Niedernhausen

Niedernhausen is a Taunus forest town that once hosted Hollywood's boulevard. In the 1990s a purpose-built musical theatre rose improbably among its wooded hills: the Rhein-Main-Theater opened with the German premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Sunset Boulevard", drawing coaches from across the country to a village junction — a bold chapter of Germany's musical-theatre boom whose landmark building, variously used since, still crowns the town's silhouette and its conversation.

The permanent assets are calmer: Niedernhausen sits where the Autobahn and the old Ländches railway thread the wooded Taunus saddle between Wiesbaden and Frankfurt — the great Theißtal viaduct striding over its valley — making it a commuter idyll of half-hour reaches and full-forest weekends. The Theißtal itself, with meadows and orchards under the beech slopes, is the local promenade; above rise the trails toward the Hohe Kanzel, the district's highest lookout, and onward into the Rheingau-Taunus nature park's oak-and-crag quiet.

The districts — Engenhahn's villa colony in the woods, Oberjosbach's village core among them — keep rural Hesse's textures, while the centre supplies schools, sports and an active cultural association's seasons. History here is of roads and railways, foresters and summer guests; its one spotlight moment sang show tunes. The theatre's marquee dimmed, the beeches stayed: Niedernhausen prefers the long-running production.