Stuttgart Airport Arrivals: level 2, two halls and three ways into the city

Stuttgart Airport has four terminals plus a small Terminal 1-West, and that causes more confusion on arrival than on departure. The good news first: you almost always arrive on level 2, and the two arrivals halls that matter are in Terminal 1 and Terminal 3, side by side and linked on the same level. That is where you find baggage reclaim, the exits, the meeting points, the taxis and the way down to the S-Bahn.

This piece follows you from the gate into the city. The outbound trip, with check-in desks, which terminal to head for and the bookable security slot, is covered in Stuttgart Airport departures.

Terminal 1 or Terminal 3: where you come out

The airport’s terminal plan draws the arrivals level clearly. Terminal 3 and Terminal 1 each have a baggage reclaim, an exit from the secure area, a marked meeting point and access to the S-Bahn. Terminal 2 has no gates of its own: passengers who check in there fly out through Terminal 1 or 3 and arrive back through them as well. Terminal 4 sits off to one side next to the bus station and is shown on the plan with its own baggage reclaim.

Which hall your flight uses depends on the airline and its handling. The airport’s airline directory, which lists each carrier’s check-in terminal, is a good pointer (as of September 2026):

Terminal 3	Terminal 1	Terminal 2
Lufthansa, Lufthansa City Airlines, Swiss, Austrian	Turkish Airlines, AJet, SunExpress	KLM
Eurowings, Condor	TUI fly, LOT, Air Serbia	Vueling
SAS, Aegean, Pegasus	Smartwings, Enter Air	Wizz Air

The list is not complete. On the day, the screens decide: the airport says the right belt is shown by your flight number on the displays in the arrivals area.

Not much separates the two halls. If you end up in the wrong one because the person meeting you is waiting at the other end, just walk across on level 2.

Passport control and customs: Easypass, EES and the red channel

Arriving from a Schengen country, you walk straight through without a passport check, though the airport still recommends keeping your ID or passport handy. From outside Schengen, you go to the passport desks, split between EU citizens and everyone else, and then on to baggage reclaim and customs.

The airport mentions two things explicitly: the automated Easypass gates are in use at Stuttgart, and the switch to the new European Entry/Exit System, EES, is under way. For details it refers you to the Federal Police. If you are coming in from London or Istanbul, build in a little slack for this step.

At customs you choose between two channels. Green is for nothing to declare or duty-free goods only. Red is for goods that must be declared or larger sums of cash. The wording is worth reading closely here. The airport’s website talks about cash above €10,000, whereas German customs itself says €10,000 or more must be declared in writing when entering from a non-EU country. Customs is the authority, so exactly €10,000 already counts. Goods for resale or business use always have to be declared, whatever their value.

At the belt: screens, trolleys and a missing case

Trolleys wait right by the reclaim belts. They are free but take a coin deposit: the airport lists €1, 50 cents, 25 US cents or one Swiss franc. If you are arriving with a lot of luggage, you can also book a porter service for a fee.

If your case does not turn up or arrives damaged, it is the airline’s responsibility, not the airport’s. Report it on the spot, before you leave the secure area. For the airlines handled by the ground-handling company S.Ground, the airport puts the lost-and-found desk in Terminal 3, arrivals. Lufthansa passengers can track their bag online once the claim is registered. What happens after that, from the reference number to compensation, is covered in delayed and lost baggage.

Anything you left behind in the terminal, at the gate or on an apron bus is a different matter. That goes to the airport police, and the lost property office is just west of Terminal 1.

Where people collecting you should wait

Because there are two arrivals halls, “meet you at the exit” is only half an arrangement in Stuttgart. Make it a whole one: Terminal 1 or Terminal 3, at the meeting point. Both halls have a meeting point marked on the terminal plan right by the exit. Whoever is collecting you should check which terminal your airline uses and keep an eye on the arrivals board.

If you need more than a wave, say for greeting a business delegation, the Meeting Point desks in the arrivals areas can be reserved through the airport’s call centre.

Picking up by car: eight free minutes, or an hour on P0

The arrivals level has a Kiss & Ride zone in front of the terminal. You take a ticket at the barrier and the first eight minutes are free. After that it gets expensive: €5 up to 30 minutes, €10 up to an hour, then €5 for every further 30 minutes. Come back in within 15 minutes and you pay from the first minute (as of 2026). You pay in advance at the pay machine by debit or credit card.

Eight minutes is enough if your passenger is already on the kerb with their bags. For anything else, car park P0 is the better bet: the airport lets you park there free for up to an hour. More short-stay spaces are on P5 and on P3, P4, P6 and P14. For longer stays, this overview of Stuttgart Airport car parks and prices sets out the tariffs. The airport is outside Stuttgart’s low-emission zone, and you reach it via the A8, exit 53, or the B27.

S-Bahn S2 and S3: the station under the terminals

The Flughafen/Messe S-Bahn station sits beneath the terminals. According to the terminal plan, you reach it from Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 via arrivals level 2, where the ticket machines are too. The station’s concourse connects to Terminal 1 and the trade fair at its western end and to Terminal 3 at its eastern end.

Lines S2 and S3 together give you a train to Hauptbahnhof every 15 minutes, and the airport puts the journey at around 25 to 30 minutes. Buy tickets from the machines in the terminals or in the transport operators’ apps. The station is in VVS fare zone 2, so a trip into the city centre needs a two-zone ticket. A new VVS tariff took effect on 1 September 2026, and a two-zone single bought digitally now costs €4.45 (as of September 2026).

A look ahead, because this station is going to change: as part of Stuttgart 21, regional and long-distance trains are due to stop here too, and the platform is being lengthened for them. You can already see how an airport with its own mainline station works day to day in Frankfurt, described in this explainer on Frankfurt Airport’s ICE station.

The U6: a light-rail line to the door

Since 11 December 2021, light-rail line U6 has run to a terminus at Flughafen/Messe. The extension beyond Fasanenhof added three new stops: Stadionstraße, Messe West and the airport terminus itself. At core times the U6 runs every 10 minutes, according to the airport, and the stop is about a five-minute walk from the terminals.

To Hauptbahnhof it is a little slower than the S-Bahn, at just over half an hour. Its real value is elsewhere: it is a second rail link on its own route via Fasanenhof, independent of the S-Bahn. If the S-Bahn is disrupted, you still have a train into town.

Buses, the night bus and coaches at the SAB

All buses leave from the Stuttgart Airport Busterminal (SAB) between Flughafenstraße and Terminal 4, underneath car park P14. The terminal plan puts it about two minutes’ walk from the Terminal 3 exit and three from Terminal 1. Stands 1 to 3 are for local and regional buses, stands 4 to 18 for national and international coaches.

For late arrivals, the one to know is the N8 night bus, which links the airport with the city centre early in the morning and late in the evening. Coach tickets can be bought online or at the SAB itself.

Taxi: 16 kilometres to the centre

Taxis wait right outside Terminal 1 on the arrivals level. Taxi Auto Zentrale Stuttgart runs a pop-up office in Terminal 1 arrivals, where rides are coordinated and child seats are available on request.

The city centre is about 16 kilometres and just over 20 minutes away, with an indicative fare of €40 to €49; other destinations in the region are in this list of routes and indicative taxi fares from Stuttgart Airport. How taxi, ride-hailing and a pre-booked transfer compare on price when you land in Stuttgart is broken down in this Stuttgart airport transfer cost comparison.

From touchdown to Hauptbahnhof: a timeline

A Schengen flight with a checked bag, heading for Hauptbahnhof:

• Off the aircraft and to reclaim: Stuttgart has few jet bridges and many bus gates, so on a remote stand an apron bus takes you to the terminal; the walk inside is short
• Waiting at the belt: depends on the flight
• To the S-Bahn: straight down from the Terminal 1 or 3 exit
• S2 or S3 to Hauptbahnhof: 25 to 30 minutes, with a train every 15 minutes

Realistically, without passport control you are at Hauptbahnhof a little under an hour after landing, and noticeably sooner with hand luggage only. Arriving from outside Schengen, add passport control on top.

Stuttgart is a pleasant airport to arrive at: short walks, one level, and three rail and road options into the city. The only real stumbling block is the second hall. Settle whether your flight runs through Terminal 1 or Terminal 3, tell the person collecting you, and the problem is solved before it arises. If you are flying here from Berlin, the departure side there is covered in BER Airport departures. Everything here reflects the position in September 2026 according to Flughafen Stuttgart GmbH; terminal allocations, charges and timetables change, so check the airport’s website shortly before you travel.