A town inside the walls
Preserved timber houses and narrow streets, walked in half an hour.
Rudolf Stricker — Public domain · Bony — CC BY-SA 4.0 · E-W — CC BY 4.0 · E-W — CC BY 4.0
The ruins of a twelfth-century castle in the town of Dreieichenhain south of Frankfurt, with a small town around it still inside its walls. What survives is a square stone tower, sections of wall and a moat still holding water. It was built to guard an imperial hunting ground reserved for the emperors, then lost its importance and was abandoned. What makes the visit pleasant is the setting rather than the ruins: the old town inside the walls is preserved with its timber-framed houses and narrow streets, among the best surviving examples of the type near Frankfurt. It is walked in full in half an hour. This is a place tourists do not come to — you find residents going about their day rather than coach parties, and that is part of its value. The ruins and town are open and free. Access from Frankfurt is by light rail then bus, or by car in about half an hour. A quiet half-day for anyone who has been in Frankfurt long enough to move past the essentials.
Preserved timber houses and narrow streets, walked in half an hour.
Water remains in the moat around what survives of the walls.
A place its residents live in, and that is part of its value.
Dreieichenhain, south of Frankfurt
Not on a short first visit — Frankfurt itself, the Rhine valley and Heidelberg come first. But if you are staying in the city for work or several days and want a quiet half-day away from the centre, it is a pleasant, cheap and close option. The appeal is the quiet rather than the ruins.
A building type dominant in Germany and central Europe for centuries: a frame of exposed wooden beams with the gaps filled by clay or brick and whitewashed, so the dark beams show as a lattice on the facade. It was economical and quick and used locally available timber. Most of it was destroyed in the bombing of the Second World War, which is why the towns that survived — like this one — became valuable.
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