Marienfels is a small village in the hills of the western Taunus, between the Rhine and the Lahn, and it sits on the site of a Roman fort and its civilian settlement, part of the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes World Heritage listing. The frontier wall ran through these hills, and the fort housed a garrison that guarded the frontier and the roads that crossed it. Little remains above ground, but excavations have revealed the outline of the fort and the settlement, with houses, baths and workshops.
The surrounding landscape is the Blue Land, as the Rhein-Lahn district calls itself, a region of rolling hills, forests and small villages, cut by deep valleys that lead down to the Rhine and the Lahn. The Middle Rhine gorge, with the Loreley rock, castles and vineyards, is a few kilometres to the west, and the Lahn valley, with Bad Ems, Nassau and its castle, lies to the north. Nastätten, the nearest town, is a small market centre in the hills.
For riders, this area is a playground. The B260, known as the Bäderstraße, the spa road, runs from Bad Ems through Nastätten towards Schlangenbad and Wiesbaden, with endless curves through forests and over hills, and it is popular with motorcyclists, so expect speed limits and police checks. The Wispertal, to the south, is another famous motorcycle road, winding through a narrow forested valley. The roads down to the Rhine, with hairpins and views over the river, are spectacular.
Nastätten, six kilometres away, and Nassau on the Lahn have fuel and shops, and the Rhine towns below, St. Goar and St. Goarshausen among them, have plenty of restaurants and wine bars. In autumn, look for Federweißer, the cloudy, half-fermented new wine, served with onion tart, and in summer for Riesling from the steep slate slopes of the gorge. The Loreley rock, where the legendary siren lured boatmen to their deaths, has a visitor centre and a terrace with a superb view down the river, reached by a winding road that is a pleasure in itself.