festival, the Volksfest has been setting up camp near the river for 200 years. People now come to fling themselves about on the funfair rides, peruse the food stands and market stalls, and make merry in the seven beer tents, each representing a different local brewery. Revelry done, sleep off the steins at the stylish Aloft Stuttgart hotel, in the rapidly developing area of Europaviertel. The sound-proofed rooms, black-out blinds, large comfy beds and in-room pizza menu should see you through the worst of a hangover, and there are DJs, table football and pool in the downstairs bar to get you back in the mood once recovered.