"Half-way through rebuilding project"

With my exams finished I travelled along with 3 friends to Stuttgart for a day. I had already researched the Bundesliga fixtures and noticed that 17th Vfb Stuttgart were playing 2nd FSV Mainz 05.

We arrived at the ground by S-bahn (2.50€ from the main train station to the Neckarpark stop) and after a huge trek around the enormous stadium we arrived at the small ticket outlet, the only one open on the day.

The cheapest adult ticket was 19€! This represents tremendous value in my opinion.

I would recommend a visit to the impressive Mercedes-Benz museum, a 2 minute walk from the stadium. This was very popular with many away fans, who saw it as a great pre-match activity. There is a football connection in the museum in the form of the official West German team bus for the 1974 World Cup, as well as the "Popemobile" and many fine pieces of engineering.

The Mercedes-Benz Arena is an enormous structure that was being renovated when we were there, so only held 40,000 people. Though by the 2011/12 season it should hold 60,000.

As with all Bundesliga stadia there was a great choice of food and drink stalls at reasonable prices.

The atmosphere was friendly but loud and the game itself was entertaining.

After the match we went to the centre of the city. There's not much to see there, but it was pleasant.

Location

Two S-bahn stops from the enormous central station is the Neckarpark stop. The stadium is a short walk from the stop.

The stadium is also just off the Autobahn which passes the city.

The surrounding area isn't awash with bars and restaurants, but as I've mentioned the nearby Mercedes-Benz museum is well worth a visit before the match.

View

The new renovations to the stadium have rid the stadium of its old running track, which I imagine would have affected the view for many behind the goals.

The view of the surface is superb from more or less all corners of the ground.

The most startling thing about the stadium's the huge leg-room. I know Germans tend to be very tall, but the leg-room at the Mercedes-Benz Arena was ridiculously spacious (speaking as a very small human being).

A warning, as with all Bundesliga stadia, smoking is permitted.

Facilities

Exceptional.

Toilets are large and clean. The concourse is massive.

Food & Drink

Can't fault it for choice.

There are numerous stands for all foods. There are individual stands for hot-dogs, beer, doughnuts, currywurst and pizza. The inconvenience for those of us that'll only ever visit this stadium once is that to avoid queues, fans must hold a fancard. These fancards are meant to speed-up the purchase of food and drink by eliminating change.

However the minimum top-up for cards is 15€. I was hungry, though not hungry enough to spend 15€.

Police & Stewards

Pretty much perfect.

Segregation was relaxed and there was very little trouble. We saw some small trouble between the stadium and the S-bahn station, but this was smothered by a police troop.

Stewards were helpful

Atmosphere

A very friendly atmosphere outside the ground with away fans and home fans mixing freely.

The atmosphere in the ground was brilliant. One section of the home end is extremely vocal and energetic. The safe standing behind one of the goals and in the away end leads to a great atmosphere.

Extremely friendly fans that are passionate about their club.

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