Ober-Mörlen lodging

I don't know that town itself, but I know plenty of interesting stuff in the area. You'll be pretty close to the open air folk museum Hessenpark. It's not the best of these sorts of museums that I've seen, because it's only about half completed, but close enough to justify a visit. There's a rebuilt Roman fort just down the road from it as well, but I can't remember the name. Bad Nauheim is on my list of towns to visit, but I haven't seen it yet. Büdigen is one of my many counter-examples to that old mantra that Rothenburg odT is a one-of-kind wonder. The preserved historic section of Büdigen perhaps isn't as large as Rothenburg, but it stil has a nearly complete defensive wall, a castle (now a hotel) in the middle, and none of the tour buses and trinket shops that have more or less taken over Rothenburg. Butzbach has an attractive old Markt, although there's not much else of interest in the town. Münzerberg has an impressive castle ruin that's visible for miles. Weztlar and Marburg both have wonderful Altstadts, particularly Marburg. Go to the "Trip reports" section of this website and find the thread "Jo travels through Germany" for a more detailed description of Marburg. There's two interesting castle ruins outside of Giessen, also visible from a long distance away. I haven't made it there yet, but Braunfels has a very large castle complex, I understand. Overall, this is a very attrative area of Germany, but virtually ignored by most English-language guidebooks.

Büdigen is lovely. Easy to reach by train. I agree with Tom that it can give RodT a run for its money, but not if your goal is to stroll through Christmas shops. I came across Braunfels one day as I was exploring the Fachwerkstrasse, a route linking many postcard friendly villages full of Fachwerk - the particularly German half timbering with beautiful painted plaster, so traditional. In England we call similar beam and plaster half timber "Tudor". A couple of folks here on this helpline turned me on to the Fachwerk and its route. The route even has a website. Much of the route is north and west of Frankfurt am Main. Braunfels is a very charming castle village, somewhat vertical, that is a delight to walk around. Plenty of trees, a few cafes and pubs at the top, on the village side of the castle. If you are driving you can cheat and head to village side and it will get you most of the way up the hill. The countryside north and west of Frankfurt is really beautiful.