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Autostadt Impressions (Wolfsburg)

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

On a Sunday in mid-August 2024, I visited the Autostadt (“Car City” or “Motor City”). Located in Wolfsburg in Germany, this is the exhibition space next to the home manufacturing grounds of Volkswagen. In my first posting, I introduce you to the grounds with some Pictured Stories impressions. I will review some attractions later in ordinary reviews.

 

Autostadt – Location & Admission

Autostadt is very centrally located. It is almost right across the Mittellandkanal (“Mittelland Canal”) from Wolfsburg Main Station. The station also features local and regional bus connections. There is a bridge with elevators and escalators over the waterway. Thus, this place is also close to other Wolfsburg attractions like the outlet mall or the phaeno science museum. At the Southeast of the area, there are also parking lots.

The Autostadt park including all pavilions and exhibitions are opening daily from 10:00 to 18:00. Other attractions have different opening time. For example, if you ordered a new car, this is possible from 8:30 to 16:00 daily. Adult admission is 18 EUR. At the time of publishing, Autostadt is driving a Christmas featured event with increased admission prices. Thus, adults currently pay 20 EUR. There is also an evening ticket for 5 EUR, which allows access from 16:00. In the evening hours, the park is public, but the attractions are closed.

 

Autostadt – Views of the Park

The Autostadt park including all attractions is located East of the production sites. It is actually quite large and comes with an artificial lake, which also turns it to a popular spot for the locals. If you come from the train station or city center, you typically get to the park through a major reception building, which also features restaurants, some smaller exhibitions and an information center. You also check-in there if you want to grab a new Volkswagen car more or less right from the factory. In order to enter the park, you have to scan the barcode of your ticket.

As you see in the pictures, it is indeed a nice place to hang out. There are also some outdoor attractions like the Dufttunnel (“Odor Tunnel”) where you cross a tunnel of flowers. All pavilions of the different Volkswagen brands (see below) are located in here as well. Despite we visited the place in October 2024, there were still quite a lot of blooming flowers in there.

 

Autostadt – Pavillons

The key reason people visit the Autostadt (if they haven’t bough a new car….) are likely the car exhibitions. The most prominent is likely the Autoturm (“Car Tower”), which is an elevator-alike experience taking you through Volkswagen history. Its capacity is very limited and it requires a separate ticket. Thus, you should book it well in advance. The mother brand Volkswagen drives several pavillions. One is a general car exhibition.. What we liked there is that they really show a full range of their passenger vehicles. This is also the place where Volkswagen is handing you over a new car. Our favorite one, though, was the RV pavillion, where they showed cars transformed to recreational vehicles. The possibiltiies in comparably small cars were fascinating and the staff was lovely.

The next brand we visited was SEAT. Their space is much more limited than the one of their commercial mother. This also implies that they have a very limited selection of cars. Like other brands, they rather concentrate on posh and expansive vehicles – which might be somehow cool, but also out of a realistic economic range of the average visitor. SEAT did have some posh and modern elements, but we overall struggled with them. The SKODA pavilion, though, was much more charming and won our hearts. The staff there was also much more friendly and open-minded than at the Spanish brand.

Audi

The last brand we visited was Audi. You cannot deny that this one is posh. They also showed some prototypes, which is really cool. Don’t go there to have a look at one of their more affordable models, though. The Ingolstadt-based company indeed just went for their poshest and most luxurious options. Yeah, it is cool to sit in a 200k Euro car. But as this place is somehow also doing marketing for Volkswagen and their brands, it might not give you real motivation to save money and go for an Audi – the cars presented are simply out of reach.

 

VW ZeitHaus Museum.

There is also a car museum, the VW ZeitHaus Museum, located in the Autostadt grounds and included in the ticket. Here is my review:

VW ZeitHaus Museum (Autostadt Wolfsburg)

 

Autostadt – Services

There are some really nice cafes and restaurants on the premises. However, the place is designed as a place to hang out for the whole family. Thus, there are also some nice playgrounds and even a very basic and slow karting track for kids. Some of the exhibition spaces also drive a souvenir store. The by far largest one is at the Volkswagen Pavilion. The shop features  wied range of different items.

 

Pictured Stories (Germany)

Here are all my Pictured Stories related to Germany:

 

Technical Museums in 2024

Here are all my postings related to technical museums I published in 2024:

 

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