On a hill above Bad Nauheim, the Johannisberg, the Romans built a signal tower that could communicate with the frontier forts of the Wetterau, the fertile plain that bulges north of Frankfurt and was protected by a long loop of the Limes. The site, with a later medieval chapel and a modern observation tower, gives wide views over the plain and the Taunus hills, and it is part of the Upper German-Raetian Limes World Heritage listing. On a clear day you can see the towers of Frankfurt on the horizon.
Bad Nauheim is a spa town with a remarkable ensemble of Art Nouveau buildings, the Sprudelhof, built in the early twentieth century around the springs, with tiled bathhouses and courtyards. Its salt springs were also used for salt production, and the graduation towers, where brine trickles through bundles of brushwood, still stand in the park. In 1958, a young American soldier named Elvis Presley was stationed at nearby Friedberg and lived in Bad Nauheim, and the town remembers him with a statue and an annual festival.
The riding around Bad Nauheim offers variety. The Wetterau itself is flat and agricultural, with straight roads and villages, but to the west, the Taunus hills rise, with winding roads through forests and up to the Großer Feldberg, the highest point in the range, a popular meeting point for motorcyclists. To the north-east, the Vogelsberg, an extinct volcano, offers some of the best roads in Hesse, with endless curves and little traffic.
Bad Nauheim is a town of thirty thousand people and has fuel, shops, restaurants and hotels. The spa park and the Sprudelhof are pleasant places for a stroll, and the cafés in the town centre serve cakes and coffee in the best spa tradition. Try the local apple wine, Ebbelwoi, with Handkäs mit Musik, a sour cheese marinated with onions, the regional speciality, and if you are an Elvis fan, look for the statue and the house where he lived. The Feldberg, an hour's ride away, is a classic Sunday meeting point for riders.