Butzbach sits at the northern edge of the Wetterau, a broad, fertile plain north of Frankfurt, where the Taunus ends and the land opens out into fields of wheat, sugar beet and rapeseed. The Romans prized this land, and their frontier made a long detour around it, swinging east and then south to include the Wetterau within the empire. Near Butzbach, on the Schrenzer hill, they built a small fort, the Kastell Schrenzer, to guard the frontier where it left the Taunus and began its loop around the plain. The fort and the frontier nearby are part of the frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site, and the remains, low earthworks in the woods, can be visited on foot.
Butzbach itself is a pleasant small town, with one of the most beautiful market squares in Hesse, surrounded by half-timbered houses and the old town hall. The Landgrafenschloss, a former residence of the landgraves of Hesse-Darmstadt, stands at the edge of the old town. Above the town, the Hausberg rises to almost five hundred metres, crowned by the remains of a Celtic hillfort, a reminder that people lived here long before the Romans.
Nearby, Bad Nauheim is a spa town with beautiful Art Nouveau bath buildings, where Elvis Presley lived while he was stationed with the US Army at Friedberg in the late 1950s. Münzenberg castle, a twelfth-century Hohenstaufen fortress with two tall towers, stands on a hill in the plain, nicknamed the inkwell of the Wetterau because of its shape.
The riding here is a mix of open plain and wooded hills. The Wetterau roads are straight and fast, with long views across the fields, while the roads into the Taunus to the west climb through forests with good curves. The roads around the Hausberg and towards Usingen are popular with riders. Watch for agricultural traffic, cyclists and speed cameras, which are common in Hesse. Butzbach, with about twenty-five thousand people, has all the services you need. Rockenberg and Ober-Mörlen are smaller villages nearby. Try the Wetterau's apple wine, served in a ribbed glass, and green sauce, made from seven herbs, a regional specialty.